Future version(s) of VBS and strong typing

Hello everyone,

I've been using VB, VBA and VBS both as a Windows scripting tool and in a
few
ASP pages as well for a long time now. I've learned to deal with having only
the
variant data type, but that doesn't mean I don't despise it still. Now I am
curious
whether future version(s) will support typing or not. I already know about
.NET
and ASP.NET, where typing is allowed, but I'm talking about VBS as we know
and use it now.

Does anyone know of plans to "upgrade" the scripting language and support
strong typing at any time?

For that matter, does anyone know WHY it was not included in the first
place?

I mean, would it have been THAT hard to implement from the beginning? Sure,
you can accomplish quite a bit the way it is, just not EVERYTHING, and I've
personally had quite a few occasions when variable typing would have made my
job tons easier.

Just curious...

Bob
Sun Sep 12 13:00:44 CDT 2004

Gary Morris wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I've been using VB, VBA and VBS both as a Windows scripting tool and
> in a few
> ASP pages as well for a long time now. I've learned to deal with
> having only the
> variant data type, but that doesn't mean I don't despise it still.
> Now I am curious
> whether future version(s) will support typing or not. I already know
> about .NET
> and ASP.NET, where typing is allowed, but I'm talking about VBS as we
> know and use it now.
>
> Does anyone know of plans to "upgrade" the scripting language and
> support strong typing at any time?

No. From what I've read, the version of vbscript you are using is the last
version, supplanted by vb.net.

>
> For that matter, does anyone know WHY it was not included in the first
> place?

Because it is not managed code, and vb.net served to fill the niche left by
its absence.


Bob Barrows
--
Microsoft MVP - ASP/ASP.NET
Please reply to the newsgroup. This email account is my spam trap so I
don't check it very often. If you must reply off-line, then remove the
"NO SPAM"

Hal
Sun Sep 12 23:20:22 CDT 2004

most scripting languages are not strongly typed. (I can't think of one that
is).
vbscript, javascript, jscript, ecmascript, perl, python - - others??

"Gary Morris" <gwmorris1@hotpop.com> wrote in message
news:ujXbieOmEHA.3876@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Hello everyone,
>
> I've been using VB, VBA and VBS both as a Windows scripting tool and in a
> few
> ASP pages as well for a long time now. I've learned to deal with having
only
> the
> variant data type, but that doesn't mean I don't despise it still. Now I
am
> curious
> whether future version(s) will support typing or not. I already know about
> .NET
> and ASP.NET, where typing is allowed, but I'm talking about VBS as we know
> and use it now.
>
> Does anyone know of plans to "upgrade" the scripting language and support
> strong typing at any time?
>
> For that matter, does anyone know WHY it was not included in the first
> place?
>
> I mean, would it have been THAT hard to implement from the beginning?
Sure,
> you can accomplish quite a bit the way it is, just not EVERYTHING, and
I've
> personally had quite a few occasions when variable typing would have made
my
> job tons easier.
>
> Just curious...
>
>


---
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jeff
Tue Sep 14 13:42:05 CDT 2004

On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:43:23 -0400, "Gary Morris"
<gwmorris1@hotpop.com> wrote:

>I've been using VB, VBA and VBS both as a Windows scripting tool and in a
>few
>ASP pages as well for a long time now. I've learned to deal with having only
>the
>variant data type, but that doesn't mean I don't despise it still. Now I am
>curious
>whether future version(s) will support typing or not. I already know about
>.NET
>and ASP.NET, where typing is allowed, but I'm talking about VBS as we know
>and use it now.
>
>Does anyone know of plans to "upgrade" the scripting language and support
>strong typing at any time?

An upgraded WSH is in the works, yes.

>For that matter, does anyone know WHY it was not included in the first
>place?

I'm not sure any scripting language supports strong typing. It's not
a *programming* language, it's for scripting. Even if used far beyond
it's normal limitations.

Jeff

>I mean, would it have been THAT hard to implement from the beginning? Sure,
>you can accomplish quite a bit the way it is, just not EVERYTHING, and I've
>personally had quite a few occasions when variable typing would have made my
>job tons easier.
>
>Just curious...
>

Michael
Tue Sep 14 22:12:52 CDT 2004

>> Does anyone know of plans to "upgrade" the scripting language and
>> support strong typing at any time?
>
> An upgraded WSH is in the works, yes.
>


Really? What's your source?

There was once a plan to create a WSH.Net version, but that appears to be
dead (at least no one at Microsoft will talk about it).

Unless you are thinking of Monad (which is not related to WSH in any way)...

--
Michael Harris
Microsoft.MVP.Scripting
Sammamish WA US