Is Visual C++ express really free?

Wow! what a fun thread to skim through!

I know I'm late to the party and bumping it, but I wanted to chime in and to clarify on the OPs question.

The Answer to Is Visual C++ Express really free is a definite 'yes'. One of the primary reasons I was told for the Express editions was to provide an introductory product for people such as students and hobbyists to use to get a feel for a product. These Express or introductory level versions of the software are not all inclusive and do not have a lot of enterprise level features. They do, however, have everything you need to do most standard development on a small scale. If you find that you are building a more robust product, the you will likely want or need to upgrade to a product that will cost you more money. In the mean time, if you don't want to spend money, Microsoft has given you an option.

Someone brought up the Introductory Editions from the old days. Those were primarily done as part of books and other packaging deals and were offered for learning. You could get a book with an introductory editoin for twenty or thirty dollars. Their intent was to help you avoid having to invest hundreds of dollars on a tool before you even knew how to use it. Once you learned the tool, then it would be easier to know which version to buy. The express edition replaced those and did it with nicely.

If you are a newbie programmer, you can get SQL Server Express, and one of the Express dev tools and build some nice applications at no cost. As I've said to many people -- even if you decide to use a different tool or to not upgrade, it is worth at least taking a look at the tools since all it will cost you is a download and a little time.

I'm actually amazed at how many VC++ 6 or VB 6 guys have still not taken a look at the express editions. They are free, so why not spend a hour poking around with one of them!


As to EULAs - You'll go crazy if you start reading those. They are written by lawyers who are covering the software company..... :sick:

Brad!

Yeah and I am still curious to know if you can distribute your exe built from vs2008. Like you said, reading it will drive you mad :(

You can do whatever you want with the exe you've built.

Now that is interesting.

I've tried to find that MS web page (FAQ) that stated that you're allowed to write even commercial software using express but failed (have read it though), sorry.

After installing though you can read the following in c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition - ENU\eula.1033.txt

Quote:

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1. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.

a. Installation and Use. One user may install and use any number of copies of the software on your devices to design, develop and test your programs.

b. Included Microsoft Programs. The software contains other Microsoft programs. These license terms apply to your use of those programs.
2. ADDITIONAL LICENSING REQUIREMENTS AND/OR USE RIGHTS.
a. Distributable Code. The software contains code that you are permitted to distribute in programs you develop if you comply with the terms below.

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The following statements only regulate distrubution of example code, runtime and so on.

Visual Studio Express - FAQ

Quote:

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7. Can I use Express Editions for commercial use?

Yes, there are no licensing restrictions for applications built using Visual Studio Express Editions.

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Spot on Igor.

Thanks everyone. My question has now been answered.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arjay

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joeman

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arjay

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joeman

I do have a question about vs2008. Does it have a source code formatter? In code::blocks you can format your code to either one of these:

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Yes it does.

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Where is located?

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Tools\Options\Text Editor node. Under the various languages, look under the formatting nodes.

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I see that you can make vs2008 work with a certian "flow" of style by automatically doing tabbing for you. I am glad they support this just like code::blocks, but this isn't what I wanted. In code::blocks you can goto your menu -> plugins -> source code formatter and it will run through your code and add spaces between parameters, brackets, braces, new lines and indent your if statements and switches and add tabs. This is what I like about code::blocks very much. Does vs2008 have something like this after you wrote your code?

If you don't know what I mean or haven't tried this for yourself, you should download code::blocks and create a new project, add some of your existing code and run the code formatter located in your main menu under plugins.

Also I found out that vs2008 can be used to make opengl apps. I just had to setup the libs and includes from the win32 sdk. Also I have setup sdl ;)

Edit: code::blocks does automatic indentation for your source code alot better than mv2008 :(. Code::blocks picks up what style you are coding in and will indent to that style automatically for you. After that you can easily clean up your code by running the source code formatter to keep things tidy. like this:

Write your code as normal

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
int i =0;

while(1){

if(i >10000){ i = 0; break;}
i++;

switch(i)
{
default: cout << i << endl;
}

}

}

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Do the the formatting tool. It will output this:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {
        int i =0;
       
        while ( 1 ) {
       
                if ( i >10000 ) {
                        i = 0;
                        break;
                }
                i++;
               
                switch ( i ) {
                        default:
                                cout << i << endl;
                }
               
        }
       
}

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Now it isn't perfect, but just simple clean up by the coder himself is all it takes after the tool formats it.

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

        int i = 0;
       
        while ( 1 ) {
       
                if ( i >10000 ) {

                        i = 0;
                        break;

                }
                i++;
               
                switch ( i ) {

                        default:
                                cout << i << endl;

                }
               
        }
       
}

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i ain't wonder if you expect a tool that does coding automatically;):confused:

It is worth pointing out one other item that is related to the questions asked in this thread. My comment is based on what I've been told, so EULAs are the best place for clarification.

Everything said about Express Editions of Visual Studio still stands. The one area where you want to use caution is if you are a student and you are using a copy of Visual Studio (other than Express Edition) provided by the school for free or for the cost of the disks. These academic editions often do have a restriction against distributing corporate copies of created software as they are licensed only for learning.

Brad!