[HN Gopher] Update to the .NET Language Strategy
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       Update to the .NET Language Strategy
        
       Author : sebazzz
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2023-02-07 10:25 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (devblogs.microsoft.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (devblogs.microsoft.com)
        
       | mkozlows wrote:
       | TLDR:
       | 
       | C# is our real language.
       | 
       | F# is a thing that gets supported to the extent that unpaid
       | volunteers do the work.
       | 
       | VB is in back-compat legacy support mode.
        
       | curiousgal wrote:
       | 2022 I started a new job where we mainly use C# and I have to
       | say, this is my favorite language now, especially with Visual
       | Studio and Reshaper. I've never felt so productive and at ease
       | while coding!
        
         | Someone1234 wrote:
         | I, too, like C#.
         | 
         | What language did you come from? Java?
        
       | clouddrover wrote:
       | Sounds like Visual Basic will be a second-class citizen going
       | forward.
        
         | marssaxman wrote:
         | Visual Basic had already become a second-class citizen fifteen
         | years ago, when I worked on its compiler team. All the actual
         | design work happened in the C# world, and our job was just to
         | tag along and mimic whatever they had come up with.
         | 
         | I had taken the talk of "co-evolution" at face value before
         | going to work there, but after seeing where devdiv actually put
         | its time and attention, that was clearly just a PR story meant
         | to keep VB users comfortable while their language faded away.
        
         | ripley12 wrote:
         | It has been for a very long time, and that's a reasonable
         | approach IMO.
         | 
         | I say this as someone without most of the usual prejudice
         | against VB; I used to work in a large codebase that was half
         | VB.NET and half C#, and didn't mind VB. VB was a little more
         | verbose for some things, but after getting used to the syntax
         | the developer experience was basically the same in each
         | language (yes, with a few small exceptions like XML literals).
         | 
         | Ultimately, that's the problem with VB; it's not different
         | enough from C# to really justify significant investments in
         | 2023. There are some die-hards who really like the VB syntax
         | but they're growing ever rarer.
        
         | lockhouse wrote:
         | Honestly, most people still using Visual Basic at this point
         | probably aren't itching for new features. Stability is a
         | feature itself when it comes to legacy code.
        
           | ricksmith1962 wrote:
           | Absolutely. Saying this as someone who codes 100% in VB
           | supporting applications that are 25+ years old.
           | 
           | Honestly, I couldn't be happier with the language strategy as
           | I was wholly expecting VB to be discontinued.
        
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       (page generated 2023-02-08 23:00 UTC)