twinBASIC's 100% Compatibility Goal
The difference between 100% compatible and 99% compatible is way more than 1%.
To learn more about twinBASIC, join me at this year's virtual Access DevCon where I will be presenting this exciting new project from vbWatchdog creator, Wayne Phillips.
Backwards compatibility for the win
Here are the first two sentences from the twinBASIC website (emphasis mine):
twinBASIC is a modern version of the classic BASIC programming language. With twinBASIC we aim for 100% backwards compatibility with existing VB6 and VBA projects.
You can inject that backwards compatibility talk straight into my veins.
The Pareto principle
Why is 100% backwards compatibility so important? The Pareto principle.
Also known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto principle tells us that we're likely to spend 80% of our time on 20% of the code. That means that even small inconsistencies between VBA and twinBASIC will drastically increase the time required to migrate code. Any inconsistency will result in friction in the development process. And if there's any friction in the process, it will discourage developers kicking the tires on twinBASIC.
Or, to put it more succinctly:
The difference between 100% compatible and 99% compatible is way more than 1%.
No pressure, Wayne. 😉
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
