Hi All...

Besides myself, are any of you checking out the Cursor AI version of VS Code? Have you looked a https://Cursor.Directory? To date I have not found anything in these tools that refer to Visual FoxPro or Web Connect but building client/server applications just got a lot easier. I just wonder if there was a reference in cursor.directory to VFP and WC, would Cursor ( https://claude.ai/ ) be able to scrape enough code off the web to be as smart as it is in more modern programming languages.

And I don't want to forget about [https:// V0.dev](https:// V0.dev), this tool created the starting code from version zero, just by typing in the ideas of what the app needs to be and uploading a handwritten drawing and like magic, a refined sample code was generated ready to drop into Cursor. (For best results 10-15 tweaks that refine the description before moving to code will improve the sample code a lot.

Happy New Year - oh how the world pr programming has changed since dBase II was introduced. We are getting so old in computer years!

...following up with a quick couple of questions to Claude:

Can you produce Microsoft Visual FoxPro code if I have questions about things need to be done?

Yes, I can help you write Microsoft Visual FoxPro code. While FoxPro is considered a legacy system (Microsoft ended support for it in 2015), many organizations still use it, and I'm familiar with its syntax and capabilities. I can help with:

Writing VFP code snippets and programs Database operations (tables, queries, views) Forms and reports Object-oriented programming in VFP Debugging and troubleshooting existing code Converting/migrating FoxPro code to modern alternatives What specific FoxPro programming task would you like help with?

Copy Retry

HM what if my code was based on West-Wind.com Web Connect, you would you be able to help generate code with this framework in mind?

Yes, I can help with West Wind Web Connection framework-based FoxPro code. Rick Strahl's West Wind Web Connection is a well-known web development framework for Visual FoxPro that handles web server functionality, HTTP processing, JSON parsing, and other web-related features.

I can help with:

Creating and modifying Web Connection process classes Writing wwProcess subclasses for handling web requests Working with the Web Connection server configuration Implementing HTML merge scripts Using Web Connection's built-in JSON and XML handling Working with Web Connection's HTTP and security features Integrating VFP business logic with web interfaces Handling session management and user authentication However, since I can't directly verify current Web Connection documentation, you may want to double-check any specific API calls or framework-specific syntax I suggest against your installed version of Web Connection.

Would you like help with a specific Web Connection implementation task?

Yes all the AI engines work with FoxPro and they even do a reasonably good job with Web Connection code since there's been a lot of posts on this message board that contains Web Connection code.

It's not always trust-worthy - as any AI code is wont to be - but more so since the inputs are relatively small. I remember in the early days asking ChatGpt about how to do post JSON data with Web Connection and it got it right. Then asked something about request processing and it completely made shit up...

So as always, YMMV...

+++ Rick ---

This always makes me think of the old adage about code generation:

It takes 2 minutes to create the code, and half a life time to maintain it.

Seriously though, AI can be good at fleshing out a shell of code and get you on the right path, but it's not great for final use in production code.

Most of what I use AI for are things that I actually need to figure out and don't already know, and in 90% of those cases the code produced ends up being wrong or woefully incomplete. Which is terrible because at that stage you usually cannot readily determine whether code is valid or not and you have to spend time to try it out only to have it potentially not work or be inadequate.

The harder and rarer the question you're asking the more likely you're going to get garbage answers because you're necessarily hitting a blind spot of information (which is why I'm there in the first place).

For my uses cases AI far too frequently produces code that is either wrong or woefully incomplete. Yeah it will mostly work for what you ask it for, but those definitions are usually too broad for actual use as is. It demos well, but sucks for production work.

You still need the same detail to attention when you spec out a job, that you do for traditional projects in order to even come close to what is a reliable and ready to use app.

I use a AI a lot in my coding now, but mostly for repetitive tasks that can be automated by code - essentially very sophisticated code completions. But beyond that most code AI creates is just not usable as is for me, and once you have to start correcting the AI code you're into a whole different level of pain.

Which brings me to another adage:

Nobody likes to maintain somebody else's code

+++ Rick ---