How did that happen? Well, lets explain.
Bytelink must multithread
It's almost as simple as that. Bytelink has so much stuff going on at the same time, the best way of handling everything is to have it all on separate threads. GUI control, networking, music playback, script handling, the lot. VB6's handling of multithreading is poor. Why? People hadn't really considered multithreading back when VB6 was invented, so it wasn't included as part of the language. These days, Microsoft know what they are doing (sort of), and have included robust multithreading support in VB2K5.
I hate VB6
Yes its true, I just don't like VB6 as a language, and I like the editor even less. You have to install a hack so that your scrollwheel will work. Ugh. When you get something wrong in your code, you get a wavy red line and an obscure error message. You have to sort out all your errors yourself. VB2K5 changes all this. It has a tasty, tasty IDE, which actually offers intelligent suggestions as to why your code isn't working. It even helps you solve the problems as you go. You type in
Dim x As Variant
and it automatically changes it to
Dim x As Object
because the Variant datatype no longer exists in the VB langua
ge. Brilliant.
Anyone can write VB2005
Oh yes, yes they can. Microsoft decided to release a version of the IDE known as the Express edition. There are fewer features, but Express will happily open Professional projects and vice versa. So when the time came to hire a new member of the development team, I didn't have to worry about buying them an expensive piece of software.
We hired another developer
Oh yes, yes we did. GrimReapa (long time forum addict) has been slowly moving up the Bytelink ranks, becoming forum Moderator, followed by Wiki Admin, followed by forum Admin. GrimReapa is now part of the development team, and is slowly learning our style of coding.
Davman started sharing his source
Unbelievable I know, but for those who care to look, there are samples of the Bytelink sourcecode on the forums. These are provided as learning examples for the people who have suffered the same kind of difficulties we have in creating such a customised application in the VB language.
Jesus is taking a break
Unfortunately for Bytelink, our most skilled developer is currently taking a break due to his heavy workload at college. Due to the fact that he is uber-intelligent, Jesus is taking second year classes in his first year. Along with this, he has to keep his girlfriend happy, and basically, his time is short. He's taking an extended leave of absence from the coding side of the project, but his position as co-developer is still open to him, and we look forward to a time when he is happy to return to us.
He will also have to learn VB2K5 (bwahahah).
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