I saw recently the talk “Comparing Java Web Framworks” on Parleys.com and when the speaker talks about JSF, he used the word “VB”. I was a little bit surprised, that also in the java world the VB-stereotype is known.
But what about is this VB-stereotype? Are there programmers who fit any more this stereotype?
Commonly the stereotype is used for people who don’t know a lot about software developing or engineering and produce really bad code.
Whe I use this stereotype (and I try to avoid it, because it sounds more or less a bit arrogant), I mean the following:
A programmer fits the VB-stereotype when he knows not much about programming and software engineering but he is smart enough to be productive with a tool which allows him to be productive (for example a RAD-Tool).
Since VB.Net is available, the stereotype is not that much used any more, but it still exists. But when I googled for answers I found similar discussions on c2.com and stackoverflow.com. As you see, my definition of the stereotype is not based on any language, it described habits of software developers (similar to code smells).
Because the stereotype is used even today and it is used also as prejudice for not using VB.Net, I found recently a campaign which fight against this.
As I already said, I try to avoid using this stereotype. When I meet a software developer who fits this stereotype, then I try to show him how he could improve his code and his engineering knowledge.