I have to jump in here in GE's defense (am I really doing this? )
I've been using GE's CIMPLICITY1 in various forms for many many years, and the choices of scripting language are currently CimBasic and C# (and VB.Net2) .
Although you they look the same CimBasic isn't VBA. It is however, very closely related. The story I heard a long time ago (and maybe apocryphal) was that GE bought the language from whoever MS bought the language that became VBA. So that they have a common ancestor. However I do wish that GE had implemented VBA.
On the other hand you now have access to the .Net ecosystem for writing scripts. I don't have very much experience in doing this as I only once tried to seriously write a production level script in C# for a CIMPLICITY project (that was about 2 years ago). While C# is my language of preference, Using it under CIMPLICTY was a pain for all but the simplest scripts. As, if you needed to use any sort of advanced library function you need to drill down into the CIMPLICITY project configuration and manually enable usage of that library before you could include it in your scripts. Thus essential elements of the script were buried in the project configuration in non-obvious ways, and creates a huge trap for maintenance. Because of this I ditched C# and went back to CimBasic for that project.
[1] Note that the actual product name is CIMPLICTY in all caps.
[2] VB.Net is not VBA, nor even the older VB, it's the full on .Net based language. Because all .Net languages use the same runtime underneath, VB.Net has the same power as C# - just a completely different syntax. Think of it like all the different languages that can run on top of the JVM
I actually have some rubles stashed away in my closet here (and some kopeks as well) from when I did some site work in Siberia a long time ago. But I can’t raise your asking price.
Oh no, now our valuation is really going the wrong direction...
Me too, I've just been held hostage by Java enthusiasts for 12 years.
FactorySQL, our very first product, was written in a mix of VB.Net and C#. Besides that being my background, it made sense given that we were reliant on COM based OPC-DA. In fact, elements of that were actually written for a small period of time in "Managed C++", which allowed you to mix regular C++ with .Net. Despite my fondness for the framework, though, I have to say that the way things aligned to allow us to jump to Java and implement OPC-UA, and thus be the only real general purpose product on the market to be natively cross-platform, was really fortuitous. And bringing it back to the subject of this thread, you might consider that trait, both in the context of how technology has evolved in the last 10 years, as well as the current market situation, when thinking of our valuation...
So what, $2? Actually I shouldn't laugh, it's the Russian people who are suffering economically from their tyrant's insanity, not Vladimir box (poo tin)
Please don't mention that name around me... I thought that name was out of my life for good, but now the nightmares are back
I have a vision system out there in the wild that was written in C# with a bit of Managed C++, with a basic front end of classic ASP.net, and MS SQL back end, and with an additional UI written under WPF. Sometimes I wonder if it could be re-implemented purely in Ignition. (Well parts of it, I'm kinda proud of the 30ms throughput from the Cognex camera into the DB). But it is an isolated, one-off system that I wouldn't get paid to redevelop, and has dubious IP ownership in the first place even though I have been paid on occasion to support it (long story).
I grew up in a GE shop and my heritage goes all the way back to Series 6 PLCs. GE products (and now Emerson) have paid me a lot $$$$ over the years. And yes I have some nightmares as well. But I'll happily use any product as long as you pay me
For me its BlunderWare nightmares. I had a very small intouch application, 200 tags i think, that IT had replaced the computer and went to a 16:9 monitor, so i needed to resize the application. Well thanks to my vendor they had grouped that development license with a totally different facility that did not have an active support contract, and told me i would have to bring all of those other licenses up to date and get a support contract in order to resize my 200 tag installation. IIRC that was 32k to do… Facepalm!
My recommendation for when Mr. Hechtman is ready to retire would be employee ownership. He can still get a good buyout (employees can use future profits to pay him back over time), but by selling to his employees he’d know his legacy would stay intact and the company would be in good hands.
)
box (poo tin)
