Starting to learn c++ as an alternative to VB

Hey all,

I've just developed an application in VB. One part of it distributes another little program to other people (by cd etc). Problem I face is that I don't want them to have to install .net just to use this little side program.

So, I thought I would look for alternatives. Seems everyone uses c++ so thought I would head in that direction. I downloaded the new borland turbo C++ and got it all working.

Problem I now face is that I don't know where to start with getting tutorials etc. I did the tutes on c++ programming for console stuff (Beginner tutorials on this site) and I'm ok with the code etc. but am needing to do advanced stuff like shellexecute and reading xml files. I can't get any working due to my lack of knowledge of the C++ language in that direction (does any of that make sense?)

Cheers,

Shags

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags_j

I downloaded the new borland turbo C++ and got it all working.

---

New and Borland Turbo C++ doesn't seem to go together. As far as I know, the Turbo C++ was discontinued before year 2000.

--
Mats

The easiest switch from VB would be to move to C# since it grabs some of its ideas from VB, C++, and Java. I'm not discouraging you from learning C++ but if you are learning C++ just for GUI you are looking at the language through the wrong lens. C++ is far more than GUI. C# is geared heavily towards easy GUI creation (although it can do more) and it's learning curve is far less than MFC. MFC is not hard but if you don't know C++ MFC will be extremely hard and confusing to pick up.

Console C++ isn't going to get you anything in the way of GUI like VB. For GUI C++ you will either need to utilize a third party library, MFC, or C++/CLI.

Sorry but I wouldn't be offering good advice if I did not recommend C# to you based on the content of your post.

Thanks heaps for the advice. I will look into C#. The reason I chose C++ is because I couldn'treally think of what language to use and I did a small amount of c++ in my degree years ago.

Is there a package for using c# better than the new turbo c#?

EDIT: I need to make sure that the final .exe does not require the .net framework.

Cheers,

Shags

MSVS Express Edition available at Microsoft's site. It's free.

but won't the final package require the .net framework?

It will install that for you. .NET framework is maintained by Microsoft whereas the C# standard and versions are maintained by ECMA. The CLR is Microsoft's version of the CLI and it will install along with Visual Studio Express.

Sorry I meant won't my client need to install the .net framework to run the final package.

Re-read my post. When you install MSVS it will install .NET for you. When you want to run your C# code on another system your setup and deployment project will auto-detect the .NET dependency. When the setup is ran on another computer, it will install .NET. I believe setup and deployment requires .NET to even function so it has to be installed.

Moving this to C# board since it is going in that direction.

The secondary package however I didn't want to install. The idea is it is meant to run an .exe directly from a cd on a clients computer.

After looking through everthing myself I think I will take this course:

Write a console application in c++ to check registry for existence of the correct version of .net for my application. If it exists, run the application and if not, direct the user to the .net setup @ microsoft (or even include the redist on the cd).

Cheers for your help Bubba. And for future packages I think I will definitely look at c# as an option.

Cheers,

Shags

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags_j

I can't get any working due to my lack of knowledge of the C++ language in that direction

---

It would help if you could post some code you tried.