[Gambas-user] Why is Gambas so frowned upon in the Linux programming community

[Rob]

On Sunday 30 March 2008 17:58, jbskaggs wrote:
> One of the responses was this snippy response that People in the
> Ubuntu community do not use a vb clone and they would not like to
> either.  That I should use Python or C++.

Well, you only got one response in the hour since you posted it, and 
that guy seems to be a Python fanatic (he didn't mention C++ and most 
of his other posts are about Python).  His screen name works out 
to "MS Sever".  So, consider the source.

On other Gambas threads in the Ubuntu forums there hasn't been the 
same level of negativity, and I've generally found those forums to be 
helpful and friendly though I've never looked for Gambas help there.

> Is it because VB was used in windows?  or that Gambas is tearing
> down a wall of superiority of linux programmers.

Yes, and yes.  Linux coders see an IDE with a BASIC-like language and 
immediately (1) think of corporate wage slaves, (2) think of what a 
horrific language VB was (and BASIC itself was), and (3) feel 
threatened because it puts less experienced coders on almost equal 
footing with them.  Users of high-level languages with less mature or 
less integrated IDEs, like Python, will feel especially threatened 
because they can imagine a world where everyone but them has switched 
to BASIC.

I don't know if you were around when VB first came out, but all the 
Turbo Pascal users laughed and pointed fingers, and then howled about 
how horrible it was.  Then they all ended up coding in it anyway, 
because Delphi (TP for Windows) turned out to be kind of a niche 
language.  They're probably all .NET programmers now.

Python, however, is not going to fall flat on its face, so you can 
expect the "get a real language" line to continue to be thrown at you 
by ignorant people who think Gambas is a VB clone.

> without crutches like gui generation, why I should learn harder
> languages if Gambas does everything I want?

I'm with you; I'm pretty comfortable in C/C++, and have rolled my own 
GUIs with it, and have done the same in Perl, Tcl and other languages 
as well.  But I would rather use whatever gets the job done quickest 
so that I can get more jobs.  I'm doing this mostly for business, not 
jerking around in my mom's basement or something to show my Internet 
buddies how elite I am.

Rob