Visual Studio.NET?

I''ve been using it for a few months. Took a few days to get used to some new features, but I now I like it much better. The help is incorporated much better, so you can just click on stuff and have it look up the references in the DX docs - very handy.

As for the compiler, I find it to be a bit quicker, and also it seems to handle templates a bit better, and from what I''ve heard it''s more standards compliant overall.

I think its a big waste of money if you don''t want the new language stuff like C#, as it only adds a nicer editor and some small compiler improvements. I think its very expensive now as you have to buy the complete C/VB/net edition where as with VC6 you could just get the C/C++ pro version at quite a low price - which doesn''t help newbies and the amateur-scene much.

i have a friend in my programing class and he bought VS.net for somewhere around $150 no not the academic version but the componentized C++ only version so i dont know what youve been smoking but M$ sells just the c++ version they also sell just the c# version and a just VB version it''s prety cheap if you get the standard edition but then that is somewhat limited in that it does not cost $2000 .

ah! I see - you can get separate versions of the standard version only, not for the Pro version of VC.net at present.
(pardon me)
But with VC6 you got a slower/un-optimized compiler with the standard edition, thus I steered clear...

well since im in the class right now i asked the kid and he says it was $85 and yes it does optimize unlike VS6. poor him when he bought it he thought he was getting all of VS.Net heheh boy did he get a surprise when he got home.

So, steering back somewhat, is it a good move for $100 to go from the VC6 to .NET C++, provided that you only use C++ and are a casual programmer who program regularly (involving DX, Win32 and MFC)?

When I first went from VC5 to VC6, I actually didn't see much difference - certainly not as much as the cash dished out. I saw a lot of cosmetic changes in help features. But in a nutshell, it felt more like VC5 plus an addon rather than a new product with full price tag.

[edited by - PugPenguin on April 25, 2003 11:26:18 AM]

Related question: would I have any trouble compiling VC6 project files with .Net? Do the project files have to be converted or can they be opened and compiled as is. Also, if I upgrade, will VC6 people have any problems opening my projects?

bpopp (bpopp.net)

[edited by - bpopp on April 25, 2003 11:40:46 AM]

quote:

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Original post by Anonymous Poster
Say, does the Visual C++ in VS.Net work the same way as the previous version? ie. Does VS.Net only make .Net stuffs or can you still do DirectX, OpenGL and Win32?

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Yes you can. The native code generated is even better (Pentium Pro optimizations)

quote:

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Related question: would I have any trouble compiling VC6 project files with .Net? Do the project files have to be converted or can they be opened and compiled as is. Also, if I upgrade, will VC6 people have any problems opening my projects?

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You can open a dsw project and VS.NET will convert it to it's new format. You should have no trouble compiling it.

[edited by - novum on April 25, 2003 11:45:11 AM]

If you''re interested in just C++ you can get Visual C++ .Net for $109 retail. If you''re considering going that route I''d wait a month for the 2003 version to come out. They have majorly re-worked the C++ part in 2003 (much better ANSI C++ support, Pentium and AMD code generation support, whole program optimization, etc...)

Its project and solution (the new name for workspace) formats are incompatible w/VC 6.0. They provide a path to upgrade existing project files/workspaces but provide no facility to go back. If you want to support both you''ll have to have parallel project structures for VS 6 and VS .Net. However, I will say that this is a pain, esp since one of the reasons to use the new compilers is to take advantage of the new language features.

The good news is that you can install the compilers side by side on a machine. For example I have VS 6, .Net 2002, and .Net 2003 on my work machine.

Back to your original question. Should you upgrade? If there is a specific feature that you need for your project then do it. Otherwise it''s a value judgement. If your interest is unmanaged C++ then definately wait for the 2003 edition.

2003 Just came out, it''s definately a LOT better c++ compiler. And I believe that DirectX 9 has a download for integrated DX help files in VS.NET

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Gamedev for learning.
libGDN for putting it all together.
An opensource, cross platform, cross API game development library.

yes it is out, but they're heavily backordered from shop.microsoft.com

[edited by - null_vector on April 25, 2003 5:02:12 PM]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

I''m not so much worried about the price of VStudio.NET, but rather if it is a better product to use for C++ development. I''m used to Visual Studio, and know it inside out, so I''m a little hesistant to change. Also, I only code in C++, so C# support is no big deal to me. So, I just wanted to know if given a choice to program using VStudio.NET 2003 or VStudio 6, what do you prefer? Do you lose any features when moving to .NET, or do you gain a lot or important ones? From reading this thread, it looks like most people recommend VStudio.NET.

This is kind of a side issue, but are there any pitfalls to be careful of when converting a project from VStudio 6 to VStudio.NET?

Thanks again,
-Gilderoot

I don''t think so. Every project of mine that I converted from VS6 compiled fine.

At first I was a little disappointed with the IDE in VS.NET, but after getting to know it better I really started to like it. I mostly do directx programming, so there''s many of the new features I don''t use, but I still think it''s much better than VS 6.0.