Paul Paterson
Track: Python
Date: Wednesday, July 28
Time: 5:20pm - 6:05pm
Location: Salon A
TrackBack
The goal of the vb2PY project is to seamlessly convert VB applications (both code and forms) to Python. This talk will address both the technical and philosophical aspects of this goal along with the potential benefits from converting proprietary VB code to an open source platform.
From a technical perspective, conversion of VB code includes many challenges, including how to handle coercion, differences in error handling, and also VB's tight integration with Windows specific UI controls. However, the pure technical issues of mapping VB’s syntax to Python cannot be solved in isolation without addressing the more philosophical aspects such as how to translate the semantics and style of VB code to Python.
One of the end-user’s goals will typically be to obtain a Python version of their application, which is more maintainable, and more readily understandable than the original VB code. This goal will not be achieved by producing VB-in-Python code, but rather by providing the user with the tools required to:
Try different approaches to determine what results in the most maintainable end product
Test the end application to identify differences in behavior
Document the conversion to aid in the subsequent maintenance of the Python application
This presentation will show, with practical examples, how these issues are currently being addressed and discuss the future plans for the project.
