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Sun Spokesman Says "We Screwed Up On Open Source"
An anonymous reader sends along a video from Builder AU, in which Sun's chief open source officer Simon Phipps describes 2001-2002 as 'a period where Sun 'screwed up' in their dealings with the open source community. Phipps says that Sun is trying to remedy the situation with the open sourcing of Java, Solaris, and the rest of Sun's software."
I assume you're talking about VB.NET?
VB.NET is the braindead version of C#; the two languages map almost directly onto each other, though VB.NET is gimped with trash like the My namespace. Pick up C# and get away from that VB nonsense and Java will come easily to you as well.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
Visual BASIC is a RAD environment. Unless you're using Java in a similar environment (Visual J++ maybe? I never used that and don't think they even make it anymore) then it's going to feel a bit different. FWIW, I transitioned into Java from BASIC (but the flat text file variety) and didn't have much trouble, though the concept of OO programming was a bit of a change (not hard to grasp though).
I will say from personal experience that despite liking the concept of RAD environments a lot, I now find the BASIC language (and hence VB) simple, but very, very limiting. C or C++ in the background is far more powerful, which is why for a long time I really liked Borland C++ Builder, which was a more or less a VB-esque app but with C++ as the background language. These days Visual C+ can work the same way (in the "old days" it didn't let you draw your interface like VB did), making it more attractive. I'm attempting to pick up C# along the way, but it's just a project in my spare time. On the Linux front, Glade is useful and I've played around with it a bit, but it's not quite at the same level of polish as Microsoft's developer tools.
As to VB dying, it's only dying in the same way that COBOL is dying. That is to say, it's not really considered a front runner for new application development, but there's still TONS of stuff out there still being sold, and still being maintained, so it IS a good skill to have.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Hi zealot hater. Your smug attitude is quite unbecoming. Does it make you feel good?
It made me feel good. =)Website Hosting
I currently maintain some software here at work and you've guessed it - most of it is implemented in vb, vb.net, vbscript and asp.
I have also used c, c++ and c# in other projects in my working career.
Almost all computer languages have common underpinnings and principles (e.g. conditional statement, local/global scoped variables & loop constructs) when you know the basic (no pun intended) elements of a language - this rest will follow.
Personally I always get to grips with the core elements of a language and ensure I have a good foundation to build on before I start on the libraries.
For me, the libraries are the most 'challenging' aspect of learning a new language.
Once you've got your head round the libraries you will find it much easier to solve problems.
I've recently started Java programming again and feel almost overwhelmed at the sheer size of just the core libraries in Java.
It's a worthwhile investment in time and energy because Java is pretty much implemented everywhere and of course now open-sourced.
Stay at it and good luck!