(08-25-2022, 11:02 PM)Ed Davis Wrote:(08-25-2022, 10:53 PM)JRace Wrote: BTW, I learned just a few days ago that the .NET framework has built-in VB and C# command-line compilers. How come nobody ever tells me these things? (Not that it matters, I still don't like .NET)
Apparently, starting with Windows 7, Visual Basic .Net comes pre-installed with Windows.
To use it, you can make a batch file that points to it:
c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\vbc %*
If you only have 32-bit Windows, then you might need to use:
c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\vbc %*
Not sure why VB.Net doesn't get much love - I really like it! For simple Console quick and dirty programs, it is great!
Your last sentence nails it. An openly available c/l compiler could be VERY useful for q'n'd tasks, but all I had ever heard about until recently were MS's multi-gigabyte development systems & IDE's, which I will not allow on my machines.
As far as .NET, well, I personally don't like programs with big dependencies, and .NET, like JAVA, is a BIG mother of a dependency. Much of my past work involved supporting older installations (both Windows and DOS) which could not run modern MS products, especially .NET, so I prefer to program for the least common denominator.
(And to anyone who says "They should have upgraded their computers!": It aint that easy. YOU try to convince corporate bean counters and executives to pay multiple millions of dollars to upgrade their PCs, software, and everything out there "in the field" that depends on those PCs and that software. If the setup works, they just want you to keep it working until the next generation of management has to pay for it.)
Anyway, while I don't care for VB's flavor of Basic, a well-documented c/l compiler that's already there could be quite handy in a pinch.