alternative to MFC in Visual C++ Express 2010?

I am attempting to learn Visual C++ using Ivor Horton's book Beginning Visual C++ 2010. This is for my personal enrichment only, not any classroom assignments. I can neither afford nor justify the expense of a retail version of Visual C++ or Visual Studio. I am using Visual C++ 2010 Express to write code.

As explained in the introduction of Horton's book, the Express version does not support MFC. I wish to find a recommended free download which will allow me to follow the book's instructions for creating Windows programs using Visual C++ 2010 Express. If a reliable free download is available, I would like to know where within the path to place it to make it available to write code in the Express version.

Thanks for your guidance.
dr_pepper

Maybe you can download the Visual Studio 11 beta version. Not sure if MFC is in there.

Are you a student or have a .edu email address? If so, you can sign up for the Dreamspark program and get VS2010 Professional for free for 1 year.

Quote:

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This is for my personal enrichment only, not any classroom assignments. I can neither afford nor justify the expense of a retail version of Visual C++ or Visual Studio. I am using Visual C++ 2010 Express to write code.

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So you're not obliged to stick with either MFC or the book. You need to answer yourself what "your personal enrichment" is really for. If your desire is to learn pure C++, you just find some other book on C++. If you want to learn Windows programming via C++, you can go with either pure Win32 API or WinForms, and anyway you find some other book. But if you want to learn specifically MFC, the only free option is MFC 4.2 bundled with Windows Platform SDK. And again, a book on MSVC2010 cannot be used as is for this option.

Summarizing, in case you want to learn specifically MSVC2010 and specifically and literally by Horton's book, it seems Express edition is not an option.

D_Drmmr,
All of the electives which I may chose to take in college use the 2010 Express version. None of the courses are required.

Access_Denied,
good info ... The free one year is enticing, but I believe I want to keep Visual C++ for a longer time to learn what I want to learn. I need to research which partnerships the school has established. Initial information provided by some of my professors indicates that the school partnerships are somewhat limited by the fact that I am attending a community college, not a four year university.

Igor Vartanov,
Thanks for the SDK reference.

By virtue of the fact that personal enrichment is my goal, I am willing to invest all the spare time which is practical to learn various facets of programming in C++ -- not just pure (native?) C++. It appears to be prudent to learn the basics inside and out to provide a foundation for writing Windows programs, which is my end goal.

My choice of this book is by virtue of recommendation from one of my professors who is a professional programmer turned educator. (He grew tired of company buy outs and reductions of force eliminating his job position and turned educator for job stability.) He called this book one stop shopping for learning not just the Visual C++, but the variety of programming types presented in the book (native C++, C++/CLI, console applications [both Win32 and CLR], Windows Forms, and MFC).

In short, I am not irreversibly committed to the book. Your reference to Windows SDK looks like a viable option after performing some research. Wikipedia (if I can trust the information provided) states that the third iteration of SDK is compatible with Express versions of Visual Studio. Release notes appear to indicate that SDK is Visual C++ 2010 Express compatible.

If the above referenced info is correct, I need to figure out how to install SDK to integrate it with Visual C++. I am not quite sure how and where the installation should be performed to accomplish this to build and run programs. I may be over my head on this type of installation because I have not gained enough understanding of compilers and the IDE to know where various libraries and other folders are accessed by Visual C++.

I cannot determine the exact steps to integrate SDK into Visual C++. However, I have successfully opened new projects with everything but MFC using the book guidelines. It sounds like my best bet may be to become familiar and proficient with the basics and move to MFC later. Do you concur?

drpepper

Sounds like a plan good enough for moving forward. In fact, nowadays MFC gradually loses the positions it formerly possessed. It's not like it's totally defeated, but C# and other frameworks like Qt and WTL start to look more and more attractive for GUI apps development. Besides, Express edition has no resource editor and MFC class wizard integrated in IDE that is going to sufficiently complicate MFC development compared to C# or Qt.

So, make some start but remember, there's no a single "silver bullet" book on programming Windows, and you're going to find lots of other books to learn from in future (as well as people other than your professor :)).