Visual FoxPro
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Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural programming language by Microsoft. It is derived from FoxPro (originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984; Fox Software merged with Microsoft in 1992 and the software acquired further features and the prefix "Visual". The last version of FoxPro (2.6) worked under the Mac OS, DOS, Windows, and Unix: Visual FoxPro 3.0, the first "Visual" version, dropped the platform support to only Mac and Windows, and later versions were Windows-only.
FoxPro is a member of the class of languages commonly referred to as "xBase" languages, which have syntax based on the dBase programming language. Other members of the xBase language family include Clipper, dBase, and Recital. A history of the early years of xBase can be found in the dBase entry.
Visual FoxPro, also known as VFP, is mainly used to write desktop database applications running on Windows but it can also be used to write fat client, middleware, and web applications.
In late 2002, it was demonstrated that Visual FoxPro can run on Linux under the Windows emulator Wine. In 2003, this led to complaints by Microsoft: it was claimed that the deployment of FoxPro code on non-Windows machines violates the End User License Agreement.
Rumors suggesting that Microsoft intends to end support for FoxPro have been common since Microsoft's acquisition of the product, despite the product having one of the longest support timeframes (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifedevtoolfam) for a Microsoft product (extended support until 2014). VFP 9 was released to manufacturing on December 17, 2004, and the Fox team is currently working on a project codenamed Sedna which will build on top of the VFP9 codebase.
Code names
- VFP 3 - Taz
- VFP 5 - RoadRunner
- VFP 6 - Tahoe
- VFP 7 - Sedona
- VFP 8 - Toledo
- VFP 9 - Europa
- VFP Next - Sedna
External links
- Main Visual FoxPro Microsoft page (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/)
- A site devoted to the history of FoxPro (http://www.foxprohistory.org/)
- Board to get help for Visual FoxPro in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French (http://www.universalthread.com/)
- Board to get help for Visual FoxPro in Spanish (http://www.portalfox.com/)
- Visual FoxPro Wiki, written in VFP (http://fox.wikis.com/)
- Visual FoxPro news, updated regularly (http://foxcentral.net/)
- Where to get books to learn Visual FoxPro (http://www.hentzenwerke.com/)
- Free online support for Visual FoxPro (http://www.vfug.org/)de:Visual FoxPro
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