Editor's//Comment

The Best of Both Worlds

By David Riggs

Most of the correspondence I receive from readers relates to 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 comment in the January 2005 Letters section about providing the right mix of content in the language of your choice . I disagree. I have searched through past issues and C# code dominates the magazine.

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

Why not put yourselves above and beyond any competition and provide the solutions written in both languages on your web site as downloads? I know for myself if you provided VB.NET code for all articles, it would be a no brainer to renew my subscription. As it is, with only about 50 pages an issue and only half written for VB.NET, I may look elsewhere to get the most bang for my buck. Give me a reason to stay a subscriber! Give us VB.NET! Lynnette D. Stevens

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

Now, there s always that old adage that says you can t please all the people all the time. But darn it, I figure the least we can do is try. Thankfully, the writers feel the same way; I got virtually no pushback when I requested code downloads to accommodate both camps (proving that other long-standing axiom, ask and ye shall receive).

So, when applicable and when possible, we are going to make every effort to present each article s downloadable code in both languages. In fact, you may have noticed several articles in the April issue employing this comprehensive approach, including Ken McNamee s ToolKit column and Dr. Shahram Khosrovi s feature article, DropDownListField.

Continuing this trying-to-please-everyone-all-the-time approach, this month s articles that include examples in C# and VB.NET include David Lloyd s The Need for Speed, Dino Esposito s CoreCoder column, Measuring Your Usage of Session State, and Dr. Shahram Khosrovi s feature, XmlDataSource Enhanced.

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

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