Some general questions on C++ .Net, and Form Design in Particular

[Steven O.]

I am basically a hobbyist programmer, at the moment doing a little
work experimenting with some AI stuff. I learned C++, and then tried
to teach myself MFC using MS Visual C++ 6.0. I swore off of MFC,
which was a nightmare, and have been playing with Borlands C++
Builder. In C++ Builder, creating forms and other GUI elements is
much simpler than MFC, very similar to Visual Basic.

In the store yesterday, I was looking at the C++ .Net package. On the
back, it still mentioned MFC (boo!), but it also claimed that the .Net
environment has a user-friendly forms builder. My question: How
friendly, and how good?

What I'd be looking for is something like the Visual Basic technology:
You select a new form, there's your form on screen. You have a
palette of widgets (text boxes, scroll boxes, buttons, check boxes,
etc.), and you can drag them to the form and place them easily. For
any widget (I forget the formal, technical term), VB provided a list
of both properties you could set, and also all the functions that
could be called for that widget. If you've used it, I'm really
wasting bandwidth here, you know how easy it is. My question, then,
essential, is whether creating display forms in Microsoft's C++ .Net
environment is just as easy as doing so, or very nearly as easy as
doing so, in Visual Basic? I want to be able to focus on underlying
algorithms, and have my GUI display design be EASY.

Another question: Will programs written and compiled under .Net run
on Win2K (which I have on my computer) and Win 98/95?

Also, are there any rude surprises I might want to know about in
advance before venturing into the .Net world?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

Standard Antiflame Disclaimer: Please don't flame me. I may actually *be* an idiot, but even idiots have feelings.

 

[Guest]

MFC != .NET winforms.


There is a difference between MC++ and C++.

MC++ is also getting a redesign to remove the __keyword extension pigs mess.

Stick with C#

I am basically a hobbyist programmer, at the moment doing a little
work experimenting with some AI stuff. I learned C++, and then tried
to teach myself MFC using MS Visual C++ 6.0. I swore off of MFC,
which was a nightmare, and have been playing with Borlands C++
Builder. In C++ Builder, creating forms and other GUI elements is
much simpler than MFC, very similar to Visual Basic.

In the store yesterday, I was looking at the C++ .Net package. On the
back, it still mentioned MFC (boo!), but it also claimed that the .Net
environment has a user-friendly forms builder. My question: How
friendly, and how good?

What I'd be looking for is something like the Visual Basic technology:
You select a new form, there's your form on screen. You have a
palette of widgets (text boxes, scroll boxes, buttons, check boxes,
etc.), and you can drag them to the form and place them easily. For
any widget (I forget the formal, technical term), VB provided a list
of both properties you could set, and also all the functions that
could be called for that widget. If you've used it, I'm really
wasting bandwidth here, you know how easy it is. My question, then,
essential, is whether creating display forms in Microsoft's C++ .Net
environment is just as easy as doing so, or very nearly as easy as
doing so, in Visual Basic? I want to be able to focus on underlying
algorithms, and have my GUI display design be EASY.

Another question: Will programs written and compiled under .Net run
on Win2K (which I have on my computer) and Win 98/95?

Also, are there any rude surprises I might want to know about in
advance before venturing into the .Net world?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

Standard Antiflame Disclaimer: Please don't flame me. I may actually

*be* an idiot, but even idiots have feelings.

 

[Guest]

We're gona get XAML later also for the f'ags out there that want to crapify
theyre UI.

I am basically a hobbyist programmer, at the moment doing a little
work experimenting with some AI stuff. I learned C++, and then tried
to teach myself MFC using MS Visual C++ 6.0. I swore off of MFC,
which was a nightmare, and have been playing with Borlands C++
Builder. In C++ Builder, creating forms and other GUI elements is
much simpler than MFC, very similar to Visual Basic.

In the store yesterday, I was looking at the C++ .Net package. On the
back, it still mentioned MFC (boo!), but it also claimed that the .Net
environment has a user-friendly forms builder. My question: How
friendly, and how good?

What I'd be looking for is something like the Visual Basic technology:
You select a new form, there's your form on screen. You have a
palette of widgets (text boxes, scroll boxes, buttons, check boxes,
etc.), and you can drag them to the form and place them easily. For
any widget (I forget the formal, technical term), VB provided a list
of both properties you could set, and also all the functions that
could be called for that widget. If you've used it, I'm really
wasting bandwidth here, you know how easy it is. My question, then,
essential, is whether creating display forms in Microsoft's C++ .Net
environment is just as easy as doing so, or very nearly as easy as
doing so, in Visual Basic? I want to be able to focus on underlying
algorithms, and have my GUI display design be EASY.

Another question: Will programs written and compiled under .Net run
on Win2K (which I have on my computer) and Win 98/95?

Also, are there any rude surprises I might want to know about in
advance before venturing into the .Net world?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

Standard Antiflame Disclaimer: Please don't flame me. I may actually

*be* an idiot, but even idiots have feelings.

 

[Guest]

They will run on any .NET runtime that supports youre libraries youre
calling.

I am basically a hobbyist programmer, at the moment doing a little
work experimenting with some AI stuff. I learned C++, and then tried
to teach myself MFC using MS Visual C++ 6.0. I swore off of MFC,
which was a nightmare, and have been playing with Borlands C++
Builder. In C++ Builder, creating forms and other GUI elements is
much simpler than MFC, very similar to Visual Basic.

In the store yesterday, I was looking at the C++ .Net package. On the
back, it still mentioned MFC (boo!), but it also claimed that the .Net
environment has a user-friendly forms builder. My question: How
friendly, and how good?

What I'd be looking for is something like the Visual Basic technology:
You select a new form, there's your form on screen. You have a
palette of widgets (text boxes, scroll boxes, buttons, check boxes,
etc.), and you can drag them to the form and place them easily. For
any widget (I forget the formal, technical term), VB provided a list
of both properties you could set, and also all the functions that
could be called for that widget. If you've used it, I'm really
wasting bandwidth here, you know how easy it is. My question, then,
essential, is whether creating display forms in Microsoft's C++ .Net
environment is just as easy as doing so, or very nearly as easy as
doing so, in Visual Basic? I want to be able to focus on underlying
algorithms, and have my GUI display design be EASY.

Another question: Will programs written and compiled under .Net run
on Win2K (which I have on my computer) and Win 98/95?

Also, are there any rude surprises I might want to know about in
advance before venturing into the .Net world?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

Standard Antiflame Disclaimer: Please don't flame me. I may actually

*be* an idiot, but even idiots have feelings.

 

[Trevor Braun]

Stick with C#, as mentioned. You won't believe the headaches you'll avoid.
Remember, C# was designed for .NET... all the others were ported for .NET.
If you're a hobbyist, then you don't have to worry about legacy stuff as
much, and you'll find most .NET examples on the Internet are done with C#.
And now there's even a managed DirectX book done with VB.net and C#, by Tom
Miller.

Trevor B.

I am basically a hobbyist programmer, at the moment doing a little
work experimenting with some AI stuff. I learned C++, and then tried
to teach myself MFC using MS Visual C++ 6.0. I swore off of MFC,
which was a nightmare, and have been playing with Borlands C++
Builder. In C++ Builder, creating forms and other GUI elements is
much simpler than MFC, very similar to Visual Basic.

In the store yesterday, I was looking at the C++ .Net package. On the
back, it still mentioned MFC (boo!), but it also claimed that the .Net
environment has a user-friendly forms builder. My question: How
friendly, and how good?

What I'd be looking for is something like the Visual Basic technology:
You select a new form, there's your form on screen. You have a
palette of widgets (text boxes, scroll boxes, buttons, check boxes,
etc.), and you can drag them to the form and place them easily. For
any widget (I forget the formal, technical term), VB provided a list
of both properties you could set, and also all the functions that
could be called for that widget. If you've used it, I'm really
wasting bandwidth here, you know how easy it is. My question, then,
essential, is whether creating display forms in Microsoft's C++ .Net
environment is just as easy as doing so, or very nearly as easy as
doing so, in Visual Basic? I want to be able to focus on underlying
algorithms, and have my GUI display design be EASY.

Another question: Will programs written and compiled under .Net run
on Win2K (which I have on my computer) and Win 98/95?

Also, are there any rude surprises I might want to know about in
advance before venturing into the .Net world?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

Standard Antiflame Disclaimer: Please don't flame me. I may actually

*be* an idiot, but even idiots have feelings.