MVP Profile: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=8BAFA316-058B-44A9-84F0-F8228EAB6379

Blog: http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/wilson/

Website: http://www.clinicmaster.net/

·        How long have you been using VB?

Well, despite the fact that I was already a physics graduate, I learned how to switch on a computer in 2000, the same year I wrote my first program in C. C-language made me learn DOS before windows. However, I could not produce a window in C and that’s when I jumped onto VB 6/MS Access and did lots of work out of self-drive and self-training. I didn’t know about VB .NET/C# until I got my first IT related job late 2002, and when our supply of Visual Studio brought us Visual Studio .NET (we had ordered for Visual Studio 6.0 though). I went for VB .NET/MS SQL Server, and learned it all ranging from being a functions writer in VB 6 to an OOP applications developer.

·        What industry do you work in?

Healthcare provider, where I have mainly develop databases that facilitate research in HIV/AIDs vaccine and treatment. However, I also work with a variety of industries when I am contracted to develop software outside my current employment.

·        How big is your development team?

I am a sole developer at my place of work; however, I work with different kinds of people to understand information flow or with 2-3 developers when I am doing consultancy work.

·        What kind of apps do you most commonly build?

Mostly I build re-usable components notably, data access layer or data access in general, automatic code generation and custom controls.

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

ClinicMaster Software (www.clinicmaster.net), a healthcare information management and medical billing software. It automates patients’ transactions in the clinic on a visit basis and daily procedures especially those on Antiretroviral (ARVs).

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

ClinicMaster Software; it’s an ongoing concept and I’m currently working on functionality that will help clinicians collaborate easily via sending short messages and images among themselves. The system should also be able to send short messages reminding patients of their appointments etc.

·        What other technologies do you most commonly use?

MS – SQL Server/T-SQL, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript

·        What are some of your favorite VB features?

Generics; I do consider generics as a killer feature in VB. They made my day when I was able to do transactions with ease in my Data Access Layer. http://tinyurl.com/VBGenerics

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

The fact that VB is fully OOP is enough for me to like the language. There should be no major feature that is added onto some other language such as C# and not in VB. Actually in VB we want it all and hopefully we should be the first to know.

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