Big News from Microsoft: Small Basic
Sunday July 12, 2009
Since I published my own VB.NET for Beginners, I have received a few emails from readers saying they still can't understand it.
For all those who have written (and all those who are thinking about it too), relief has arrived: Small Basic from Microsoft.
The problem with VB.NET Express, the system I use in my tutorial, is that it's still the complete Framework 3.5 based VB.NET language. Microsoft has simply not included a few of the features that are in the versions they charge for. VB.NET Express still has all of the power - and all of the complexity - of the upper division products. Small Basic, however, is designed for simplicity and learning.
Try it out! It's a free download. I've reviewed it at this link.
In your review about Small Basic you seemed to “despise” the GOTO Statement and didn’t understand the reasoning behind it’s inclusion.
Well, from a not so quite established programmer.
I have found that there are times when using GOTO is required (in VB6) by time constraints and having coded oneself into a corner.
For a Beginner forcing them to learn not to GOTO is probably not a possibility and still have them start programming in Basic.
Yes, I agree Structured Programming is much cleaner without GOTO’s.
But, sometimes one’s code gets to the point where you’ve indented off the stinking page and the code is still just as indeciipherable as spaghetti.
Yes, I always go back and review my code for areas where I can simplify or create functions or subs.
But, sometimes, things are just too convoluted for a simple overview to reveal where to simplify.
(Like when I started the rewrite on my Instrument Controller Program in VB6. I must have dropped about a third of the code!)
Fortunately, I document everything, being quite forgetful myself…
So, (please) don’t take my stinkin GOTO away like you did my Control Arrays!
Of course if I were writing commercially or to a “House Software Spec”, instead of for the sheer pleasure of programmming….
Mike Sr.
BTW I use my VB-6 Instrument Controller Program more easily than Sure-Cal, Met-Cal or some of the other biggees we have in the lab. But, as a tech when I need a tool, I am not important enough for my bosses to spend real money on a “want” they don’t see as a “need”.
So, I solve my own problems with code.
Great comment “from the front lines of programming” !!
I can remember saying things a lot like this back when I was writing COBOL code for mainframes. It’s like I said in the article, an addict will do or say just about anything to keep mainlining that Goto juice!
Hey! From one who was there … trust me … the way of OOP is hard, but it’s worth it!
The main reason is actually not because your code gets that much better. It’s because YOU get better. When you start writing objects, you start to look at the problem differently and think of different solutions. Instead of, “what happens next and what happens next after that and what happens next after that …” and so forth – you start to think in terms of “what does this chunk of code do and what information is part of it”.
Think of it as being like a rat in a maze. (If you work for a business today, that shouldn’t be too hard to imagine.) Coding a program “sequentially” is like running the maze from ground level. All you can see is the corner ahead. But when you learn to code OOP, it’s like you can see the whole maze from above.
Anyway … Would it surprise you to learn that EVEN VB.NET 2008 – the latest version – STILL has a Goto statement? Nobody is taking it away. We’re just telling you, “IT’S NOT GOOD FOR YOU!”