Need Experts Opinion

[Answer]

Im debating on whether to migrate from VB6 to .NET,

 

im about to embark on my first large project and i have considered moving to .NET, however im running into probs, such as the one i posted in the ADO.NET forum.

 

I have read a ton of post about the goods and the bads about .net etc...

but im wondering what your guys opionions are on my situation..

 

Im going to be creating my first large project, im guessing its gonna take around a year becuase i will be doing it during free time. I will be accessing dbase III databases, however the database could change down the road ( possibly SQL ), as of right now though they will not be changing.

 

I have quite a bit of knowledge in VB6 but certainly not an expert..

I have picked up a book on VB.NET and have been reading it and there is a ton of stuff i like about the .NET framework, many things are included that i would have to write on my own if i were to create the program in VB6.

 

I also like the fact that my VB.NET program has the possibility of being able to run on Linux, Which i really like.

 

But i have heard alot of negative thing and also have noticed some negative things about .NET such as the IDE runs a lot slower, the program in debug mode runs a lot slower, and ADO.nET runs down right piggish! I also am concerned about my program possibly being decompiled, as i might wish to sell it later.

 

Being that im familar and like the VB6 enviroment, although im sure i can get used to .NET after a while, do you guys think it worth my while to upgrade and learn .NET??

 

ps. the program has nothing to do with the internet really, any FTP usage or stuff like that i was planning on using the Microsoft Internet Transfer Control

 

Thanks

[wyrd]

I'm by no means an expert, but I can't help but give my opinion anyway.. so take it with a grain of salt. :)

 

If you are doing a large project then no doubt you'll be using a nice OOP approach. Since VB.NET is 100% OO compared to VB6 which has downright sucky OO capabilities in comparison, you'll definitely want to use VB.NET in this situation.

 

As for ADO.NET being "piggish".. I don't know so I'll refrain from commenting about the ADO differences.

 

Since VB.NET has a ton of assemblies that would be useful to you where as in VB6 you'll have to create a ton of your own custom classes to achieve this same flexibility, programming it in .NET would no doubt save you lots of time.

 

Cross-platform capability (running on Windows, Mac and Linux!) is a huge plus.

 

The negative things you mentioned such as the IDE running slower as well as the debugger, well.. that has no real baring on your actual finished product. The VB.NET IDE has a ton more features (as well as the debugger) so of course it's going to run slower. Decompiling your work however is definitely something to take into consideration, but if I'm not mistaken Microsoft is working on a fix for this. After all, if they don't fix this HUGE program then no large corporations will use .NET in the future, right?

 

I personally like .NET and think it's going to revolutionize the way we program in the coming years (not anytime soon, but slowly it will as more and more languages create plug-ins for .NET such as Java and Python). It may take you some time to learn .NET to get to the level you are at with VB6, but it would be worth it.. right?

 

Reading your post it really sounds like you're trying to give yourself a reason to just go ahead and use VB6 which you are comfortable with rather then using .NET which you don't know that well. Just remember one thing, the easy way is not always the best way.

[Derek Stone]

ADO.NET is hands down faster than ADO, especially when used in conjunction with SQL Server. If your code is running slower it is due to poor programming, not ADO.NET.

[Robby]

If you have an entire year to complete this project then by all means use .net, you'll be an expert by the time you finish.

 

The IDE does require more memory and speed, but hey, it's doing a lot more work then the VB6 IDE.

[Answer]

ADO.NET is hands down faster than ADO, especially when used in conjunction with SQL Server. If your code is running slower it is due to poor programming, not ADO.NET.

 

Derek, could you please look at my post in the ado.net section and tell me what im doing wrong/give an example of how to correct it?

 

 

 

 

Reading your post it really sounds like you're trying to give yourself a reason to just go ahead and use VB6 which you are comfortable with rather then using .NET which you don't know that well. Just remember one thing, the easy way is not always the best way.

 

You hit the nail on the head wyrd, you brought up a good point about the decompiling issue too, and since it should take me a year to complete the project, MS SHOULD have it fixed by then.

 

Thanks for the info and support, sometimes you just need people to reinforce your decision to migrate. And since i do have year, by that time VB.NET will more commonplace.