C++; Visual Basic......NET

[thornmastr]

Hello,

I am a Visual Basic 6 Developer with a reasonable background in C. Unfortunately, it is not C++. And, after developing in VB 6 almost exclusively for the past ten years, I am reasonably certain my understanding of C is now more theoretical than pragmatic.

But, what is very pragmatic is that Visual Basic 6 is no longer being supported by Microsoft, and while it still affords me a comfortable living, it is time limited. I have looked at NET and find that I do not like what I have seen and like even less what I have heard from developers who are using it.

I don’t think there is a real migration path from Visual Basic to C++ 6; but I do want to begin learning this and can hopefully, within a year or two, make the jump to a serious C++ practitioner. I do have some serious questions that hopefully the members of this group can answer.

First I have seen a number of web articles pertaining to C++ and NET. Does this mean that Microsoft has also cut development of C++ and now offers only C combined with Net or only C#? I guess the real question is, is C++ still a viable Microsoft product or should I look seriously at Borland C++ or Delphi?

As a developer, can I use the professional edition or do I need to opt for what is probably the very expensive Enterprise edition? Also, what should I expect to spend for whatever version I should purchase? Is an EBay purchase a viable alternative?
And last, could someone suggest a few good C++ learning texts as well as a few texts dealing specifically with using C++ in developing Databases?

Any other suggestions or ideas any of you might share, I would be most grateful.

Thank you,


Robert Berman
Data Base consultant
Vulcan Software Services
thornmastr@earthlink.net

 

[Kalisto]

Hi Robert.

There are millions of lines of VB code out there that still need maintaining, so dont throw away your old tools.

Microsoft has just released a new version of the C++ compiler as part of Visual Studio.net 2005 (VC7 iirc). It is not stopping development of VC++. C#, VB.Net and Java are ok for a large proportion of modern day software, but they are interpreted, and compiled as bytecode for a specific machine. This means that they are not as fast or as efficient as C / C++, nor do they give you the deep control you may need of memory, so Microsoft will not be dropping C++ anytime soon. (Device drivers, large chunks of Windows, SQL server etc are all in C++)

I cant recommend the tools, as I use the enterprise version here via my employer, but you get what you pay for. But the Pro version has all the tools I imagine that you will need, unless you intend to work on large scale applications. (And whilst you are learning, more toys to play with, and better tools can mean you dont understand the basics)

I would try and get the .net version of visual studio if possible, as it then also opens up vb.net and c#, so you are able to learn 1 or both of those platforms as well (if time allows).

As for Books, the 2 that are always on my desk, and heavily thumbed are "The C++ Programming Language" by Stroustrup, and the more general "Design Patterns" by Gamma et al.

Hope thats been of some help,

K