Editor's//Comment

The Best of Both Worlds

By David Riggs

Most of the correspondence I receive from readers relatesto one particular facet of asp.netPRO:The Language War: ?Not enough (insert the development language you use here)?;?Too much (insert the development language you don?t use here)?. For example:

I read your commentin the January 2005 Letters section about providing ?the right mix of contentin the language of your choice?. I disagree. I have searched through pastissues and C# code dominates the magazine.

While I understandyou cannot use both in the production copy of the magazine because of costfactors, why can?t you provide the downloadable code in both languages?

Why not putyourselves above and beyond any competition and provide the solutions writtenin both languages on your web site as downloads? I know for myself if youprovided VB.NET code for all articles, it would be a no brainer to renew mysubscription. As it is, with only about 50 pages an issue and only half writtenfor VB.NET, I may look elsewhere to get the most bangfor my buck. Give me a reason to stay a subscriber! Give us VB.NET! ? LynnetteD. Stevens

Many others have also written in to gently suggest we providecode in both C# and VB.NET. And you know, they?re right. Although the concepts addressed oftenknow no language barriers, you don?t subscribe to a programming magazine so thatyou have to translate syntax.

Now, there?s always that old adage that says you can?tplease all the people all the time. But darn it, I figure the least we can dois try. Thankfully, the writers feel the same way; I got virtually no pushbackwhen I requested code downloads to accommodate both camps (proving that otherlong-standing axiom, ask and ye shall receive).

So, when applicable and when possible, we are going tomake every effort to present each article?s downloadable code in bothlanguages. In fact, you may have noticed several articles in the April issueemploying this comprehensive approach, including Ken McNamee?s ToolKitcolumn and Dr. Shahram Khosrovi?s feature article, DropDownListField.

Continuing this trying-to-please-everyone-all-the-timeapproach, this month?s articles that include examples in C# and VB.NET includeDavid Lloyd?s TheNeed for Speed, Dino Esposito?s CoreCoder column, MeasuringYour Usage of Session State, and Dr. Shahram Khosrovi?s feature, XmlDataSourceEnhanced.

Thanks for letting me know how we can better serve yourASP.NET programming needs. And thanks for reading.

David Riggs is editor-in-chief of asp.netPRO and itscompanion e-newsletter, asp.netNOW. Reach him at mailto:driggs@informant.com.