Comment by nomel

Your points don't match how the VB6 editor presented the settings or behaved. You seem to think it was some pure WYSIWYG interface, which it wasn't. You could parametrically (in the properties window) and programmatically do whatever you wanted.

> instead of knowing that it's in the bottom right because that's what you specified.

You did specify the anchors, in the properties window. If you wanted, you could easily verify you had everything correct by resizing the window.

> And now your carefully set window size has changed

If you thought that exact size was important, then you would just have it set to that special size at startup, by setting the "width" and "height" property of the window, or whatever other thing.

> because "git diff" isn't going to be much use.

> I prefer writing a specification (e.g. source code)

You could define the whole interface programmatically, if you wanted, and many did. Sometimes, there was some hybrid, where you would draw up the main window, then throw programatic stuff in a frame/whatever container, because sometimes that makes sense.

The purpose of all of this was to make things easy and take less time. In some, going the programmatic route is a great way to increase billable hours, sometimes it a great way to decrease them. Sticking with one method over the other doesn't make sense to me, because that would be an emotional decision rather than a practical/efficiency one, right tool for the right GUI/window/dialog box, and all.