Thread: Visual Studio 2010 Express vs 2005 Standard

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bakersfield, California
    Posts
    22

    Question Visual Studio 2010 Express vs 2005 Standard

    I've been using VS 2005 Standard for my work and it was recently recommended to me to try out VS 2010 Express. I have a couple of questions before I make a jump though.

    1. Can I install VS2010 and keep VS 2005 Standard installed in case it's not working for me? I would (of course) install it in a different directory, but will 2010 smeg with my 2005 install?

    2. How is the performance of 2010 vs 2005? Sometimes the IDE in 2005 is sluggish when viewing moderately-sized source files. Is 2010 better at handling that, or is it more resource hungry? I do have an older computer (P4 3.8 - 3GB ram).

    3. Is there any way to add MFC functionality into 2010? I'm fairly new to programming, and very inexperienced with Windows-specific programming. I have an app right now that I'm almost ready to convert from console to GUI. I'd like to think that I can do it using the Win32 or MFC for performance reasons - but I'm undecided on that still. I do know that the Windows Forms applications are sluggish, so I'm guessing that .NET isn't the best for snappy software.

  2. #2
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    1) Yes, you can have both installed at the same time. They should not interfere with each other.
    2) If anything, the resources of the IDE hasn't been reduced. Expect some sluggishness, but generally way better IntelliSense and lookup. It's also faster transitioning from and to debug mode.
    3) Unfortunately not, unless you have Standard or above. There are other C++ GUI libraries, however, like wxWidgets. Perhaps give 'em a try.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bakersfield, California
    Posts
    22
    Okay, I appreciate the info. I'll download it this evening and give it a whirl. I'll need to go to a friend's house to get it - I'm on dial-up. ;-)

    And maybe I don't even need MFC, I'll look into some alternate GUI libraries like you suggested. One thing is certain though, I want my app to be snappy.

  4. #4
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Yeah, screw dotCrap, go C++!
    Anyhow, good luck to you. The 2010 IDE can be a bit buggy. Crashed on me several times
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bakersfield, California
    Posts
    22
    Quote Originally Posted by Elysia View Post
    ...Crashed on me several times...(
    The 2005 IDE crashed on me once in the month or so that I've been using it. I save fairly often, and it loads quickly so that bothers me less than how it performs. I can't stand sluggishness, I have to admit that sometimes I bust out Borland TC 3 to try out ideas. Now THAT is a snappy IDE, it just doesn't have a lot of features.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bakersfield, California
    Posts
    22
    Just an update. I did install VS2010 Express... success!

    The IDE is more responsive than 2005, scrolling through wide areas of code is not laggy at all now. This, more than anything, surprised me. I'm not used to software getting faster in newer releases - especially from Microsoft.

    IntelliSense works like a champ now. When it doesn't, I can almost guarantee that I've typed something wrong. I have a lot of structures in my app and I often switch "." with "->", but that's getting less and less now. Maybe I need a better naming scheme for my pointers...

    I've been using VS2010 Express solidly for the past two days, and I have yet to see a crash. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. But for now it's running wonderfully.

    I took your advice Elysia and downloaded wxWidgits. I briefly looked through the documentation, and I have a lot to learn. It is a widespread library with many tutorials though, so it's just a matter of hammering through them to get the basics down.

  7. #7
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    VS2010 also supports some C++0x features. Those I know of are decltype, nullptr, lambdas, rvalue references, auto. You can read more about these on Wikipedia.
    They are sure to come in handy.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Issue with cin and strings
    By putzboy20 in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 05-11-2010, 08:38 PM
  2. Console Font Size
    By bradszy in forum Windows Programming
    Replies: 34
    Last Post: 04-26-2008, 07:09 AM
  3. C++ std routines
    By siavoshkc in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 33
    Last Post: 07-28-2006, 12:13 AM
  4. Please Help - Problem with Compilers
    By toonlover in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 07-23-2005, 10:03 AM
  5. Linking error
    By DockyD in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 01-20-2003, 05:27 AM