.NET And GUI Programming :: C++

[kuphryn]

Hello.

I posted a topic about GUI Programming a few days ago. I was trying to decide if I should go ahead and take a Visual Basic GUI Programming college course. I am most interested in C++ as most people have gotten from my comments on C++.

With the release of .NET, is Microsoft still using MFC for GUI? I would like to know what is the best approach to learning GUI Programming using C++ and still be able to implement GUI easily using .NET. In other words, I want to know what book(s) I should buy to learn GUI using C++ that would apply to .NET, if not emphasizes .NET.

Thanks,
Kuphryn

 

[markjrubin]

don't have a comment, but will bump for you

Mark

 

[EagleKeeper]

.Net is not completely out into the real world yet.

Best bet is to learn how to work with both the GUI and internals - network communications, interprocess communication/coordination, etc.

Once the experts learn .Net then there will be books and references out. IF you attempt both at once you will short circuit due to info overload and may not fully understand what you are working with.

 

[kuphryn]

Okay. Thanks.

Kuphryn

 

[Smurfwow]

the .net documentation is huge...

it has examples, tutorials and references for everything...

 

[KB]

.Net is in fact in final release, its just it requires a 20 MB install on any PC that wants to run a .Net executable. .Net does not use MFC, but it is slightly related. Visit alot of the .Net websites for book listings.

www.gotdotnet.com
www.csharpindex.com

 

[Smurfwow]

It's less than 20mb.....

The run-time files are ~10mb.

and the redistributable is less than 2mb.

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< , is Microsoft still using MFC for GUI? >>

actually Microsoft itself does not use MFC for MS Office, they use a bunch of custom code that they don't share with the rest of us. But MFC is widely used by everyone except MS, and will continue to be used for a while longer. If .Net is a big success on the desktop then new app development will be done using it, but it may be years before most companies decide to spend the money to re-write perfectly good MFC-based apps using .Net.

Since you're still a student, learning .Net instead of MFC makes some sense, since .Net might have taken over by the time you're job-hunting.

 

[joohang]

Depends on what you want to do with it.

1) What kind of applications do you plan to build? Just a simple GUI app? Or a distributed app? Graphics-intensive app?
2) Is this for the sake of training or to get yourself a job soon?

If you are very very interested in C++, then I suggest you to start with MFC first. .NET was barely finalized and released 12 days ago.

If you want to jump into the .NET world, I suggest you to learn C# instead.

If you want to build distributed applications, you should concentrate on the COM+ architecture - in VB, C++ or .NET.

My 2¢.

 

[Descartes]

<< I would like to know what is the best approach to learning GUI Programming using C++ and still be able to implement GUI easily using .NET. In other words, I want to know what book(s) I should buy to learn GUI using C++ that would apply to .NET, if not emphasizes .NET. >>



You must understand that building GUIs in C or C++ (without a class library like MFC) meant using the win32 api. MFC abstracted the win32 api by providing classes that simplified much the tedious aspects of win32 GUI development. Much like MFC, .NET's base class library abstracts the win32 api and provides an extremely simple set of classes for which to construct your GUIs. Unfortunately, you won't be able to leverage your GUI built using the win32 api/MFC/else with .NET.

Building GUIs by hand w/ .NET is simple, and even more so w/ Visual Studio.NET. If you're interested in building GUIs with .NET, I suggest looking at Petzold's book. I haven't read it yet, but if it's anything like his first book on programming w/ the win32 api, it'll be a gem.