-------------------------------------------------- From: "Ruben J=F6nsson" Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:05 PM To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Subject: Re: [EE] C Compiler >> > >> > The compiler used to be available as a separate subscription for not = >> > much >> > money. MSDN has gotten very bloated and expensive. You have to pay a = >> > lot of >> > money annually to just get the compiler updated. And now with the = >> > library >> > available free online, MSDN is too much unless you're doing a lot of = >> > heavy >> > Windows development regularly. >> >> I kind of agree here. It has all got pretty bloated and would be nice to = >> be able >> to subscribe *just* for what you need. I do really like Visual = >> Studio/.Net >> though, it certainly makes life a lot easier development wise, and I = >> think it's >> worth the money (although I'm sure some may not agree). MINGW is great = >> too and I >> have recently got into QT4, which I like very much now after some initial >> frustration with learning a new tool. I would consider giving the VS = >> Express >> edition a go, nothing to lose and you might be pleasantly surprised. >> >> > > I have done a lot of work with MSVC++ 6.0 and MFC and I found working wit= h = > C++ > in Visual Studio kind of confusing. > > On the other hand I really like working with C# in Visual Studio. So if = > the OP > does not really need C/C++ explicitly I would recommend him to take a loo= k = > at > C#. That would require the .NET framework (around 20Mb for ver 2.0). Yes, I agree with the fact that using C++ in the managed .Net environment = complicates things a bit and can take some getting used to. I also really like using C# in VS, it is so easy to pick up if you know C++ = and it removes all the hassle of worrying about managed/unmanaged = stuff/pointers/header files and such like. The performance hit with garbage collection/managed code/MSIL and so forth = is a lot less than some people think, and in most cases is very negligible, = or nothing at all. I find it does pretty much all the stuff I ask it to do, far more quickly = and easily than C++. If you do need access to lower level stuff, you can = always write a dll or lib in C++ and call it in, so you pretty much get the = best of both worlds. If necessary you can mix managed and unmanaged code = with not *too much* difficulty. I did resist learning C# for a while on the grounds that it was the = programming equivalent of "colouring by numbers" or "join the dots", i.e. = anything that makes it SO easy can't be right :-) Plus I generally like as = much control as possible, even if you have to be a lot more careful due to = the fact there are a lot more ways to shoot yourself in the foot. I am glad I decided to stop being so fussy and make life easier for myself = though :-) C# is a great tool, and does what it is intended to do very well. = -- = http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist