Visual fox Pro 9 is it worth me learning it

[iso96]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased visual fox pro 9 (got it cheap) with a view to learning it but i have just discovered it's been discontinued! I am now wondering is it worth me learning it or should i look for another development tool with a future? Visual fox pro sounds ideal for what i want which is designing database systems for small businesses.

any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

iso

 

[Mike Lewis]

Iso,

First of all, VFP hasn't been discontinued. It is still very much alive.

What you might have heard is that Microsoft is no longer working on new versions of VFP, and will eventually stop supporting it (which is also true of many of their other development tools; no product is suppoted indefinitely).

There are still many thousands of programmers around who are still using VFP, including to create new applications.

Whether it's worth your while learning it is a question that's difficult to answer without knowing more about your technical background, how easy you find it to learn new languages, and the type or application you are interested in developing.

Perhaps the following will help:

1. VFP is an extremely powerful and sophisticated tool, capable of producing the most demanding applications.

2. VFP is notoriously difficult to learn, not least because there are very few up-to-date beginner-level tutorials around.

3. It is an excellent tool for producing desktop applications, especially data-based applications. Its data handling is very efficient, and it's capable of producing stunning user interfaces.

4. It's not so good for producing web-based applications, and doesn't inter-operate well with .NET.

That's just my quick take on the subject. If you do decide to go for it, remember that there are plenty of folk in this forum who will happily answer your questions on VFP and generally help you get started.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro tips, advice, training, consultancy
Custom software for your business

 

[GriffMG]

To summarise Mikes very full analysis above I would give a one word answer:

Yes




Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

 

[cbasoz]

Asking this question on a VFP forum you would generally get biased replies.
IMHO it depends. If your small business is small and you don't think VFP as a development tool for your carrier then yes you can learn and live with VFP. If you are a developer (one who thinks to become a developer and earn his life with it) then I would suggest look into something else like C#, VB, Python, Ruby, Java ...
At least go to msdn site (msdn.microsoft.com/express) and get express versions for free to "play" and "test" yourself. You have VFP and getting them for free you could compare yourself.


Cetin Basoz
MS Foxpro MVP, MCP

 

[TamarGranor]

And if you do decide to learn VFP, check

http://www.hentzenwerke.com

for the largest selection of VFP books.

Tamar

 

[JRB-Bldr]

There is no doubt that Hentzenwerke has the biggest assortment of very good Visual Foxpro books.

However if you are starting out from the beginning with Visual Foxpro you might also get some benefit from the free videos (downloadable or view on-line) at:

http://www.garfieldhudson.com/FreeVideos.aspx

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr

 

[iso96]

Hi,

Thanks for all your comments and links, i'm going to give it a go. I have been using Adobe Director to create frontend interfaces linking to sql server/access backend dbs via ODBC. The trouble is because Director isn't designed for that kind of application it means a lot of programming to do a simple job, so i've been looking for an alternative from reading about VFP it sounded perfect but seeing that there will be no more future version releases it made me think should i go in another direction. I was looking also at Windev has anyone any thoughts on that? the problem with that is its a bit pricey and theres not a single book available in english (the app itself sounds impressive though).

Also does microsoft not offer any alternative to upgrade from VFP 9 for example visual studio 2010? Also if i learn VFP would it be a small step for me to move to VS 2010 at a later date?

thanks

iso

 

[Mike Lewis]

Also does microsoft not offer any alternative to upgrade from VFP 9 for example visual studio 2010? Also if i learn VFP would it be a small step for me to move to VS 2010 at a later date?

VFP is really outside the Visual Studio world, and there is no easy upgrade path from VFP to VS. Way back in version 6.0, Microsoft tried to integrate the two platforms, but they then started moving VS in a different direction and gave up the attempt.

You're right that VFP is a good choice to serve as a front end to the likes of Access and SQL Server via ODBC. But if you feel that VS would offer you more in the long run, then C# or VB.NET would also be a good choice in that regard. Personally, I find VFP much easier, but that just reflects my background.

Since you already own a copy of VFP, I'd suggest you make a start on learning it. You can always change your mind if you find you don't like it.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro tips, advice, training, consultancy
Custom software for your business

 

[Nifrabar]

Check out the book 1001 things you wanted to know about Visual Foxpro.

This book comes with very many usable examples (based upon VFP6)

There are sample chapters available on hentzenberge's site.

HTH
-Bart

 

[baltman]

I love VFP and wish it was going to stick around. That said, if you want to convert your learning into jobs and cash, you will get a better bang for your investment with learning Java, C#, VB/VBA (.NET) and SQL Server/Oracle.

Sad but true.

 

[roger9991]

VFP is so much better than ASP.net and Visual Studio.net. The database functions are much easier and faster in VFP. However, VFP is not easy to in a browser or web based program.

 

[cbasoz]

VFP is so much better than ASP.net and Visual Studio.net. The database functions are much easier and faster in VFP. However, VFP is not easy to in a browser or web based program.

I too love VFP and respect such sentimental comments but we should be objective.

"The database functions are much easier and faster in VFP" may only be true if it is native VFP data and saying data you are thinking of the most simple data types like string, numeric, datetime, logical and a few more and almost all the time working with things that could be done in 2D.

Cetin Basoz
MS Foxpro MVP, MCP

 

[cbasoz]

PS: Think of 64 bits, multiple CPUs, mobiles, cloud, ... too.

Cetin Basoz
MS Foxpro MVP, MCP

 

[Scott24x7]

That's the real rub... it's less about the tool continuing to be "supported", and more about the platforms that as they grow and expand, you won't have access to. That may not seem like a big deal now, but in 10 years time. (What ever happened to Enable? Even the government was using that... you'd have thought it would be around forever, but no, it vanished).

And just like the DOS apps of yesteryear, its only a matter of time before interfaces evolve (mouse support... what's next?) and it's left behind. It's not about what we know today, it's about what we don't know today.

I'm a die-hard Fox, VFP fan, developing in it for nearly 20 years now, and even I can't justify staying with it. It's time to move to the 5th stage of grieving... acceptance. If you're going to invest time in learning something, learn something new that will take you into the next 15 - 20 years. Like it or not, VFP is not on that list.


Best Regards,
Scott

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler."