3 ms·

Visual Basic and VB.NET are two very different beasts, only sharing a name. The VB6 runtime is indeed updated to run, but really how much update does it need b

by Crinus 7y ago

Visual Basic and VB.NET are two very different beasts, only sharing a name. The VB6 runtime is indeed updated to run, but really how much update does it need beyond sticking the DLLs around? The VB4 and VB5 runtimes run perfectly fine on Win10 and those had no updates for it. It all relies on Win10's overall backwards compatibility.

pjmlp 7y ago
They are still pretty similar, Microsoft re-introduced quite a few features back.
- Crinus 7y ago
  They are similar only on a superficial level, at their core they have not only vast differences in terms of how they work but they also have a different philosophy. It is not a matter of what you can do in terms of features, but also how you do it and how that affects the IDE, which is a core element of VB6 as opposed to VB.NET where you could be using whatever text editor or IDE you want (it isn't a coincidence that VB6 has its own IDE whereas VB.NET is using the same IDE as C# and C++). VB6 isn't just the language, if anything the language is a minor part of it. VB6 is the entire tool, including the language, IDE and library. You cannot separate these, they are written for each other. This is also what pretty much all VB6 alternatives get wrong as they try to reuse elements designed for something else. You cannot do that and get something like VB6 beyond at a superficial level (and this is exactly what Microsoft did with VB.NET).
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    I used VB 3 - 5, later on did a couple of ports from VB 6 to VB.NET, and I am lost on what you actually mean.
    - Crinus 7y ago
      Doesn't surprise me, you are not alone in this as others who have used classic VB do not really see the difference between classic VB and VB.NET and to some extent not even (most of) Microsoft seems to get what makes classic VB special :-P. However i'm not sure how i could describe it better than the last paragraph in my reply above as to me the difference between the two is day and night. It is kinda similar to not understanding how something like a jury rigged Vim with a GDB, file list manager and ctags parser differs from a real IDE even after having used the latter. Usually i'd say "you need to experience the real thing" but if you do not get it after you do, then i'm at a loss of words.

by Crinus 7y ago

pjmlp 7y ago

They are still pretty similar, Microsoft re-introduced quite a few features back.

Crinus 7y ago
They are similar only on a superficial level, at their core they have not only vast differences in terms of how they work but they also have a different philosophy. It is not a matter of what you can do in terms of features, but also how you do it and how that affects the IDE, which is a core element of VB6 as opposed to VB.NET where you could be using whatever text editor or IDE you want (it isn't a coincidence that VB6 has its own IDE whereas VB.NET is using the same IDE as C# and C++). VB6 isn't just the language, if anything the language is a minor part of it. VB6 is the entire tool, including the language, IDE and library. You cannot separate these, they are written for each other. This is also what pretty much all VB6 alternatives get wrong as they try to reuse elements designed for something else. You cannot do that and get something like VB6 beyond at a superficial level (and this is exactly what Microsoft did with VB.NET).
- pjmlp 7y ago
  I used VB 3 - 5, later on did a couple of ports from VB 6 to VB.NET, and I am lost on what you actually mean.
  - Crinus 7y ago
    Doesn't surprise me, you are not alone in this as others who have used classic VB do not really see the difference between classic VB and VB.NET and to some extent not even (most of) Microsoft seems to get what makes classic VB special :-P. However i'm not sure how i could describe it better than the last paragraph in my reply above as to me the difference between the two is day and night. It is kinda similar to not understanding how something like a jury rigged Vim with a GDB, file list manager and ctags parser differs from a real IDE even after having used the latter. Usually i'd say "you need to experience the real thing" but if you do not get it after you do, then i'm at a loss of words.