QuoteOriginally posted by: ckelvinI believe C# will move along. Microsoft best bet is on C#. C++ will stay for long but C# will take over.History has shown that only ANSI languages have succeeded the past. These are:FortranCobolCC++...Maybe the future will be different. Prediction is very difficult, especially the future.

I seriously double C# will take over. It is not platform independent therefore it stands a chance of dying. Depends on where you look for a job (say in the US west cost) There maybe a IT culture against Microsoft. Therefore, it is best if learn and keep learning few more languages (java), perl / TCL ... etc. The main reason why C/C++ will be the standard is because many computational algorithmic package have been written in C/C++. The migration of those libraries will take decades. And I don't think anyone will choose C# since no serious researcher of any importance would use it. For ease of migration, portability and longevity of codes, developers always look for platform independence therefore you should look for the lowest common denominator.For this reason, Fortran math packages (in the form of link libraries) remains the king. For mathmatical computation (maxtrix handling) it remains the best language out there. Even though it is an aweful language syntatically. It has been around for nearly 4 decades and will be around for many years more.

> And I don't think anyone will choose C# since no serious researcher of any importance would use itHmmm I could say a lot of things. Anyways, what is the basis for your evidence? Have you written a trading system or a FDM scheme in C#?> C# will take over. It is not platform independent therefore it stands a chance of dyingDo you work with VBA?> Fortran math packages (in the form of link libraries) remains the king.I agree. Unfortunately, what you are on about is not reality, at least as far as I can see. P.S. Betamax was much better than VHS

History has shown that only ANSI languages have succeeded the past. These are:I must confess that I find Daniel's view that ANSI is a requirement for success to be disjoint from my own experience.Visual Basic is easily the most successful development tool of all time. Very proprietary, not only non-ANSI but in many ways quite unlike other dialects of Basic.PL/1 was successful for years without ANSI, and some people view Java and JavaScript having been at least mildly successful.C++ was successful before ANSI, as was Fortran. SI seriously double C# will take over. It is not platform independent therefore it stands a chance of dying.I would love to know who is the bogus fool who infects people with this demented notion."Platform independance" is relevant to <1% of the effort of writing software.Even when you are promised it with C++ or Java, the reality is somewhat different. Thus it's an unimportant thing you can't have anyway.Depends on where you look for a job (say in the US west cost) There maybe a IT culture against Microsoft. Therefore, it is best if learn and keep learning few more languages (java), perl / TCL ... etc.look at the pay rates for those skills. Not good is it ?There is an "anti-Microsoft culture", indeed, a non trivial % of my life's income has arisen from the job of being paid to piss off M$ professionally.However, any firm or manager who rejects a tool merely because of who made it is a fool. How smart is it to join a company run by fools ? And I don't think anyone will choose C# since no serious researcher of any importance would use it. That's simply not true. You've not done reasearch have you ? Lots of "important" researchers use all sorts of mad shit from C++, through Lisp, Forth, and even machine code.C# is not the most common language, true, but is not really that far from centre.For ease of migration, portability and longevity of codes, developers always look for platform independence therefore you should look for the lowest common denominator.I look for free beer, and for attractive women to demand that I sleep with them. I'm a multi platform developer (OS/2, Windows, >10 versions of Unix, Mac, VM/CMS, AS/400, PDP Tops 10, PDP 11, Vax, DOS, et al)I'm here to tell you that I hardly ever even think about platform independance.What % of code do you think have ever been ported to another platform ? >99% of C++ stays on the same environment. I'd guess >80% of all code written never even leaves the PC it was written on.For this reason, Fortran math packages (in the form of link libraries) remains the king.As in the King of Sweden ? Nice people, no global importance ?

History has shown that only ANSI languages have succeeded the past. These are:I must confess that I find Daniel's view that ANSI is a requirement for success to be disjoint from my own experience.DD Not a requirement, based on historical data. Having worked in a number of disparate kinds of organisations I have seen that many nice languages died because of lack of support.Visual Basic is easily the most successful development tool of all time. Very proprietary, not only non-ANSI but in many ways quite unlike other dialects of Basic.PL/1 was successful for years without ANSI, and some people view Java and JavaScript having been at least mildly successful.DD all languages that have died or are not the family favourites anymore. Ask MS what they think about future of VBA and VB6.C++ was successful before ANSI, as was Fortran. DD it was trendy in the late 80's, then in late 90's it became successful.P.S. Most critical scentific and industriial apps are in Fortran.

DD all languages that have died or are not the family favourites anymore. Ask MS what they think about future of VBA and VB6.Microsoft will savy that VB is at the very heart of it's strategy.VB is the only major language that MS owns. C# is still a minority sport, C++ is ANSI, J# is dumb shit and SQL is dominated by others.

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCDD all languages that have died or are not the family favourites anymore. Ask MS what they think about future of VBA and VB6.Microsoft will savy that VB is at the very heart of it's strategy.VB is the only major language that MS owns. C# is still a minority sport, C++ is ANSI, J# is dumb shit and SQL is dominated by others.Obviously he is not the voice of MS Marketing, but I attended a .Net course at Developmentor a couple of years ago which was co presented by Don Box, just before he joined MS. He said at the time, that C# was the future and that VB.NET was created to ease the transition to C# for VB developers. Obviously this transition will take some time, from a developer perspective and from a tools perspective, Excel etc and because of the existence of legacy code. But all the new stuff that is coming out of MS these days is written in C# and C++ where necessary. The API's are obviously available for C# and VB.Net etcSo I am not too sure MS would say that "VB is at the very heart of it's strategy". I expect for marketing reasons at the moment they would say it is as important as C#. My 2 Cents.

> So I am not too sure MS would say that "VB is at the very heart of it's strategy". I expect for marketing reasons at the moment they would say it is as important as C#. My 2 > Cents.I agree with you. I feel that there is a move to C#.On the other hand, we do not want to leave those who prefer to program in VB.

Though Don Box is wise, he wasn't the voice of MS either...I sort of agree with Daniel, C# is growing at the expense of VB, but I doiubt that was the plan. Given that they're both MS proprietary languages I don't suppose MS is that sad about it.In a firm that big, it's tricky to say what their vision really is. Certainly it seems that the language group is dominated by a strong C# faction. This is balanced by the fact that nearly everything that MS sells is written in C++.However there is a ramarkably functional version of Excel written in VB6, which never got out.