Why isn't Visual Basic developed like C#?

Question

Why isn't Visual Basic developed like C#?

Hassan Farouk 35

In fact, I feel very upset with Microsoft's strategy towards the Visual Basic language. You are practicing euthanasia for this language and losing a large base of programmers who prefer to deal with this language. You have wasted the expertise of these programmers and diminished their value in the market. What is Microsoft waiting for after that? We will not switch to... #C, but we will switch to any other language, Python or Java, so that we do not fall into the trap again. I don't know why. There is no justification for limiting the ability of a programming language that has a long history and has advantages, the most important of which is ease of dealing with it as if you were dealing with a human language. Why is it not developed to use the same capabilities as C#? Why did you not give us the right to create phone applications? Imagine, I did not find any modern book for this language. This strategy literally motivates me to move to another work environment, but this time it will not be .net. I will not make an effort and my effort will be in vain.

Hassan Farouk 35 Reputation points

2024-01-29T20:05:04.9966667+00:00

I hope that Microsoft takes an interest in this language, or someone takes the initiative to develop it, taking into account that it is a wonderful language, has a great history, and achieved rapid acceptance in its spread. Thank you for your reply and response

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Hassan Farouk 35 Reputation points

2024-01-29T20:05:04.9966667+00:00

I hope that Microsoft takes an interest in this language, or someone takes the initiative to develop it, taking into account that it is a wonderful language, has a great history, and achieved rapid acceptance in its spread. Thank you for your reply and response

Answer 1

Azar 29,425 MVP Volunteer Moderator

Hey Hassan Farouk

That is really a wonderful question, thanks for posting it on QandA platform.

I totally get your frustration with Visual Basic taking a bit of a backseat.

But i guess microsoft has been all-in on C# because it's like the rockstar language of the .NET . They've been updating and, building cool frameworks, and making it the go-to for modern development.

Now, VB might not be getting as much limelight, but im sure its not dead. Microsoft knows peoplw like us still dig it, hehe and They've got VB.NET, and it's still running along.

The thing is, tech's always evolving. Sometimes they're jamming with one language, and later they might swing back to another. Trends change, and Microsoft's keeping an eye on what developers want.

So, yeah, keep an eye out. They might surprise us with a VB comeback who knows, and I will also make a note about this in the forum, meanwhile keep doing the great stuff, and once I get an update I'm more than happy to share to with you.

If this helps kindly accept the answer thanks much.

Hassan Farouk 35 Reputation points

2024-01-29T20:05:17.7033333+00:00

I hope that Microsoft takes an interest in this language, or someone takes the initiative to develop it, taking into account that it is a wonderful language, has a great history, and achieved rapid acceptance in its spread. Thank you for your reply and response
Hassan Farouk 35 Reputation points

2024-01-29T20:06:15.4033333+00:00

I hope that Microsoft takes an interest in this language, or someone takes the initiative to develop it, taking into account that it is a wonderful language, has a great history, and achieved rapid acceptance in its spread. Thank you for your reply and response

Answer 2

Bruce (SqlWork.com) 77,321 Volunteer Moderator

The reason is because it's a very hard problem and takes a lot of resources.

All the supporting sdks and toolkits are written in C#, and sdk team will produce C# samples and probably C# templates. the VB language has to be popular enough with the sdk users for the sdk team to add support for the VB language. if not, then the VB team has to add support for the library, produce samples, and add templates for there to be VB support.

one of the major decision with .net core was to sync the runtime and c# language. so every major release of the framework has a matching c# release. this allows new c# language features that require new runtime support. sdk and libraries often take quick advantage of these runtime features (as the language changes are often driven by sdk feature requests). this is an issue for other .net languages, which have to add syntax and support for new runtime features, especially at the current cadence. VB has decided to only add changes it thinks it users want.

Not sure how the f# team keeps their language current, but they do a better job than the VB team. probably because the language is so small, and the focus on .net types.

and finally historically, vb popularity was its integration into a development tool with form support and productive gain this gave. But since .net, this feature has been diminishing. the designers are for C# first, then other languages. The current trend is for UI toolkits to have their own ___domain language (Xmal, SwiftUI, JetPack Compose, etc)

given the whole .net framework and libraries are same between VB and C#, it not clear why you would not switch to C#, especially if the goal was VB to exactly match C# features with just a slightly different statement syntax. at least F# has a different language paradigm and not just a different syntax.

and finally, javascript seems to have replace the niche basic had.

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Brandon Stewart 141 Reputation points

2024-04-08T15:33:16.66+00:00

Once upon a time businesses actually rendered products and services based on the wants and needs of the consumer. In other words, most markets were consumer driven. Then along came the tech industry whose entrepreneurship decided that Silicon Valley was going to flip the playbook by producing goods and services THEY want customers to buy rather than what the customers themselves actually want to buy. So, the markets became commodity driven rather than consumer driven.

The reason I mention that useless drivel is that because at some point Microsoft decided they needed to develop C# in order to compete with Java if they were going to be the ones driving the market for tablets and mobile rather than Sun Microsystem or Oracle. That is the entire reason for C#'s existence - to allow MS to drive the consumer market rather than allowing either another company or consumers themselves to drive the market. So, why doesn't Microsoft make Visual Basic 6/NET open source or just outright sell it? Simple! Visual Basic blows C# away at desktop development - especially database applications. This makes Visual Basic a H-U-G-E financial threat to both C# and Microsoft because if other businesses and enterprises stick with the common sense and reliable desktop model and its applications, this throws a wrench of unpleasantry into Microsoft's desire to conquer and drive the tablet/mobile/enterprise markets. Microsoft has been systematically trying to kill desktop environments at bother the home consumer and enterprise levels simultaneously while pushing mobile/tablet environments.

You might have noticed over the years that some C# fans continually deride Visual Basic, .NET and 6.0 flavors. Ignore these people. The fact is, any tool can be subjectively better or not ONLY with regard to any particular application in which it might be used as well as by whom it might be used. C# is a better choice for many in many situations. Visual Basic is better for some in many other situations. But neither can ever be better than the other, overall. It just so happens that Visual Basic is the best tool for me in many of my projects while other projects require that I use Assembly, C++, Pascal, or a mixture. There are also those who are hung up on Visual Basic allegedly leading to bad programming practices. This too, is beyond nonsense. Visual Basic ALLOWS you to write either bad, sloppy code or amazingly efficient and strong code. Visual Basic "leads" to nothing. It is the programmers themselves alone who produce either good or bad code - not the language. And I promise you, I have seen equally as much or more HORRIBLE code written in C#, JavaScript, C++, and Python as I have seen written in Visual Basic.

...it[sic] not clear why you would not switch to C#... ~ Bruce (SqlWork.com)

This nonsense of asking people why they don't switch to C# or trying to convince them they should change over needs to stop. The ONLY justifiable reasons to switch to C# if you still prefer VB is due to job market demands, if a project you are working on at any particular time requires it, or if your current employer requires it - that's it. But if you're not looking for a new job or if C# doesn't meet your current needs over VB and you don't feel it worth the annoyance to learn a new language, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to switch other than to make C# users feel better about themselves, and their feelings just really are not that valid.

Again, Microsoft will never open source (not completely, anyway), never sell, nor update Visual Basic because of one simple reason - it is a threat to their goals of dominating and driving the consumer market for tablets, mobile, and enterprise systems.

Answer 3

c# is not C or C++.

It's VB.net with a different 'overcoat'. Until fairly recently, the same group in Microsoft looked after both C# and VB.net. If you google converters, you'll see quite a few on the internet, because these 2 products are almost identical except C# is 'Cified'. This is probably to make programmers feel better about themselves, as they can convince themselves that they are working in a 'grown up' language and are not hanging out at the kids' table at the party.

I like VB.net. I've use a lot of languages over the decades, and the only reason most of my current Dot Net work is in C# is that almost all of the programming examples on the internet are no longer showing a VB version, and also, customers (bunch of ignorant savages, the lot of them, but you have to humor them) don't want VB because they have misconceptions.

It's all fashion and hubris. I have dozens of Android Java apps out there, lots of really hairy SQL stuff, C#, VB, all sorts of interfaces using json and the like, but I still say that MS Access 2003 with its ancient VBA IDE, coupled to SQL Server, is the fastest way to put together a rock solid and very complex application, but try and sell that to an end user!!!

Hassan Farouk 35 Reputation points

2025-04-16T16:00:45.5433333+00:00

I hope Microsoft takes the needs of the Visual Basic programming community into consideration. This language has a rich history, flexibility, and fun (I've used other programming languages, but none have been as fun as with Visual Basic). I'm deeply saddened by the loss of programmers and content every day. It's also declining on the TIOBE Index... It's on its way to the graveyard.

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Why isn't Visual Basic developed like C#?

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