New Boss Equals Many Changes
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
Do you have to convert all existing code? Strike a deal with the guy to do all new stuff in C#. After all you can have solutions that include both VB.Net projects and C# projects.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Do you have to convert all existing code? Strike a deal with the guy to do all new stuff in C#. After all you can have solutions that include both VB.Net projects and C# projects.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Well, he actually hasn't started officially yet, just made a visit and we had brief conversation. But, the intention I'm seeing is that all NEW code first, followed by existing code later.
Zhat wrote:
NEW code first, followed by existing code later.
That's not too bad. After all, sometimes converting old code can take forever and sometimes it never quite works properly, does it? ;)
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
Zhat wrote:
go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must…
Customers don't care for sure. It's about making the developers happy :)
Zhat wrote:
(something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#).
Dev1: Yeah Boss, no Boss, you can't do that in VB.NET. To list the items in order, we first need to stem them through a jingle, and you need a real language for that. We could do this in Lisp or C#, but for Lisp we'd all need new keyboards. Boss: OK, How much does this C# thing cost? Dev1: Nothing actually. We... Boss: Nothing? Are you trying to sneak some Open Sauce software in? Dev2: No! It's included in our multi-billion dollar MSDN subscription! Boss: Oh! So go ahead with that Sharpsee thing! Dev1: *Strike!* Dev2: *Strike!*
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | µLaunch - program launcher for server core and hyper-v server. -
So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
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Do you have to convert all existing code? Strike a deal with the guy to do all new stuff in C#. After all you can have solutions that include both VB.Net projects and C# projects.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
Exactly what I was going to say. Slow assimilation is so much better than migration.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
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Zhat wrote:
NEW code first, followed by existing code later.
That's not too bad. After all, sometimes converting old code can take forever and sometimes it never quite works properly, does it? ;)
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Zhat wrote:
go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must…
Customers don't care for sure. It's about making the developers happy :)
Zhat wrote:
(something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#).
Dev1: Yeah Boss, no Boss, you can't do that in VB.NET. To list the items in order, we first need to stem them through a jingle, and you need a real language for that. We could do this in Lisp or C#, but for Lisp we'd all need new keyboards. Boss: OK, How much does this C# thing cost? Dev1: Nothing actually. We... Boss: Nothing? Are you trying to sneak some Open Sauce software in? Dev2: No! It's included in our multi-billion dollar MSDN subscription! Boss: Oh! So go ahead with that Sharpsee thing! Dev1: *Strike!* Dev2: *Strike!*
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | µLaunch - program launcher for server core and hyper-v server.As funny as that is, this guy is fairly sharp (no pun intended), but he's not a true hands on developer, where as my group, including myself, live in code all day (I just have to add the extra responsibilities of manging at the same time). I didn't have time to ask him for details but we'll discuss this again.
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Good question, well written. 5.
Join the cool kids - Come fold with us[^]
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
It sounds like he's made a snap decision, based on experience with a company other than yours (which therefore has different needs), so has not looked seriously at the overall profit from changing everything. Changing a process or working practice must (in order of priority): 0. Provide better service to customers. 1. Save on production time and/or overheads, with no loss in the quality of delivered goods. 2. Make the work easier, again with no loss in the quality of delivered goods. "I prefer it this way!" is Never a good enough reason for changing established processes, and the cost of making a change has to be properly assessed and tested before it's foist on people. I have a word for people who breeze in and say "Oh, we should do everything this way!", but this forum is KSS.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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It sounds like he's made a snap decision, based on experience with a company other than yours (which therefore has different needs), so has not looked seriously at the overall profit from changing everything. Changing a process or working practice must (in order of priority): 0. Provide better service to customers. 1. Save on production time and/or overheads, with no loss in the quality of delivered goods. 2. Make the work easier, again with no loss in the quality of delivered goods. "I prefer it this way!" is Never a good enough reason for changing established processes, and the cost of making a change has to be properly assessed and tested before it's foist on people. I have a word for people who breeze in and say "Oh, we should do everything this way!", but this forum is KSS.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Mark Wallace wrote:
It sounds like he's made a snap decision,
Well, maybe. But even if he did/does, I need to move forward, keep projects on track and start to eventually convert existing code. I'm in need of something reliable, that will Help do the conversion (I have no misgivings there's a 'fix' all tool out there) and keep my folks motivated to continue doing great work.
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
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Yep, which is why I'm asking if anyone has experience. I'm not ready to just dive in blindly and convert some very large projects from scratch, while our users are expecting new applications...
Ignore the telerik online converter. It's crap. If you have A LOT of code, it might be worth buying a commercial convesrion product. In the end (and going either way in the conversion) not everything is going to convert. I've had to go through this process a couple of times, and it's not too god-awful bad. I would assign one guy the task of initial conversion, and have him comment the code where he had to manually convert something so you can be aware of the "sticking points". After the converter guy can get an application to compile and run reasonably weel, turn the other devs loose on testing it, and you should end up with a decent conversion in minimal time.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
The is a free add-on for (the free) Reflector that will allow you to convert entire assemblies between C# and VB.Net. The only problem I found was that it doesn't like to convert "on error goto" stuff in VB.Net to C# (ran into that problem when trying to convert from VB6 to VB.Net to C#). Oh, and comments are removed from the code. If you want to keep the comments, you can do a find/replace and replace:
' Some comment.
With:
dim commentVariable as string = "Some comment."
Then, when you're in C#, you can convert it back from a string to a comment. Make sure not to forget the triple apostrophe comments that are used in VB.Net.
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
I converted a couple of big applications over at my last job, the code was very poor and had been written in a hurry so to start with I wrote hundreds of unit tests as well as booked time with the testers so that I could be confident that my conversion would be bug free code. I then used sharp develop (company had no money so i forced to use a free tool) to convert the code over, (note I have not used that tool for anything older than .net 1.1). If you dont have unit tests in your code then it is a great excuss to get them in and upgrade to the latest framework. I will be honest I agree with your director though you should be moving away from vb.net as its functionlity wiht in .net is slowly reduced by microsoft. but also because though your current team is vb literate future staff wont be so much as vb is not that popular language by universitys and colleges (well atleast in the uk) using c# will allow you to confidently higher junior develeopers with java or c++ skill who will be able to hit the ground running more on the programming side as they will be use the syntax. But I knwo at this stage probably with 20 million other thing on the go this task is of low priority and is annoying, but you might consider it a good task to get new guys up to speed on your products as they convert it over and if you utilise your source control properly wiht automated testing then anyone can convert a section or write unit tests when they have a free minute. Good luck with it.
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Do you have to convert all existing code? Strike a deal with the guy to do all new stuff in C#. After all you can have solutions that include both VB.Net projects and C# projects.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
An interesting move from your director if I may say so. What was his motive behind the switch? I (and my team) also code in VB.Net and this is still a very good language. There is really no difference in code apart from personal preference. This is also very much part of Microsofts software development language roadmap. The only downside I can see at this point in time is that c# tends to be the prefered so any code samples will be c# rather than VB. My view is that if you can do one or both then surly it does not matter what lanuage you code in as long as the client gets what they want. If someone were to ask me to change the code language they had better come up with a reasonable reason why! or am I missing something?
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Well, he actually hasn't started officially yet, just made a visit and we had brief conversation. But, the intention I'm seeing is that all NEW code first, followed by existing code later.
Zhat wrote:
the intention I'm seeing is that all NEW code first, followed by existing code later.
Such a waste of time and money unless there is a bonafide real world reason to change it that will benefit both customers and the product in general. If your development team are versatile enough to work in either language, then there seems like no good reason to rewrite existing code into another language other than for Mr.New Director to 'make his mark'.
---Guy H ;-)---
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So, my team (I’m the programming manger) has been developing Web/Windows based applications using, dare I say…VB.NET (go ahead, say what you want, we like it, it does what we need it to do, and our end users/customers absolutely love what we do for them, so let the jokes fly if you must… :) ). Anyway, we just got a new Director, and his first mandate is to stop all VB.NET development and start doing it in C# (something about his prior team not being able to do something in VB.NET, like a web service, so they just switched to C#). Good news is that my team can actually code in either, though we’re much better with VB.NET so any new development won’t be too difficult. BUT! Our existing code/applications, some of which took years to write and get to the point of where they are today won’t be so much fun. So, is there any reliable tool(s) out there, that folks have actual experience with, that we can use to convert or assist us in conversion? I see plenty in my Google search, but have no personal experience. My team is small, yet we produce a high quantity (as well as very high quality) of projects for our end users and have a running list to keep us busy for a very long time. We view that as a slow down to that process (yet we don’t have any problem switching as we see either one as a viable solution for our development efforts). Thanks in advance.
Never used it but been told about SharpDevelop's inbuilt Converter http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Features.aspx[^] (various to various) or online: http://codeconverter.sharpdevelop.net/[^]