its been 5 years that i haven't been programming 2

[horev]

with "Clipper" thinking this language had been "gone" but now, having found this forum, i see that it is still "living and kicking".
I hope someone will bother answering me the following questions:
Can "Clipper" be used for Internet apps ? (like c++ server side apps). Is it a great problem or investment for someone like me who worked for a long time with 5.2 version to create Windows apps ? What does it require ?
And the 1 million dollars question: "Is it possible to find a job for a clipper programmer ?"
5 years ago i was dismissed from the last place where i could work with Clipper and since than, I could no more find a job as a programmer because Clipper is the only language in whice i'm experienced and no one here works any more with it.
Thanks !

 

[Stella740pl]

horev,

I may be partial here, but after not programming for 5 years (and probably needing some time to brush up on your skills anyway), why don't you spend the time to upgrade to Visual FoxPro (the most recent version 9.0 released in 2005)? If you visit all and any of 5 VFP forums here, on Tek-Tips, you will find that VFP is much more "living and kicking" than any version of Clipper nowadays.

This, in my opinion, would be the answer to your 1 million dollars question, too. With Visual FoxPro, you will have more marketable skills than with Clipper, and if you later on also learn SQL Server, and possibly Web Programming (yes, this can be done with VFP), you will be much better off. Of course, the answer to this question will also depend on your location (and somewhat on what you have been doing during those 5 years away from programming).

You will probably need more time to learn it than you would need to brush up on your old skills, but still less than you would need to learn any totally new language, as VFP is also an xBase family language/database. I don't know how well are you familiar with OOP concepts or visual design, but take it from the former Clipper Summer'87 for DOS programmer: we all did it, so you can, too, if you already haven't.

Take a look at thread288-1184854.
Click on my handle and follow the links to all VFP forums here. You will see for yourself.

Stella.

 

[horev]

Thanks Stella,
If you could recommend which version of VFP i shuld use and where i can get a tutorial (if it exists in the internet) I would be even more gratefull.
Horev

 

[Stella740pl]

If you could recommend which version of VFP i shuld use
Well, I did. As mentioned, the latest and best ever version is VFP 9.0. I, personally, still use VFP 6.0, because that's what my company still has - I would be happy if they decide to upgrade, though.

The question on VFP learning resources has been answered before many times on VFP forums. This is what I found so far with a quick search:
thread184-1178276
thread184-1043626
thread184-1034936
thread184-996119
thread184-964072
thread184-960633
thread184-960344
thread184-932242
thread184-919317
thread184-530939
If you follow the links in all of threads (only some may repeat, but many are different from thread to thread), you will find plenty of good books as well as on-line tutorials and other resources.

Also, one of the first places you should go is probably Microsoft's own FoxPro site,

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/.

On this page, you can do search in MSDN documentation and knowledge base, and you can follow the link to VFP9 documentation.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...tml/e4bf4e99-e197-4b4c-879a-4ec3d29df1d9.asp.

Read on, it's a great resource.

As for books, some good books written for VFP6 are still relevant for all the fundamental issues in VFP9; if you get some of them, you will learn the differences later.

And as you learn, come with questions to the VFP forums directly.

If it's not a secret, where are you located?

And thanks for the star.

Good luck.

 

[horev]

Thanks again Stella,
Sorry to have made you search the forum for me, i haven't yet visited it because i'm still not a vfp programmer and i didn't think i would understand anything there.
I'm from Israel and "dot.net" is what people generally use here. I learnt vb in the past and asp but i wanted something more like "Clipper". I guess vfp is the ulimate answer but as i mentioned, i'm doubtfull about job prospect.

 

[Stella740pl]

i haven't yet visited it because i'm still not a vfp programmer and i didn't think i would understand anything there
You might understand more than you expect, especially in "Microsoft: VFP - Databases, SQL&VFP, and Reports" forum, and, possibly, some in "Microsoft: VFP -General Coding Issues" forum. Besides, if you follow the links to the threads that I posted, you will see that a lot of novices are coming, too.

As for the job prospects in Israel, you will have to research for yourself, before you invest too much time into studying anything at all. Maybe you will find that dot.net would a better investment for you - I can't say for sure.

But in any case, I don't think Clipper is worth you time, especially if you didn't work with it for 5 years, and couldn't find a job as a Clipper programmer during all that time. (You, probably, should have started to research what's hot and take a few classes years ago.)

Good luck.

Stella

 

[horev]

I guess this is it . I didnt like VB or ASP and even if i started studying some of those i still will be considrerd "unexperienced".
Difficult decision...
But i'm still gratefull for your enlightment.

 

[krishnarjunrao]

Hi Horev !
Now a days web development is on raise, please go for PHP. It is similar to clipper and much more. It is very easy for a clipper programmer to shift to PHP. You can develop standalone as well as web enabled applications using PHP. Try PHP and you will find Clipper in it.

 

[horev]

Hi krishnarjunaro !
Thank you first.
I did start learning PHP till I encountered the most "unclipper" difficulty. I wanted to work with database, downloaded "Mysql" and both PHP and MySql didnt match and i couldnt make them work together.
See why i miss so much Clipper ?

 

[Stella740pl]

horev,

I wanted to work with database, downloaded "Mysql" and both PHP and MySql didnt match and i couldnt make them work together.

Then you are in the wrong forum!
If you already found what to learn, and even started learning it, just encountered some difficulty, you should be searching and asking in the relevant forums, not Clipper!
You might find helpful forum434 - "PHP forum", forum436 - "MySql forum", threads like thread434-1192426 and thread434-1193552, and much more - all here, on Tek-Tips. Don't let some difficulty stop you.

Before long, you will stop missing Clipper.

Good luck!
Stella.