visual .net

For game development I''d save your money and use Visual Studio 6.0.

.NET doesn''t hurt anything (except the interface requires alot more resources) , but there is not a whole lot (or any) of useful features that wern''t already in visual studio 6.

On the other hand if your doing web development, there is a ton of stuff that beats the pants off of Visual Studio 6.

I got VS .NET a couple of weeks after it came out (I can''t help it. I''m an upgrade junkie ), and so far I have mixed feelings about it. Overall, I''ve been pretty happy with it. The interface is NICE but takes a little while to get used to if you''ve been using 6.0 for a while. And like Caffeine said, it takes up lots ''o resources so if you''re computer is fairly slow, it''s going to take a while to load. One of the most useful features is that if you have multiple files open, there''s a tab for every file that''s open (ala Dev-C++ 5 Beta). If you switch between files a lot, this feature is a dream come true. Just take a few things into consideration before laying down your cash:

1) .NET will only run on NT/2K/XP. If you''re running any 9x brand of Windows, don''t bother.

2) .NET Pro (and Academic) does NOT come with a profiler like 6.0 Pro does (I''m not sure about the other 2 versions)

3) You computer needs a good bit of "oomph" to run it well. Trust me, I run it at work on a 300Mhz PII w/ 128 MB SDRAM. It''s not pleasant.

4) It''s BIG! A full install takes over 2 GB of HD space (mine takes up about 1.6 GB)!

If you''ve got some extra $$$, power, and hd space, picking it up can''t hurt. I use .NET almost exclusively now, but I keep 6.0 around just in case.

/*=========================================*/
/* Chem0sh */
/* Lead Software Engineer & Tech Support */
/* http://www.eFaces.biz */
/*=========================================*/

quote:

---

Original post by Chem0sh
And like Caffeine said, it takes up lots ''o resources so if you''re computer is fairly slow, it''s going to take a while to load.

---

Turn off the Dynamic Help window - it''s a hog,.

quote:

---

2) .NET Pro (and Academic) does NOT come with a profiler like 6.0 Pro does (I''m not sure about the other 2 versions)

---

No version comes with a profiler. You can however get a free one from Numega[1].


[1]http://www.compuware.com/products/devpartner/profiler/

One of the most intense features of .Net is the back and forward buttons. With version 6, I'd always jump to another file or function to check something, then not remember where I was. The back and forward buttons allow you to go back and forth between cursor positions across files. I didn't know how much of a resource hog it is, because I have a beastly system. Its a horse!
The only thing that sux is I can't find a way to put the "run without debugging" button on the toolbar. Get used to hitting Ctrl+F5.
If you have a fast system, then dynamic help rules. Imagine the MSDN library within the IDE.
Proceeding on a brutal rampage is the obvious choice.

[edited by - amish1234 on June 14, 2002 1:48:02 PM]

[edited by - amish1234 on June 14, 2002 1:49:12 PM]

quote:

---

Original post by Arild Fines
No version comes with a profiler. You can however get a free one from Numega[1].
quote]
It kinda sucks for profiling non-managed code. ''99% of my time was spent in WaitForSingleObject'' - which narrows it down to all of my io completions routines... which I already knew. I wanted to know which ones. Perhpas they''ve improved it, since I took it for test-drive, but I found it useless for the one semi-difficult profiling task I had!

The C++ compiler is better than MSVC6''s, and if they deliver on thier promises for 7.1''s compiler, it''ll be the best in the industry.

---

amish1234: Wasn''t back and forward implemented in 6.0 as Ctrl-Tab? That allowed you to switch back and forth through your recent files.

I have the problem that I always keep loosing track of where i was in .net. If I open a file, and you close it again, .net doesn''t always return to the file you were editing for some reason. (hmm maybe it''s because I''m using other tools to open the file for me... )

Cheers,
Nick

I''ve been working with .NET each day, for almost 8 months now, and I really don''t want to go back to VS6, and COM and stuff like that. Visual STudio .NET isn''t just VS7, it''s much more. It''s a whole new world. First of all, the .NET framework that is supplied is simply fantastic, and the new approach, using IL (intermediate language) and CLR (Commom Language Runtime), is totally different from COM.

One drawback is that it takes up a lot of resources, and 128MB RAM is really the minimum.

If you have any other questions: pleeze ask!

+++ Corvus +++