I would like to know what VISUAL programming language would
best fit my needs

I am an amateur programmer who used to program in GWBASIC
and QBASIC

I have looked at the following possibilities : (1)VISUAL BASIC
6.0 - LEARNING EDITION (2) VISUAL BASIC.NET 2003 and (3)VISUAL
C++.NET

The programs I wish to write are both forecasting and simulation
programs that require good database capabilities

My conditions are as follows:

(1) Ease Of Use-again i am a novice
(2) Expense-need to keep my costs down
(3) Usage-must be widely used programming language
(4) Must have good database capabilities

Trying to understand the newer languages after all these
years from being away from programming is a daunting task.

Any help will be appreciated.

factorx@tampabay.rr.com wrote:
VB6 is rather obsolete. You might use it only if you can get it (and
some related text books) really cheap, and if you will never need to
upgrade to something newer.

VB.Net is the current version, widely used, but not very compatible with
VB6 code. A good choice for ease of use and for database features.

VC++ (my tool of choice) is not for novices and is not easy to use.

--
Scott McPhillips [VC++ MVP]

VB 2005 is out, or coming out.

It is compatible with VB 6, which a lot of VB 6 developers complained
that VB.NET wasn't!
--
Regards,
Casey

If that would be me, I would go with c#, and when absolutely sure c# is
not enough, switch to c++. Thing is that c# saves up to 70% coding time
(as compared to c++ and VB - see below), and have some limitations in
both what a how fast can it do on the other hand.


so that you wouldn't think all above is IMHO, here's some real life
data:

"Völcker built its business providing solutions for Microsoft systems,
using C++, Visual Basic and .NET to create its ActiveEntry software...
In just nine months, the Völcker team used Mono, .NET and C# to recode
its Active Entry software to run on Linux, reducing the existing 7
millions lines of source code to 2 million. This efficiency saved a
tremendous amount of development time and gives Völcker a single
source code that now runs on both Windows and Linux platforms... Using
Mono as its development platform, instead of Java, has reduced the
company's testing time by 60 percent and eliminated the need to hire
5-10 new programmers."

http://www.novell.com/success/volcker.html

Thank you for the above replies.

I do not feel that I am ready to learn the more
complex C++.

VB.Net appears to be the best choice for me
now under the present conditions.

However, I understand that VB 2005 may be
available during the first half of November, 2005

I will wait and see what develops in November
and then will have a better idea as to whether
I should go with .Net or 2005