[lug] Programming

[D. Stimits]

jd wrote:

> Hello,
>   I need to write a app for windoz. I have only used perl
> on a Unix/Linux platform before. I don't want to use perl
> to make the windoz app, do to the lack to a perl interpretor
> on most windoz boxen.
>   So, i have been fooling around with Visual Basic...
> This language is not nearly as elegant as PERL, and
> some of the concepts just seem like allot of work compared
> to the the same concept in PERL. So I was thinking of
> maybe trying Visual C++. I have seen allot of C code
> and, it looks easier and more logical.
>  To get to the point, I have already spent a week playing with VB
> and I don't want to waste anymore time learning VB if I can
> come further and faster using visual C++.... So for someone
> with mostly just PERL exp. , what would be the most similar
> language in concepts and syntax (to PERL), that will allow me to make
> GUI apps for windoz.
>

That's a can of worms to open for a topic...

Opinion: You can't go further faster with VC++ compared to VBasic. You 
can build nothing secure if you use VBasic. You can go further with VC++ 
than VB by quite a lot if you spend time doing it. Lots of people have 
been saying that one of the only things MS has done right lately is C# 
(pronounced "C Sharp"), and that it is extremely good for fast and 
elegant. Java is nice for some cross-platform things, but you might run 
into version problems there too, and in many ways C++ (if you use 
templates and template containers) is way beyond Java (though not 
necessarily as useful under VC++, since VC++ templates lag behind the 
times relative to g++). In linux, the Mono project does C#, though 
apparently it isn't complete yet. The windows update link offers users a 
chance to add the .NET framework, along with C# support, so although 
some machines don't have C# support, they can easily get it directly 
from MS updates.

The thing you haven't stated is what you expect to be doing, and what 
you expect when done.

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi DOT com