Need Guidelines on VC++ future

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April 15th, 2010, 06:02 AM
itz pal

Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Hi friends,

I started working on VC++ 6.0, and later upgraded to vc++.2008(.Net), for developing
plug-ins for adobe acrobat.
Now i have fair knowledge of VC++, and want to get in depth knowledge in this field but bit confused on how to proceed and which platform to takeup, because we have so many options like,
COM, .Net, ATL, MFC, STL, and so on,
Among these which one is better for me, even i want to take up some sort of certification exam on VC++, so which one i can takeup,
and what about the future of VC++, i googled the net, to find out, so many people saying, VC++ will not have so much scope as, C# emerging as new promise.
So guide me on VC++ future and possible options for me.

pal
April 15th, 2010, 07:44 AM
Alex F

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

With a lot of high-level languages available now, C++ will be mostly used for hardware, real-time programming, kernel mode programming, producing highly optimized code when it is necessary. Just now I would not use C++ for UI, database access, Internet programming. C# and other .NET languages are much better for this.
COM - old technology, unfortunately, still in use. C++ programmer nightmare. You need to know it mostly for supporting an old projects.
ATL - COM developing framework. If you need COM, you need to know ATL as well.
MFC - still supported and developed by Microsoft, but .NET technologies like WPF and Windows Forms are much better UI frameworks.
.NET - very good for high-level tasks. For C++ programmer, C# is a native choice to start with .NET.
STL - yes, if you are C++ guy, you need to know it.

Among all technologies you asked about, only STL is cross-platform. Using C++ Runtime functions, STL and other portable libraries, you can write code for different OS, not only Windows.
April 15th, 2010, 04:06 PM
nuzzle

Re: Future of VC++

Quote:

Originally Posted by itz pal

So guide me on VC++ future and possible options for me.

Limiting yourself to VC++ and Windows technologies means betting on the good fortune of Microsoft. It has worked so far and I don't see any reason why that should change, at least not in the near future. :)

A while back it looked like Microsoft was abandoning classic C++ in favour of .NET but it seems like they've come to their senses and now it's rather like C++ is having something of a revival. Still it could be a good thing to learn C# as a complement to C++. Or why not Java to break out of the Microsoft reins a little. Both C# and Java have a very different programming style that is good to know in addition to classic C++.

Here's a site that tries to measure language popularity. It's not scientific but I figure there's some truth to it,

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/conte...pci/index.html

As you can see C++ holds a honorable third position. But this isn't just VC++, it's all of C++. It's important to understand that VC++ isn't the same as the C++ language. VC++ is a tool from one manufacturer.
April 15th, 2010, 04:27 PM
Lindley

Re: Future of VC++

COM: Not overly familiar with this.

.Net: A virtual machine similar to the Java VM, it runs C#, C++/CLI (not to be confused with real C++), and a few other languages.

ATL: Related to COM, again not very familiar.

MFC: An older set of classes which wrap WinAPI for GUI programming. It also contains some container classes. Personally, I feel that it's outdated; if you want Microsoft-specific GUI stuff, use C#, and if you want cross-platform GUI stuff, then learn one of the libraries like QT. The containers are replaced easily enough by the STL. Others may disagree.

STL: A set of containers and algorithms which should be familiar to every C++ programmer.
April 15th, 2010, 04:51 PM
Andreas Masur

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

[Merged threads]

Please do not cross-post your questions to multiple forums. Thanks.
April 16th, 2010, 06:48 AM
itz pal

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Thank you guys for your quick response,
i want to take up some sort of certification exam on VC++,
which exams are available for VC++ certification?
April 16th, 2010, 11:30 AM
Igor Vartanov

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Quote:

COM - old technology, unfortunately, still in use. C++ programmer nightmare. You need to know it mostly for supporting an old projects.

I would not be so categoric about COM. Though it's really old technology, it is still only one possible candidate for serving real cross-language purposes/demands. Fortunately still in use, as MS has nothing to propose as a full-scale replacement to it so far. .NET seems only on its way to the same level of maturity and universality, so I'd recommend to not neglect both. :)
April 16th, 2010, 11:54 AM
Skizmo

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Quote:

MFC - still supported and developed by Microsoft, but .NET technologies like WPF and Windows Forms are much better UI frameworks.

MFC is totally revived in the latest version(s) of the Visual Studio, so it's not old. .NET better ? Where did you get that idea from ? In my view it's one of the most horrible frameworks ever created.
April 16th, 2010, 12:31 PM
nuzzle

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skizmo

MFC is totally revived in the latest version(s) of the Visual Studio, so it's not old. .NET better ? Where did you get that idea from ?

I agree with that. In my previous post I said classic C++ on Windows is having something of a revival and one good example is the comeback of the MFC.

Microsoft clearly has made a policy change recently. .NET is no longer the only future. And that's very good news. Many (with me) feel standard C++ with the MFC is a far better option for many Windows only applications than C# (or C++/CLI for that matter).

The only drawback I can see right now is that it's getting more and more expensive to use MFC. If you want VC++ 2010 you need the Professional version (which seems to have become the entry level commersial version). The free Express version doesn't offer MFC.
April 17th, 2010, 01:29 AM
Alex F

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skizmo

MFC is totally revived in the latest version(s) of the Visual Studio, so it's not old. .NET better ? Where did you get that idea from ?

From my own experience :)
Of course, this is my personal opinion, like any other information in this thread.
April 19th, 2010, 07:05 AM
itz pal

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Hi guys,

I didnt get any information on VC++ certification,
Can anybody start discussion on this please.

thank you,
April 19th, 2010, 07:19 AM
Skizmo

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Quote:

Can anybody start discussion on this please

This isn't a discussion forum.

Quote:

I didnt get any information on VC++ certification

Did you try googling for some information ?
April 19th, 2010, 07:22 AM
itz pal

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

And nuzzle, sry for my stupid question,
Is VC++2010, come without .Net framework background(like VC++6),
Please can you add some more details on this.
April 19th, 2010, 08:52 AM
nuzzle

Re: Need Guidelines on VC++ future

Quote:

Originally Posted by itz pal

And nuzzle, sry for my stupid question,
Is VC++2010, come without .Net framework background(like VC++6),
Please can you add some more details on this.

The free VC++ 2010 Express supports .NET Framework 4. On the other hand to make full use of .NET you need to use C++/CLI which is a superset of standard C++. C++/CLI is an excellent language but somewhat isolated. If you plan on doing .NET developments it's probably a better idea to go for C# instead.

What I was talking about are the so called Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) which are not included in VC++ 2010 Express. MFC are used together with C++ to develop non-.NET applications. To get MFC you need a commersial version of VC++ 2010. And my concern/complaint was that the entry level (the simplest and cheapest) commersial version is getting increasingly expensive.