I'm A VB: Ed Lance

VBTeam

Website: http://sandiegodatapro.com

 

·        How long have you been using VB?

I have been using VB since around 1995 when I started developing with Access.

 

·        What industry do you work in?

I own a software development company.  We develop custom, data intensive, corporate software for many industries, including manufacturing, construction, retail and insurance.

 

·        How big is your development team?

Around three people.  We use subcontractors to add capacity when we need it.

 

·        What kind of apps do you most commonly build?

ASP.Net apps, sometimes with SQL Server reports, Windows apps, Access apps, either stand alone or as front ends to SQL Server databases.

 

·        What’s the most interesting app you’ve ever built?

One client recently asked me to build an entire accounting system!  I’m learning more about accounting than I ever thought I would.  I am still building it, but I think it already qualifies as most interesting.

 

·        Please tell us about an app that you’re working on at the moment.

I am finishing up an online insurance application.  Agents fill in online forms, and the data is submitted via web services to the company’s back end underwriting system.  The online form is an intelligent wizard style interface.  The app is made to be able to add other form sets in the future.  The user can also export their online data to PDF forms.

 

·        What other technologies do you most commonly use?

Heavy SQL Server development, databases and reporting, Access, HTML/CSS/javascript, Acrobat forms, a little Sharepoint.  We will be doing Silverlight in the future, with VB of course!

 

·        What are some of your favorite VB features?

The My namespace has proven useful to get things done quickly.  Just having VB be a first rate OO language on the .Net platform is wonderful.  I remember too well what it was like before!

 

·        What do you like most about VB as a programming language?

I think VB is a highly readable language (better than a bunch of ‘;’ and ‘{‘).  That creates more maintainable, and thus less costly code.  It is a great language for beginners, but also has all the power to create professional, high quality finished applications.  It is too bad that Microsoft has failed to support and encourage its use as a first rate, professional development language, since it moved to .Net.

 

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