IT Professionals

Windows Phone 7 Sees Visual Basic

Posted by on Sep 23, 2010 | 3 Comments

There should be an image here!Speaking as a non-developer, I never really understood the advantages of one programming choice over another. But when Apple put the smack down on what could be used and what could not, then as today Microsoft stunned everyone. According to this piece, developers will be able to use Visual Basic for Windows Phone 7 development.

So what does this demonstrate? I think it shows that Microsoft is going to be more open as to what people use to create apps than Apple. I could be wrong, but it doesn’t appear that I am. And if Microsoft were smart, it’d embrace as many choices as possible to ensure the best start to its new Mobile OS.

Critics of VB have, in the past, called it a newbie method of programming. One that needs to be avoided, etc. While I have also heard that it is easy to use, I would not go so far as to say it was programming for newbies. That might be a little harsh.

What say you? How do you see this happening? Do you think that Microsoft will be more open on how apps are developed than Apple has been? Hit the comments; share your thoughts on this matter.

<strong>[Photo above by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/">Darwin Bell</a> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">CC BY-ND 2.0</a>]</strong>

[awsbullet:visual basic 2010 programming]

  • http://kevinrubin.blogspot.com Kevin Rubin

    Well, that’s not a great example of “open”. Visual Basic is as proprietary language from Microsoft… It’s probably not a huge stretch for them, since VB compiles to the same intermediate language as other .NET languages, like C, C# and so forth…

    What that means, though, is now the platform may be open to a lot more developers. The downsides is VB is a great language for beginners (hence the ‘b’ in BASIC) and easy to get into without a lot of programming experience, so now the platform could be open to lots of people who don’t know what it takes to write good software.

    Not that good software can’t be written in VB, however, it takes just as much work, experience and skill as it does to write good software in many other languages.

  • http://lance.compulsivetech.biz Lance S.

    If anyone remembers and was around (Back when TechTV still existed), Visual Basic was the $#%^ and AIM (Aol Instant Messenger) was popular, most add-ons were created in it but Visual Basic did so much more for you as you could create great little apps and modifications and some extremely large full-scale programs that were great.

    Best of all? The programs were small and fairly easy to make but because of VB, I started my first software company basically around it in 1998 when I was 15, which if I was 15 again and saw what exists today? I would never program but I do and thanks to VB as it was my “Gateway” to other languages.

    So, good job Microsoft and smart choice but just don’t make us use .NET Framework! That is why most of us hate you that used to program for a Win Platform. Boy it was upsetting when the new “Visual Studio” was slapped with a .NET at the end :( .

  • http://www.matthartley.com Matt Hartley

    Kevin: Never mentioned open standards or open source, rather…”more open as to what people use to create apps than Apple.”

    Open as stated meaning more choices, not saying its wide open. ;)