To C or not to C?

Before I'm admonished to RtFF or otherwise flamed, please know that I've made a VERY GOOD effort to avoid having to post this question.

Let me make clear that I'm parachuting into this territory and, while Iâ??m worthy of being called a power user, I've never developed for any device and thus have very little sense of context or understanding of terms of art or other colloquialisms. So dumb it down a notch, please.

That said, all I need to know is where to get good OBJECTIVE advice on choosing a programming language for the application Iâ??m going to develop (and you will all eventually buy) for WM devices. In my many readings, Iâ??ve found developers to be more zealous about their preferred language than many people are about their chosen religion, and that they see the universe through that frame of reference.

On the other end of the spectrum, Microsoftâ??s publications seem to promise that EVERY option is a good one, in its own way.

Therefore, I am offering no clue as to the nature of the project, only that I have one and need help making a decision.

I will say this: the application will require a robust desktop interface â?? assuming that makes a difference.

Please donâ??t flame. Just a link or two would be great.

Thanks!

Bruce
Tue Jul 06 20:58:29 CDT 2004

eVB is out since it has been end of lifed, although I may get flamed for
that one.

eVC++ for native code, at least until the next release of Visual Studio. So
of course this will be good if you need speed or hardware access, but not so
good for GUI development.

Visual Studio 2003 with C# or VB for managed code development. Speed not as
good but GUI development is better.

Since you did not indicate what you app is going to do, that is the best
that I can do for you.

If it were me, I might consider a combination of tools so that I could take
advantage of both worlds when necessary. Ultimately you need to try the
tools to make your decision, so bite the bullet and do it. eVC is free, so
nothing should be holding you back. Visual Studio is cheap considering that
you are about to set the world on fire with an app that we are **all** going
to eventually buy from you.

--
Bruce Eitman (eMVP)
Senior Engineer

Ginny
Tue Jul 06 20:59:50 CDT 2004

Judd,

There's nothing wrong with your question, so don't expect flames here. ;-)
But the nature of the app you plan to create and your own previous
programming experience and preferences are important. Unless you are writing
devices drivers (which require C++) there really is no one correct answer.

I can give you some pros and cons for several Microsoft languages (and no
doubt others will fill in some gaps) but the final choice will have to be
yours since only you know what's most important to you.

eVB - easy to use but now obsolete. You can use it with current Windows
Mobile projects (and it's free), but it won't work with future Windows
Mobile devices.

eVC++ - if you can't do something with this tool (which is also free for
now), then it can't be done on Windows CE. It gives you the fastest apps and
the absolute most control, but it takes most of us longer to work in C++
than in other languages.

VB.Net or C# - although the languages are syntactically different, they are
functionally very similar. With VB.Net it's easier to avoid strong typing
(not usually a good idea), but with C# you can use pointers if you need them
(which you probably won't). They both use the Compact Framework and have a
growing following of free code such as the Smart Device Framework at
www.opennetcf.org. You can use either language from Visual Studio 2003 Pro
(or higher), which is the most productive development environment compared
with eVB and eVC++.

The desktop interface really makes no difference at all, since you can use
absolutely any Windows dev tool to create it that can make API calls. You
use the Remote API (Rapi) to communicate with the device, create files and
folders, copy or delete files, modify the device registry, launch apps,
etc., all from the desktop.


--
Ginny Caughey
.Net Compact Framework MVP



"Judd Bagley" <JuddBagley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4B8FB08E-BD28-432B-8948-DA59EBF76D6C@microsoft.com...
> Before I'm admonished to RtFF or otherwise flamed, please know that I've
made a VERY GOOD effort to avoid having to post this question.
>
> Let me make clear that I'm parachuting into this territory and, while I'm
worthy of being called a power user, I've never developed for any device and
thus have very little sense of context or understanding of terms of art or
other colloquialisms. So dumb it down a notch, please.
>
> That said, all I need to know is where to get good OBJECTIVE advice on
choosing a programming language for the application I'm going to develop
(and you will all eventually buy) for WM devices. In my many readings, I've
found developers to be more zealous about their preferred language than many
people are about their chosen religion, and that they see the universe
through that frame of reference.
>
> On the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft's publications seem to promise
that EVERY option is a good one, in its own way.
>
> Therefore, I am offering no clue as to the nature of the project, only
that I have one and need help making a decision.
>
> I will say this: the application will require a robust desktop interface -
assuming that makes a difference.
>
> Please don't flame. Just a link or two would be great.
>
> Thanks!
>

r_z_aret
Tue Jul 13 17:43:02 CDT 2004

In an earlier response here, Ginny Caughey provided a particularly
good, concise, summary of the main choices. The following provides a
somewhat longer comparison:
http://www.codeproject.com/ce/Pocket_PC_Development.asp

The following provides a good intro to a key concept:
http://www.opennetcf.org/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=317
The following provide leads on alternate development tools:
http://www.cewindows.net/developer/languages.htm
http://www.cegadgets.com/cedevtools.htm
http://www.pocketpcdn.com/tools/index.html

If you're willing to do some more wading, I suggest using google
(http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search). In particular, I
just used it to look up
newbie
in this newsgroup (microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer) and got 1100
hits. I think many (including my notes promoting google) will be
easily dismissed, but some will be useful (at least for leads, if not
actual info).

On Tue, 6 Jul 2004 18:28:01 -0700, "Judd Bagley"
<JuddBagley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Before I'm admonished to RtFF or otherwise flamed, please know that I've made a VERY GOOD effort to avoid having to post this question.
>
>Let me make clear that I'm parachuting into this territory and, while I?m worthy of being called a power user, I've never developed for any device and thus have very little sense of context or understanding of terms of art or other colloquialisms. So dumb it down a notch, please.
>
>That said, all I need to know is where to get good OBJECTIVE advice on choosing a programming language for the application I?m going to develop (and you will all eventually buy) for WM devices. In my many readings, I?ve found developers to be more zealous about their preferred language than many people are about their chosen religion, and that they see the universe through that frame of reference.
>
>On the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft?s publications seem to promise that EVERY option is a good one, in its own way.
>
>Therefore, I am offering no clue as to the nature of the project, only that I have one and need help making a decision.
>
>I will say this: the application will require a robust desktop interface ? assuming that makes a difference.
>
>Please don?t flame. Just a link or two would be great.
>
>Thanks!

-----------------------------------------
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Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
500 Harrison Ave., Suite 3R
Boston, MA 02118
www.penfact.com