Are there still enough VB6 shops to make learning the language worthwhile?
+7
A:
I work for a fortune 25 company and we have a few legacy apps there were written in VB6. However all new development (in the Windows world) is strictly .NET. I would suggest learning VB.NET if you're interested in learning VB.
Shaun
2010-10-25 12:50:55
A:
There are still products around that are written in it (I have two myself) but Microsoft have meant to have said that Windows 8 will not work with VB6 programs, also Visual Studio 6 (required to build VB6 projects) does not run on Vista and Win7.
VBA is very similar in syntax and it looks like this will be supported for the next few years at least.
My advice: learn VBA if you need it, but only learn VB6 if you have a maintenance project that requires it. If you really want to learn BASIC then go for VB.NET. It is difficult to suggest other alternatives (there are lots!) unless we know about what you want to learn and why. Eg. If you wanted to learn about OOP then I think C# or Java would be better.
winwaed
2010-10-25 12:51:57
VB.NET and C# are basically the same (except the syntax). There are some small differences which were caused by the 'release-competition' by both the VB- and the C#-team. But Microsoft already said that in the future VB.NET and C# will be equal. Although C# is considered the main .NET language (also by Microsoft itself).
Rhapsody
2010-10-25 12:54:39
@Rhapsody: They've said that for awhile now. I wouldn't hold my breath.
Chris Lively
2010-10-25 12:55:57
@Rhapsody: the last sentence is just not true. It might be, in the future, but now now. In fact, I’ve even heard Microsoft employees say the opposite (i.e. that VB is the main language) … but that was a few years ago.
Konrad Rudolph
2010-10-25 12:57:27
@Konrad - I worked for Microsoft for about 2 years 2007-2009, VB was always thrid or fourth choice for us a development platform, it is true that VB was the main language in early implementations of .NET 2003, but with the rapid growth of C# and it usage, C# is now the main language in .NET.
kyndigs
2010-10-25 13:04:28
A:
I don't use vb too often - I know a lot of larger businesses (Insurance, IT you name it) who do use VB functions so managers can input data into their DB's through some kind of 'Excel' sheet.
Learning any language is worthwhile! VB is easy to understand and M$ has many libraries that are easy to use (i.e. look at connecting to Databases/creating Forms... if you're interested in what real world applications are built on it).
I've used it once for the SOAP api (very easy), and some other applications. I thought it was nice enough.
Marm0t
2010-10-25 12:52:36
@Marm0t, are you talking about VB6 or VB.NET? What you're saying seems to apply to VB.NET.
John M Gant
2010-10-25 13:04:02
VBA is practically 95% of VB6, so learning either give you more capabilities than people usually think. There is so much VBA embedded in Excel and Word, plus so many VB6 apps.
HardCode
2010-10-26 19:15:36
A:
There are still companies using VB6. Where I'm active for example. But we're migrating to .NET. (the sooner the better in my opinion)
So, as mentioned by aioobe, why would you want to learn VB6? I'd say it's a waste of time and I would spend my time in, for example, VB.NET. Unless you have a really good argument for VB6 ofcourse.
Rhapsody
2010-10-25 12:52:51
A:
Google
- VB6 - About 5,080,000 Results
- Visual Basic 6 - About 33,700,000 Results
- VB.NET - About 35,200,000 Results
- Visual Basic .NET - About 20,800,000 Results
StackOverFlow
- vb6 - 1920
VB6 applications are probably still used quite a lot but I believe for new development over the years VB6 has been chosen less and less as a primary platform to develop an application with people opting for .NET alternatives.
In terms of learning it, I would only do this is you need to work with old VB6 applications that will not be upgraded to .NET, or if you are upgrading VB6 applications to .NET then by all means learn it but dont waste to much time on it.
kyndigs
2010-10-25 12:54:29
+1
A:
I wouldnt waste my time learning VB6. I worked with it 10 years ago and I'm still thankful everytime I look at my CV that I had the opportunity to start working in C#.NET. VB6 felt like a mickey mouse language.
fARcRY
2010-10-25 12:56:10
+7
A:
Computing languages don't die easily, and there are always niche markets where those skills are needed. Languages like Smalltalk, Lisp, COBOL, etc. have there loyal followers and clients that need those abilities. There will probably be some need for VB6 for a while yet.
The chief difference between VB6 and the other languages I mentioned is that the newer version of VB (VB.Net) has been declared by Microsoft to replace VB6. That tells me that VB6 will have a shrinking market as newer versions of Windows makes it near impossible to have VB6 apps that look like current modern applications.
My advice is: if you have a current need for VB6, like maintaining a legacy application, by all means learn it. The more useful you are to a company, the longer they'll keep you. If you don't have a current need for VB6 then learn the newer version of the technology. In the Microsoft world, the .NET CLR based languages are the current vision of the future. You'll also have more success finding help for problems you're facing day to day.
Berin Loritsch
2010-10-25 12:58:34
+1 Microsoft [said](http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/funkyonex/What-is-Microsofts-Visual-Basic-6-Support-Strategy/) in September 09 that there were still several million people using VB6. Microsoft are still [fully supporting](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788708.aspx) the VB6 runtime.
MarkJ
2010-10-25 13:46:10
A:
I would hazard an educated guess, based on my own experience, that there are many more programmers writing new COBOL programs than new VB6 programs. VB6 is ten years replaced and, as far as I can tell, no longer supported in any way by Microsoft.
John M Gant
2010-10-25 13:00:16
Microsoft [said](http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/funkyonex/What-is-Microsofts-Visual-Basic-6-Support-Strategy/) in September 09 that there were still several million people using VB6. Microsoft are still [fully supporting](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788708.aspx) the VB6 runtime.
MarkJ
2010-10-25 13:43:05
@MarkJ, thanks for the correction. I stand by my assertion there are more people writing new COBOL programs than new VB6.
John M Gant
2010-10-25 18:55:57
+4
A:
I do not think it is worth to learn VB6.
I work for company where main product is written in VB6 and know one another company where main product is written in VB6 too.
In both cases: 1. All new products/development is done in .NET (mainly VB.NET to keep syntax similar). 1. None of developers know VB6 when joined company.
In other words:
VB6 is probably still widely used, but companies migrate to VB.NET. Moreover VB6 is so easy to learn that you can start using it really fast with no previous experience.
Grzegorz Gierlik
2010-10-25 13:16:31
+1
A:
You might do a search on indeed.com for "VB6" and draw your own conclusions. I find about 900 jobs there as opposed to 112,000 jobs on a search for ".net".
BobRodes
2010-10-28 18:19:08
A:
I also work an Fortune 25 company with a world-wide presence and many legacy VB6 apps are still widely used through the company. Myself, I am a .NET developer and only learn as much VB6 as I need to fix a production issue or to convert something to .NET (typically C#). So no, don't invest time in learning it unless you must on the job.
BBlake
2010-10-28 18:39:10