Visual Basic has been around a long time. The Basic language was developed starting 1964 by John G. Kemeny of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, United States. Microsoft started developing Visual Basic in 1990. VB 1.0 was released in 1991. The life of the original VB ended in 2008 when Microsoft stopped supporting VB 6.0
In 2002, When DOT NET came along, VB.Net was launched as part of Visual Studio .Net, the new IDE that was fully Object Oriented. As time went on a number of versions of the .Net framework developed including the Windows-only, Windows Store, WinRT(?), Mono and MonoTouch. Now 15 years later, Microsoft has moved to create a unified DOT NET framework that tries to merge all the different DOT NET frameworks into one framework called Dot Net Core. Due to the usual pressure for backward compatibility, MS has promised that VB will continue to live and that DOT NET Core will accommodate the older versions. However, its clear that MS wants to change tack.
For example, DOT NET Core is designed to run on Windows, MacOS and Linux. This is a radical departure for MS. They have been sworn enemies of Open Source and I am a victim of this enmity. Somehow they got born again into accommodating Open Source. It means they have revised their world view. The world is flat after all!
The other departure is a broadening of the target platforms that their development tools support. It seems that Visual Studio can now be used to develop for Android and IOS. That's another radical departure from their past doctrines.
It's as if Microsoft has a new high priest who understands the basis for increasing opposition to Microsoft and has decided to develop a new approach and possibly a new business model?
Microsoft has moved quite aggressively into cloud services. The mysterious Azure turns out to be simply a cloud service. One challenge that MS has always had is explaining what on earth their psychedelic products names refer to. Is azure not the blue of a CLOUDLESS sky? How then can you name a cloud service after cloudlessness? Or perhaps they forgot to check the dictionary. Its the Americans who invented the mantra Keep It Simple St*&%#!
But despite the Zenish terminology, MS has some very interesting and useful products and services. There is Visual Studio Code(VSC). There is Visual Studio Team Services(VSTS). Then there's Xamarin.
VSC is a code editor with extra features. Some claim they have abandoned Notepad for VSC. Are they serious? Does anyone code in Notepad? Notepad++ I can understand but Notepad? Maybe they crash-landed on Mars in 1995 and haven't updated their IT systems since...
VSTS? I haven't figure it out yet but I gather its an online IDE for Dot Net. More simply, Visual Studio+ online. The + is for openness...
Xamarin? Never even tried it. Ask me two months from now but its supposed to be a mobile app development platform that can deploy for IOS, Android and Windows phone. Same code base, multiple platforms. Sounds like a fantasy come true. Could life be that simple? I doubt. Await my report...
To develop VB.Net 2017, you need Visual Studio 2017. This is what VS2017 looks like:
New Project Interface:
Notice the six versions of VB.Net products:
In 2002, When DOT NET came along, VB.Net was launched as part of Visual Studio .Net, the new IDE that was fully Object Oriented. As time went on a number of versions of the .Net framework developed including the Windows-only, Windows Store, WinRT(?), Mono and MonoTouch. Now 15 years later, Microsoft has moved to create a unified DOT NET framework that tries to merge all the different DOT NET frameworks into one framework called Dot Net Core. Due to the usual pressure for backward compatibility, MS has promised that VB will continue to live and that DOT NET Core will accommodate the older versions. However, its clear that MS wants to change tack.
For example, DOT NET Core is designed to run on Windows, MacOS and Linux. This is a radical departure for MS. They have been sworn enemies of Open Source and I am a victim of this enmity. Somehow they got born again into accommodating Open Source. It means they have revised their world view. The world is flat after all!
The other departure is a broadening of the target platforms that their development tools support. It seems that Visual Studio can now be used to develop for Android and IOS. That's another radical departure from their past doctrines.
It's as if Microsoft has a new high priest who understands the basis for increasing opposition to Microsoft and has decided to develop a new approach and possibly a new business model?
Microsoft has moved quite aggressively into cloud services. The mysterious Azure turns out to be simply a cloud service. One challenge that MS has always had is explaining what on earth their psychedelic products names refer to. Is azure not the blue of a CLOUDLESS sky? How then can you name a cloud service after cloudlessness? Or perhaps they forgot to check the dictionary. Its the Americans who invented the mantra Keep It Simple St*&%#!
But despite the Zenish terminology, MS has some very interesting and useful products and services. There is Visual Studio Code(VSC). There is Visual Studio Team Services(VSTS). Then there's Xamarin.
VSC is a code editor with extra features. Some claim they have abandoned Notepad for VSC. Are they serious? Does anyone code in Notepad? Notepad++ I can understand but Notepad? Maybe they crash-landed on Mars in 1995 and haven't updated their IT systems since...
VSTS? I haven't figure it out yet but I gather its an online IDE for Dot Net. More simply, Visual Studio+ online. The + is for openness...
Xamarin? Never even tried it. Ask me two months from now but its supposed to be a mobile app development platform that can deploy for IOS, Android and Windows phone. Same code base, multiple platforms. Sounds like a fantasy come true. Could life be that simple? I doubt. Await my report...
To develop VB.Net 2017, you need Visual Studio 2017. This is what VS2017 looks like:
New Project Interface:
Notice the six versions of VB.Net products:
- Windows Universal - works on Windows desktops, tablets, phones
- Windows classic desktop - traditional desktop app
- Web - ASP.Net app
- .Net Standard - class libraries for standard .Net Framework
- Cloud - Azure cloud app, ASP.Net??
- Test - Unit Test app
Can we call it off for today. I shall continue to explore Microsoft Reloaded for the next couple of month. If only the claims Xamarin makes were true...
Nice one
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