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I am planning on creating an open source project, however, I was wondering if developers tend to steer away from projects that are coded in VB.net, even if they know VB.net.

From what I have read, more professionals use C++/C# and don't like VB.net, but beginners tend to like VB.net more. I am trying to make my project as beginner friendly, however, I still want some more experienced programmers so I don't have to carry the bulk of the load of the harder stuff.

Will I have much more contributions (to code, not money) when I chose either C++ or C#? Will more developers "play around" with my code? I'm not worried about people who don't bother looking at the code, I just want to know would my project be more likely to prosper if I use a more popular language, or if I have a good idea, it will succeed no matter what language I use?

By the way, no matter the language I chose, I will use the .net framework for ease of use.

**If I do chose to use some form of C, do you recommend C# or C++? I have some experience with C (Arduino) and I plan on getting a book at the library if I use it for my project, so that is not a problem, but I really don't want my project to become abandon-ware. In fact, I hope someday, if I can, have it not dependent on me at all. (Not saying I won't contribute, but I don't have to spend all my time working on it.)

EDIT:

So far, almost everybody thinks I should use either C# or C++. Which one is more popular? Is there a benefit of one over the other?

EDIT 2:

Please provide your answers with facts (like number of open source projects that use __ language, etc. so it can show trends).

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1  
You say you will use .Net no matter what language you choose. If that is the case, you can drop C++ as that doesn't work with .Net. Your choices would be Vb.net, C#, or perhaps F# and other derivates. –  Rob van der Veer Jul 16 '13 at 21:13
    
Anecdotally, C# does seem to be gaining more mindshare than VB.NET, probably because curly-brace languages are common and familiar, not because of some deficiency in the VB.NET language. C# is no more difficult than VB for a beginner, once you get used to the curly braces. –  Robert Harvey Jul 16 '13 at 21:15
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@RobvanderVeer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B/CLI –  Robert Harvey Jul 16 '13 at 21:16
3  
Why would you want to attract beginners to your project? Wouldn't you prefer experienced developers? (Note: I'm not disparaging beginners, which we all were once. Just wondering why you'd want them contributing code to your project) –  Andres F. Jul 16 '13 at 21:20
    
@RobertHarvey I'm not saying it is actually harder, in fact I find them very similar, only C has a different "mask" and looks different at a first glance. I'm just asking if my project would be more successful if I didn't use VB.net. I know some developers hate it, but I prefer it for some odd reason. However, I don't mind if it makes that much of a difference. –  Annonomus Penguin Jul 16 '13 at 21:22
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closed as primarily opinion-based by Robert Harvey, Euphoric, MichaelT, Glenn Nelson, gnat Jul 17 '13 at 1:10

Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

There are more C# developers than VB developers out there now and the difference will continue to grow as VB is a language in decline and many developers are questioning its future. Choose C# if you want to increase the chances of your project attracting new developers.

I'm not sure if beginners like VB more than C# by the way. Most software schools today will teach C# or Java and not VB.

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4  
When saying something like "there are more C# developers than VB developers" it would be helpful to provide a link or resource for factual evidence. There should be lots of studies out there that you can use to provide some backing to this claim. –  Despertar Jul 16 '13 at 23:24
    
How about C++ vs. V#? –  Annonomus Penguin Jul 17 '13 at 0:33
    
@Despertar My company has a very hard time attracting VB.NET developers for some projects while for C# it is much less of a problem to hire developers. Also, there are many more c# jobs than VB jobs if you wacht the job borads. So it is a bit of personal experience plus the fact that I don't know any software school that teaches VB these days. –  Julius Jul 17 '13 at 8:16
    
Reference: Lisa Feigenbaum, a Microsoft PM in the .NET Managed Languages Group, said in 2009 that there were slightly more VB.NET developers than C#. If anyone has a more up-to-date reference please share it. –  MarkJ Jul 17 '13 at 14:58
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up vote 3 down vote

I think that, an open source project is a project where I can access the source code. :)

That said, I don't think the language you choose matters. We can have open source Java applications/projects as we can have proprietary (non open source) Java applications/projects. I think the point here is that Open Source projects will tend to use open source/free tools. I can't see a problem on having a VB.net open source project that runs on a MS Windows platform but it is a fact that it is much easier to have your code around the community if you have a open source project that uses free tools.

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Are you saying that I shouldn't use it because you have to pay to get the tools? There is a free version, and I use it. Same with all other languages Visual Studio supports. Yes, it may not have good collaboration tools, but I usually work solo, and I can't expect to have everybody else buy it, if they have a paid version, great. If not, I don't! –  Annonomus Penguin Jul 16 '13 at 21:33
    
@AnnonomusPerson No. I'm saying that it's easier to find help from the community for open source projects when you use "community" tools. Not that we should ban other tools/languages/platforms that are proprietary but using tools developed by the community for the community makes sharing/collaboration much easier. Historically, open source projects come first for Linux O.S. and eventually for MS-Windows because of the whole nature of Linux being a community O.S. To me, it is all about the nature of the project. :) –  Desorder Jul 17 '13 at 3:59
1  
Desorder, i disagree with Open Source requiring open source tools. –  Rob van der Veer Jul 17 '13 at 14:50
    
@RobvanderVeer I agree. Plus, open source projects are not to be used just by the creators of it, and most people who aren't programmers don't use Linux. In fact, some programmers use Windows at the office. –  Annonomus Penguin Jul 17 '13 at 15:33
    
@RobvanderVeer I didn't say it requires, I said it helps. –  Desorder Jul 17 '13 at 22:01
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