Why VB is popular in America!

[PIEBALDconsult]

mikemarquard wrote:

let you pick the base

Untested:

public partial class Array<T>
{
protected T[] array ;

public Array
(
  int BaseIndex
,
  int Capacity
)
{
  this.BaseIndex = BaseIndex ;

  this.array = new T \[ Capacity \] ;

  return ;
}

public virtual int BaseIndex { get ; private set ; }

public virtual int Capacity 
{
  get
  {
    return ( this.array.Length ) ;
  }
}

public virtual T
this
\[
  int Index
\]
{
  get
  {
    return ( this.array \[ Index + this.BaseIndex \] ) ;
  }

  set
  {
    this.array \[ Index + this.BaseIndex \]  = value ;

    return ;
  }
}

}

[BobJanova]

What I remember of US hotels is that they often number 'L, 2, 3 ...'.

[BobJanova]

What is floor overrun? Yes we have multi-storey buildings. What kind of country do you think it is :p

[BobJanova]

It wouldn't normally be 'floor 0', it would be 'the ground floor' (or G in lifts and stairwells and things where they label it). I don't see how that makes less sense than being on 'the garage floor' ...

[BobJanova]

Should be Index - BaseIndex, I think. And it should have either Length or Count to fit with array/collection convention. But not bad for a lounge post ;)

[ii_noname_ii]

Huh?! Should I be worried about american predator drones dropping bombs to liberate me from the tyranny of C languages? *waves a white flag with VB on it*

[Fabio Franco]

And some Brazilians

"To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson

[StarNamer work]

Of course, the really ridiculous thing is that VB accepts the syntax

Dim myArray(0 to 10) As Double

but produces the error Array lower bounds can be only '0' if you try to use a different value for the lower bound. Plus, of course, the function LBound(array) exists to determine an array's lower bound (which must be zero!). I've also thought this was a backward step, since it would would make so much more sense to have the compiler/runtime keep track the base offsets of arrays instead of forcing the programmer to do it.

[MSBassSinger]

I don't get your point. VB uses zero based indices. VB6 had the flexibility to allow you to define what the number was the initial index in an array is - perhaps that is what is confusing you. Also, VB was very popular in Europe. You are right that VB is an American creation - as are most good things. :) Americans (from the traditional American culture) do focus on getting the job done with excellence in the shortest time possible. VB was created to do that, and certainly allowed that level of productivity. Even to this day, I prefer VB.NET to C#, although I've spent over 10 years developing in C#. Unfortunately, many Americans have adopted a neo-European culture, and programmers I know liek that do prefer C/C++/Java to VB, even though it is less productive.

[agolddog]

One of the things Australia certainly has going for it is understanding the proper meaning of VB: http://www.vb.com.au/[^]

[Nish Nishant]

True :-D

Regards, Nish

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My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

[Nish Nishant]

MSBassSinger wrote:

I don't get your point. VB uses zero based indices.   VB6 had the flexibility to allow you to define what the number was the initial index in an array is - perhaps that is what is confusing you.

Okay, the original post was meant as humor (hence the joke icon). That said, it's also a CodeProject meme from a few years ago where some of us (mostly John, CG and myself) would joke about C/C++ guys 0-indexing in real life vs VB guys who'd use 1-based indexing. By default, Dim a as int(10) means a 11-item array indexed from 0 to 10. int a[10] means a 10-item array indexed from 0 to 9. So typically Basic devs would just treat it as a 10-item collection indexed from 1 to 10 (ignoring the 0th element).

MSBassSinger wrote:

prefer C/C++/Java to VB, even though it is less productive.

C++ is not less productive. It has certain usage scenarios where any other language fails.

Regards, Nish

---

My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

[Nish Nishant]

Fabio Franco wrote:

And some Brazilians

Yeah, you Brazilians! :rolleyes:

Regards, Nish

---

My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

[Lost User]

Again, it depends on the building. Some may do that, some may do as I posted. I guess my point is wether your an Aussie, Brit, or born in the USofA you will be confused unless you observe what the building is doing. On a similar point rarely (but not always) is there a 13th floor. Superstition and all. However, as I said this is not always the case. Similarily in Japan you will see the 4th floor missing (not always though).

Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet.

[MSBassSinger]

Nishant Sivakumar wrote: C++ is not less productive. It has certain usage scenarios where any other language fails. Actually, it is less productive from a project standpoint. C and C++ do a few things very well. One example is floating point calculations. Just to build on that one exmaple, if I have a project that has some floating point calculations, such as GPS or finance, in the initial version of the app I would do them in VB, and in later versions, convert them to C or C++ for the performance gain. And here is why - Assuming equally proficient C++ and VB developers, for a given application, it takes about 1/3rd to 1/2 as long to write a stable, scalable, decent performing, OO, application in VB as it does to write it in C++ or Java. That means the app gets to market sooner. Then, in later versions, the developers and testers can identify performance bottlenecks, and replace VB classes with C++ classes where it makes a difference. Since the project was OO to start with, the interface contracts remain the same, so the C++ becomes a drop-in replacement (or nearly so, depending on the implementation). And this approach was true even in the VB6 days. If development time is not an issue, such as when writing a program on your own with no concern for marketshare, and you program in C++, then by all means stick with that. But in the world that pays the bills, getting to market first is a prime consideration. Nishant Sivakumar wrote: the original post was meant as humor (hence the joke icon) I noticed that, but for something to have humor, it needs to have some basis in truth. VB arrays were and are zero indexed. That kind of undermines the attempt at humor.

[Kirk Wood]

Aside from the simple fact that there is no numbering standard for floors in America, (The convention is very loose.) I don't believe that those numbering the floors ask programmers or mathmatics people at all. But VB was indeed designed for the non-pogrammer. I did find encouraging though that in school my kids were taught to start counting at zero.

[Rutvik Dave]

There is no way some people are going to take this as joke :laugh:

[SeattleC]

Oh, thinly disguised US-bashing troll. Maybe the reason why VB is "popular" in the US is because the US leads the world in computing, with more software, more software engineers, more papers and patents, etc. That means even relatively lame tools like VB have a larger following here. Maybe also it's because BASIC was invented in 1963 at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, when most of Europe was still dreaming pulp sci-fi dreams of "electronic brains". Many BASICs in the US can address the zero-th element of an array. The ANSI standard for BASIC even has a statement, called OPTION BASE that says whether to start numbering array elements at 0 or 1. The US is also the birthplace of C, C++, and Java, which unashamedly number arrays from 0. I've been told these languages are even popular in Europe.

[Nish Nishant]

Member 2941392 wrote:

Oh, thinly disguised US-bashing troll.

The US is my home :-)

Member 2941392 wrote:

Maybe the reason why VB is "popular" in the US is because the US leads the world in computing, with more software, more software engineers, more papers and patents, etc. That means even relatively lame tools like VB have a larger following here. Maybe also it's because BASIC was invented in 1963 at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, when most of Europe was still dreaming pulp sci-fi dreams of "electronic brains".
 
Many BASICs in the US can address the zero-th element of an array. The ANSI standard for BASIC even has a statement, called OPTION BASE that says whether to start numbering array elements at 0 or 1.

Okay, the original post was meant as humor (hence the joke icon). That said, it's also a CodeProject meme from a few years ago where some of us (mostly John, CG and myself) would joke about C/C++ guys 0-indexing in real life vs VB guys who'd use 1-based indexing. By default, Dim a as int(10) means a 11-item array indexed from 0 to 10. int a[10] means a 10-item array indexed from 0 to 9. So typically Basic devs would just treat it as a 10-item collection indexed from 1 to 10 (ignoring the 0th element).

Regards, Nish

---

My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

[User 3760773]

Hmm... Even in C we talk about an array, element array[0] is the 1st one, isn't it?