.NET

Thanks for that. Still a bit confused - MS tries to focus on web stuff which clouds the coding side for me a bit.
So using .NET, I can write functions in 4 different languages and call them transparently from all over the place?

I guess I''m most interested in C++ - how does this differ in managed form from unmanaged wrt syntax, memory allocation, API and DirectX usage. Plus what''s the speed hit in switching to managed code?

Do users need a big runtime library to run .NET programs, or does it output .exes that include the JIT compiler. Oh and does this recompile the code every time or just the first time it''s run on each machine?

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Read about my game, project #1
NEW (18th December)2 new screenshots, one from the engine and one from the level editor

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John 3:16

>>Thanks for that. Still a bit confused - MS tries to focus on web stuff which clouds the coding side for me a bit.<<

.NET is not about the web - ASP.NET is about web stuff.

>>So using .NET, I can write functions in 4 different languages and call them transparently from all over the place?<<

You can use any language that has a .NET version, C# VB.NET, MC++, JScript, COBOL, ADA, etc. Each assembly can be in a single language. Think of an assembly for this purpose as a DLL.

>>I guess I''m most interested in C++ - how does this differ in managed form from unmanaged wrt syntax, memory allocation, API and DirectX usage. Plus what''s the speed hit in switching to managed code?<<

98% is guideline performance of .NET vs VC++ for the moment. This is expected to get faster though. Syntax of MC++ vs C++ - the same more or less, except you use ManagedDX9 and .NET handles memory for you. You can mix safe code (the Managed stuff) and unsafe code (the unmanged stuff) in the same assembly in MC++ (and to a degree in C#) where performance is critical or where you just feel like doing something dumb ;-)


>>Do users need a big runtime library to run .NET programs, or does it output .exes that include the JIT compiler. Oh and does this recompile the code every time or just the first time it''s run on each machine? <<

Not a runtime library - they need the .NET framework. This is like DX - a one time install, currently around 20mb.

You can use Ngen to precompile .NET code, either when you ship it, or on install. The JIT compiler operates on the code every time, but caches compiled code. Essentially NGen decreases load time intially, but doesn''t aid performance.