Visual Basic

Databases

Data is not interesting. Data access is not interesting. Information is interesting, data is not. But data is necessary, like deodorant on a subway train, and therefore has to be addressed. Most Visual Basic applications must, regretfully, have dealings with a database somewhere along the line.

The current propaganda figure is 95 percent. This data access thing can be a dirty business, so if you have to do it, do it once, do it right, and forget it forever. This means write such a generic and reusable thing that even a gibbering Java programmer will be able to reuse it. How about a middle-tier DLL that you can use over and over again?