All right, so here's the skinny. I started Computer Programming 1 in college this semester, and I (and the rest of my school) missed two weeks worth of classes due to hurricane Katrina tearing our town up pretty severely. Heck, I'm still picking pieces of tree up.

Anywho, I need help on a few things:

-In our programming lab, we use Microsoft Visual Studio .Net (I think that's right) to code things. I was wondering if someone could reccomend a freeware program that operates similarly. I've tried a few, but they're like a lot of other freeware in the way that you have to go out of your way to make them function. Ah, the joys of working on a budget.

-As I said, we all missed two weeks. In those two weeks, I lost most of the information I had retianed from my first four classes. There are scores of C++ tutorial sites out there, and I'd like to find one that has most of the basics in one place. This hurricane has really put us out!

-Random question, but a lot of people in my class (including myself) are considering trying their hands at making simple games using C++ I was wondering if it would be conceivable to use C++ to make a text-based adventure game. CYOA style would probably be the easiest way of going about it.

Thanks for your help and/or the time you took to read this. And sorry to the mods if this is in the wrong forum. It's 3AM down here, and I'm running on Red Bull and dreams.