Generic reply, not directed ant anyone in particular: If you can write apps in VFP, you can write apps in anything.
I've been a programmer since 1964. I've programmed in everything: IBM mainframe assembler, Cobol, PL/1, Fortran, a gaggle of PC languages, as well as programming for imbedded microprocessors. Once you know HOW to write programs, learning a new language and applying it is easy. VFP is actually a lousy programming language - it doesn't protect you from yourself, like a lot of modern strongly-typed languages do. It is easy to shoot yourself (and your client) in the foot, or other more tender parts. If you are successful with VFP, you should have no problems with Python, C#, Algol, ... (add language flavor of the month here). The development environment is a lot more important than the language. Remember Foxbase II? Remember how you had to design forms? And a good framework. I've been using Codebook for years. Trying to convert a VFP app to Visual Basic wouldn't be hard, from a language point of view. But there is no framework to build upon - I'd have to convert CodeBook as well. Don't get hung up on "I'm a VFP developer". You aren't. You are an application developer. And you can develop apps in any language that meets the client's needs. It might take you a while longer than if you did it in VFP, which we all know like the back of our hands. There is going to be a learning curve. But you can do it. But if a client's needs might be best satisfied by using Delphi, why not? You don't need to be a one-tool application developer. A carpenter would be in deep doo-doo (sawdust?) if he only had one saw. Put several saws in your toolbox, and get out there and build things. Why not use some of your spare time taking a small VFP app that you have written, and convert it to some other language? Python/DABO? VB and mySQL? Make it a web-based app, using PHP and Apache and mySQL? C# and SQL Lite? No need to despair. There will always be more work out there than people to do it. At 10:40 AM 2007-03-23 -0400, you wrote: >On Mar 23, 2007, at 10:33 AM, Tristan Leask wrote: > > > I really want to be able to work with Python, but I just can't see > > how I > > can get to the stage where I am now in VFP. I can't imagine how I > > have > > come so far with VFP. It's like I have always known it. > > Probably the primary thing that convinced me to go with Python was >how quickly I was writing productive code. It isn't *that* different >than VFP, and once you get the hang of namespaces, it's pretty >straightforward. I haven't yet met a VFP programmer who couldn't >immediately understand basic Python code, and who couldn't pick up >the more advanced stuff without much sweat. > > > The main concern is the development time of having to create forms. A > > good GUI editor is very handy as then you don't have to spend age's > > fannying around with lines of code trying to visualize the final > > layout. > > I agree, and this is where I plan on focusing my efforts with Dabo >in the coming year. The Class Designer is already able to create >forms visually; what I want to do is tie that and all the other stuff >(database connections, menu creation, bizobj editing, etc.) into a >unified IDE. > >-- Ed Leafe >-- http://leafe.com >-- http://dabodev.com > > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
