Interesting question. I may be showing my age but here goes. When I started all of our programming was done with a soldering iron and we spent most of our time replacing vacume tubes. Yep, that's right. Just think, where did the first programmer get his training? The first doctor, the first engineer etc. Formal training is great when it is available. However it will always be 3 to 10 years behind the technology (plus school time). To answer your question. I get most of my training on the run from books, magazines, seminars and lots of sites like this one. I don't except any popular system or hardware until I have tested, experimented and otherwise proven the scope and limitations of it and the people behind it. Good training helps us to avoid making mistakes. However, it has been shown that we often learn more from our mistakes than our sucesses. To be ahead of today's competition people need to be at the front of the group. Old eskimo saying: "If you are not the lead dog, the scenary never changes." The best training is to learn to organize you approach not just to work but everything you do. Aristotle is quoted as saying "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit." Good work habits evolve from good life habits. Polyprogrammer

Dead on! Polyphonic

I won't argue with your approach, I agree to a large extent. However I expect that you might concure the no technology has longevity. It's just the nature of the beast. Ideally the best system should have the least complexity to learn and implement while being highly economical to obtain (buy or rent). Of course such a system would and should put all of us out of business. If you are not having fun you are doing it wrong. As Lilly Tomlin once said in her one woman show, Is there any intelligent life in the universe, "Reality is just a collective hunch!" Enjoy the ride. Polyprogrammer

You should be starting to understand it soon! Polyprogrammer

You sure put someone in their place. I recall that VB6 was also touted as being more powerful and possesed overall superior concepts as well. Granted that was in VB6's heyday. Some people, and we all are in some form of minority, still like to squeeze every bit sic) out of older information. Who knows there might be something to be learned. Reguarding support from microsoft: They rarely do anything that dosen't PUSH people into a direction that greatly benefits the microsoft world idea. Mind you it is great that Bill has found a way to impose his world view through software. Not everyone has to follow behind him in lock step. Perhaps the old idea of fair competition should be forgotten. After all isn't the (insert platform name here) platform perfect and totally bug free, virus proof and crash resistant? We do use VB.Net, C++ and others (even Assembly) but we also use VB6 it has uses. The point is we are all on a "ladder" don't kick those below you or you might just get kicked by those above you. Polyphonic

Ohhh the young (less experenced) are so inclined to reinvent the wheel. Wait until you have a few decades of diverse experience under your belt and then see if you are so quick to 'toss' out the old for the new. By the way we also use VB.Net, C++, Unix and others when it is apropriate. Polyphonic

Reguarding the "Majority" of people: Since we are all "Ego Centric" one often believes one's own group to be in the majority. A must read should be "How To Lie With Statistics". It is only about 200 pages long but packed with enabling information. I am not discounting C++ (it is one of many platforms we use here) just the mistaken belief that it is the "GOD" of the programming world. Every one of us is in the minority in some group somewhere. Just be careful when you discount something that you are inexperenced at using. C++ is great for what it does but then VB6 is also great for doing what it is intended for as well. Unix, Fortran, Cobal, Pascal even Assembly and others all have a valid use and place. We encourage people to not be limited Polyphonic

It would be nice to have a place just for VB6. Not everyone is "born again" C++ or VB.NET..... There is still a lot of life left in VB6 in spite of attempts to exterminate it. Here we use VB6 as a fast concept test platform before desiding what platform to use for the final product. Other platforms are not as fast to 'throw togeather' a quick proof of concept demo in order to get initial funding. Access to other VB6 users in simular circumstances was the primary reason that I signed on to the code project. We are offended when it is sugested that VB6 users should be "brought into the fold of VB.NET". VB6 is used for a reason just like C++, ASP.NET, VB.NET and others have their uses. Only monosylibic programers lack the diversity to expect everyone to "convert" to their platform. Broad experience allows one to know which platform is best suited for any given application. Diversity is key to being able to compete effectivly, just look at microsoft. "When you find yourself in a hole, Stop digging" (author unknown). They keep potting out crap code. Just don't throw away any tools just because you aren't familiar with them. How many of you can do assembly? The point is to learn as much as possible. Thank you. Poly-programmer