We’ve come a long way

This is a bit of a reflective post. I love programming in C# ΓÇô it has so many features, the documentation is abundant and there are so many code samples to help you find a way to do almost anything (I *will* get it to make my coffee some day!). I go back to programming in Visual FoxPro quite regularly and, despite some quite intricate features that weΓÇÖve built in over the years, it just feels a little old school.

…but then I’ve started programming for a portable scanner in BASIC. No variable scoping, no user defined functions, no passing parameters (GOSUB and GOTO *shudder*) and all the code is in one file – 5000 lines and not even a procedure list for bookmarks. The compiler is buggy in a way that only just seems familiar – when was the last time you had to rearrange an if-then-else statement to get it to work properly?

DonΓÇÖt get me wrong ΓÇô IΓÇÖm actually enjoying the challenge but it just makes you really appreciate how good weΓÇÖve got it now.