Which Visual C++ should I buy

[noagbodjivictor]

Hi,

I'm really confused; Visual C++ comes in so many flavors that I don't
really know what to choose. First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do. The book I'm following is Charles Petzold's book Programming
Windows, in which he suggests Visual C++ 6.0, which is 10 years old
today. I'm purposely avoiding .NET and all the things around that
framework, I'm saving that for later.

Before investing in something where I have more to lose than gain, I
want your opinion.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Salt_Peter]

Hi,

I'm really confused; Visual C++ comes in so many flavors that I don't
really know what to choose. First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do. The book I'm following is Charles Petzold's book Programming
Windows, in which he suggests Visual C++ 6.0, which is 10 years old
today. I'm purposely avoiding .NET and all the things around that
framework, I'm saving that for later.

Before investing in something where I have more to lose than gain, I
want your opinion.

Thanks a lot in advance.

You state that you wish to learn pure C. I think thats a great idea.
Unfortunately, this newsgroup is not about C.
Consult the FAQ's list of newsgroups, you'll find comp.lang.c in that
list and maybe a few others that will have the expertise you seek.
[5.9] Which newsgroup should I post my questions?
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/how-to-post.html#faq-5.9

 

[noagbodjivictor]

No comment.

But my question was not about C, but Visual C++.

 

[Ioannis Gyftos]

No comment.

But my question was not about C, but Visual C++.

Still, Visual C++, which is part of a development environment, is also
offtopic here Maybe you're better off in a microsoft-related group.
(or windows, which might propose some suitable, non-Visual Studio
related compilers - borland's or whatever, i don't know).

BTW, I am not sure if you are interested in C or C++, but Visual C++
6.0 has a reputation of having a non-standard-conforming compiler due
to its age, so I'd avoid it.

 

[Lionel B]

No comment.

But my question was not about C, but Visual C++.

Neither of which is on-topic here. Did you actually read the FAQ entry
linked by the previous respondent?

 

[Mirco Wahab]

I'm really confused; Visual C++ comes in so many flavors that I don't
really know what to choose. First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do. The book I'm following is Charles Petzold's book Programming
Windows, in which he suggests Visual C++ 6.0, which is 10 years old
today. I'm purposely avoiding .NET and all the things around that
framework, I'm saving that for later.

As I understood, you did post (off topic) here because
you want some advice from people who program in C++
and you'd like to create win32 applications.

The somasegar-blog on msdn states the following:
(google: what-s-new-with-visual-studio-2008-express-editions.aspx)

...
With Visual C++ Express 2008, we have added support
for Win32 development right out of the box. No more
large download or IDE tinkering is required in order
to build native Windows applications.
...

Does this answer your question?

Regards

M.

 

[Shadowman]

Hi,

I'm really confused; Visual C++ comes in so many flavors that I don't
really know what to choose. First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do. The book I'm following is Charles Petzold's book Programming
Windows, in which he suggests Visual C++ 6.0, which is 10 years old
today. I'm purposely avoiding .NET and all the things around that
framework, I'm saving that for later.

Before investing in something where I have more to lose than gain, I
want your opinion.

Thanks a lot in advance.

You can use VC++ Express for win32 development. You just need to also
download and install the MS Platform SDK.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235626(VS.80).aspx

 

[Shadowman]

You can use VC++ Express for win32 development. You just need to also
download and install the MS Platform SDK.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235626(VS.80).aspx

Actually, that applied to the 2005 version, it seems now that with the
latest 2008 version, the platform SDK is included with the installation.

 

[Erik Wikström]

Hi,

Hi, please note that discussions of both C and specific implementations
are off-topic in this group.

I'm really confused; Visual C++ comes in so many flavors that I don't
really know what to choose. First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do.

There should be no problem with developing Win32 with the Express
editions, what they lack is MFC support, but AFAIK that is C++ anyway.

The book I'm following is Charles Petzold's book Programming
Windows, in which he suggests Visual C++ 6.0, which is 10 years old
today.

Perhaps it is more than VC++ 6 that is too old, a newer book might also
be a good investment.

 

[Shadowman]

Hi, please note that discussions of both C and specific implementations
are off-topic in this group.


There should be no problem with developing Win32 with the Express
editions, what they lack is MFC support, but AFAIK that is C++ anyway.


Perhaps it is more than VC++ 6 that is too old, a newer book might also
be a good investment.

Maybe, maybe not. That book is still probably the best out there as far
as pure win32 programming goes. Although one could argue that it might
be a better investment to learn a newer technology altogether these days...

 

[Erik Wikström]

Maybe, maybe not. That book is still probably the best out there as far
as pure win32 programming goes. Although one could argue that it might
be a better investment to learn a newer technology altogether these days...

I was more thinking about the fact that the Win32 API, just like most
other things in the IT industry, have evolved a bit since then. Sure the
basic stuff is the same but there are new ways to take advantage of new
stuff in new versions of Windows. Unless you plan to support Windows 9x
you might miss out on some stuff with an old book. However I have not
read neither that nor any other Win32 programming book so I can not
comment on the quality of any of them.

 

[Tomás Ó hÉilidhe]

Hi,

I'm really confused; Visual C++ comes in so many flavors that I don't
really know what to choose. First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do. The book I'm following is Charles Petzold's book Programming
Windows, in which he suggests Visual C++ 6.0, which is 10 years old
today. I'm purposely avoiding .NET and all the things around that
framework, I'm saving that for later.

Before investing in something where I have more to lose than gain, I
want your opinion.

Thanks a lot in advance.

None, they're all shit. Microsoft programmers are reknowned for their
incompetence.

What you want is "Bloodshed Dev-C++" as an IDE, and gcc/g++ as your
compiler.

 

[Puppet_Sock]

None, they're all shit. Microsoft programmers are reknowned for their
incompetence.

Only among script-kiddies.

What you want is "Bloodshed Dev-C++" as an IDE, and gcc/g++ as your
compiler.

As expected. A script-kiddy.
Socks

 

[James Kanze]

comp.lang.c++:

[...]

None, they're all shit. Microsoft programmers are reknowned
for their incompetence.

Do I hear some jelosy there. I've had the occasion to discuss
various technical issues with some of them (Herb Sutter, for
example), and they definitely came accross as more competent
than most of the people complaining about them.

What you want is "Bloodshed Dev-C++" as an IDE, and gcc/g++ as
your compiler.

It depends on what he's developing. Having a second compiler to
double check your C++ is always a good idea, but there are
distinct advantages in using the "standard" tool kit for your
platform for your production code.

 

[Juha Nieminen]

First of all, I want to buy a commercial
version because the Express editions, however nice they are, cause too
much trouble to develop Win32 in pure C, and that is what I want to
do.

How exactly do you expect the commercial version of the compiler to
help you with that?