Is Visual Studio NET == Visual Studio 6 C++?

[hanybanoub]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to catch up and get into coding again.

I've used Visual Studio 6, coding C++ in the past.

Now w/ Visual Studio NET out, can I use that in place of Visual Studio 6 to code in C++?

Not so much NET apps, but just regular C++/Visual C++ coding till I get into NET.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated guys, and girls

CHEERS

 

[Descartes]

Yes, you can.

 

[hanybanoub]

Thanks for your reply Descartes.

I gather that there is no longer a need for Visual Studio 6 if using Visual Studio NET.

Is this correct? What would anyone use VS 6 nowadays then?

CHEERS

 

[hanybanoub]

Does anyone know?

 

[jgbishop]

I still use VS6, simply because the version of VS.NET I tried was pure crap. I was truly astonished with how buggy it was. A newer version has come out since then, but I'm sticking with VS 6 for now.

Note: The ClassWizard is no longer a part of VS.NET (just so you know). And there are other similarly annoying new "features".

 

[hanybanoub]

Thanks for your helpful reply jb

What version of VS.NET did you try before?

Can you please tell me what the ClassWizard 'feature' is, and what other 'features' may also be missing?

Should I install both VS.NET and VS 6 then?

CHEERS

 

[jgbishop]

I installed the very first version of .NET that was installed (I think it was .NET 2001). A newer version is available (2002 IIRC), but I'm not sure if there is a newer one than that.

I was just mentioning that the ClassWizard from VS 6 is no longer in VS .NET. The ClassWizard was really helpful when using MFC, as you could quickly add new classes or member methods.

Here is an opinionated piece from a Microsoft MVP, on why you should not use VS.NET. Pretty interesting: Bob Moore on Not Using VS .NET

Remember that this is an opinion piece, but I agree with several of his points. I have not tried the latest version of .NET, so it may have been improved. But I'm sticking with VS 6 for now. I don't think you can have both versions of VS installed (unfortunately). Things get messed up, IIRC, and that's never a good thing.

VS 6 has its problems (a conflict with Norton Anti-virus can occasionally cause problems, even causing you to lose your work!), but I think it's great for my purposes (writing programs in Visual C++ and MFC). A generic programming alternative is Visual Slickedit (link). It is a much better editor than VS, but it doesn't have the resource editor and a few other useful features that VS has.

Six one way, half a dozen the other.

 

[hanybanoub]

Thanks again jb this is great info

I will read more about this.

Odd that both VSes can't be installed at the same time though!

Not very MS-like

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: hanybanoub
Thanks again jb this is great info

I will read more about this.

Odd that both VSes can't be installed at the same time though!

Not very MS-like

I have developed on a system that had both packages on it.

Biggest problem was the VS.Net was installed afterwards.

If I accidently double clicked on a source file in explorer, the .Net IDE would come up. And it was SLOW to get rolling.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Wow, damn, call me an anti-MS zealot, but I'm just a bit overwhelmed here.

I'm reading a webpage written by a windows programmer, talking about how he codes things by clicking on dialog boxes. He describes his disgust for the newest MS IDE (he's probably right - I wouldn't know), and instead promotes an IDE that is some 5(?) years old, and is notorious for not supporting modern C++ features. All the while I'm reading this on a page generated by FrontPage, which has a title of "Why You Shouldn"

Wow. :Q

 

[jgbishop]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Wow, damn, call me an anti-MS zealot, but I'm just a bit overwhelmed here.

I'm reading a webpage written by a windows programmer, talking about how he codes things by clicking on dialog boxes. He describes his disgust for the newest MS IDE (he's probably right - I wouldn't know), and instead promotes an IDE that is some 5(?) years old, and is notorious for not supporting modern C++ features. All the while I'm reading this on a page generated by FrontPage, which has a title of "Why You Shouldn"

Wow. :Q

True. As I noted, this is an opinion piece, so take it with a grain of salt. The interface for setting variables is indeed clunky. And yes, VS 6 is certainly aging. But I know that everything I need is certainly covered by VS 6, so I'm sticking with that for now. Just my 2 and 1/2 cents.

 

[hanybanoub]

Thanks for the feedback everyone

Please keep it coming

 

[hanybanoub]

bump

 

[oog]

VS6 comes with VB6, which is very different from VB.NET. That would be one reason you might stick with VS6. That being said, the C++ support in VS.NET is supposed to be more standards compliant. I haven't had trouble with VS.NET 2002 or VS.NET 2003 using VB, C# or C++.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: oog the C++ support in VS.NET is supposed to be more standards compliant.

Very much so:

Microsoft VC++ 6.0
76% pass (43 warnings)
24% fail (112)

Microsoft VC++ 7.1
99% pass (7 warnings)
1% fail (1)

And that's *with* all of boost's compatability measures.

http://boost.sourceforge.net/regression-logs/