I have a project that I once was inspired to create, it was the equivalent of an early version of World of Tanks and I started coding it back in the late 1980s. I created the backbone and structures using QB45 and later VBDOS then migrated to VB6. It was slow but steady going as I had other well paying jobs during that time. However, VB.NET came just as I was initiating the final large component and well, it made all the work I was doing in VB6 rather obsolete. I also had so much to do to complete. Previously, I had been able easily to migrate from one version of the language to another but with VB6 to .NET I was stymied as I didn't have the time nor the capacity to learn what appeared to be another new language entirely.
So, I gave it up for decades assuming the work and time was lost only to pick up the idea again three years ago. I decided that I needed to re-familiarise myself with VB6 and tinker with VB.NET on a smaller scale to see if I was right to abandon my Magnus Opus or whether it would been possible to have completed it. Three years later I have learnt a lot more VB6 (I am still no expert) and I have also created VB.NET projects and I am fairly sure I made the correct choice. I could have done the .NET conversion but I would not have been able to find the MOJO to do so and the pain of using .NET for a VB6er was one that I am unsure I would ever have overcome.
So, in my case the only potential path for my Magnus Opus without rewriting it, was VB6.
In that interim TwinBasic/RADBasic have popped up (20 years late) they are almost here and I have the possibility of two new directions retaining the old logic of my old code and the potential for future platforms and supportability. It feels like VB6 is almost coming alive again.
I now have an opportunity to complete my Magnus Opus but now with my new found knowledge I start to see that perhaps I may never complete it. Time has moved on. World of Tanks is already here, I have a life style that precludes spending the time I need to complete it. I have the knowledge, perhaps but I don't have the time - and time has moved on too.
To answer my own question - I definitely have my own Magnus Opus but I am coming to the second realisation that I may never actually complete it.
Do you have a Magnus Opus inside you? Will you complete it?
So, I gave it up for decades assuming the work and time was lost only to pick up the idea again three years ago. I decided that I needed to re-familiarise myself with VB6 and tinker with VB.NET on a smaller scale to see if I was right to abandon my Magnus Opus or whether it would been possible to have completed it. Three years later I have learnt a lot more VB6 (I am still no expert) and I have also created VB.NET projects and I am fairly sure I made the correct choice. I could have done the .NET conversion but I would not have been able to find the MOJO to do so and the pain of using .NET for a VB6er was one that I am unsure I would ever have overcome.
So, in my case the only potential path for my Magnus Opus without rewriting it, was VB6.
In that interim TwinBasic/RADBasic have popped up (20 years late) they are almost here and I have the possibility of two new directions retaining the old logic of my old code and the potential for future platforms and supportability. It feels like VB6 is almost coming alive again.
I now have an opportunity to complete my Magnus Opus but now with my new found knowledge I start to see that perhaps I may never complete it. Time has moved on. World of Tanks is already here, I have a life style that precludes spending the time I need to complete it. I have the knowledge, perhaps but I don't have the time - and time has moved on too.
To answer my own question - I definitely have my own Magnus Opus but I am coming to the second realisation that I may never actually complete it.
Do you have a Magnus Opus inside you? Will you complete it?