VC++ 6 vs. VC++ express: please advise

I'm planning to write some code for a friend (for free), and may use C++,
which I haven't used in 5 years. Just installed my VC++6 on Windows xp home
edition.

Since my recollection of MS VC++ has faded anyway, I was thinking of trying
their free VC++ express (I love C++ but never gave MS VC++6 high marks for
user friendliness). I have some questions and reservations, and would
appreciate any advice.

--Will installing the free VC++ express mess up my installation of VC++6,
somehow making that less usable?

I imagine installing VC express might answer the remaining questions, but
I'm a bit afraid to do that without reassurance about its effect on VC++6.

--does VC express have the full ISO C++, including STL?
--are there restrictions, like amount of memory used, size of arrays, etc?
--does it produce reasonably fast code?
--is it easy to get started?
--what else does VC express lack that the full commercial product has?
--any other comments are welcome

My code is not going to be polished professional work--just a favor for one
friend. But I do need STL, operator overloading, reasonable speed of
execution, and to be able to read/write text files on disk and display info
to the user. Basically, the program is going to read *a lot* of data, do
some *lengthy* numerical number crunching, write some results back to disk,
and display some results.

Thank you all!

Carl
Wed Sep 20 13:35:17 CDT 2006

"michael brooks" <msb107@gnnx.net> wrote in message
news:uUOVFIO3GHA.1588@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> I'm planning to write some code for a friend (for free), and may use C++,
> which I haven't used in 5 years. Just installed my VC++6 on Windows xp
> home edition.
>
> Since my recollection of MS VC++ has faded anyway, I was thinking of
> trying their free VC++ express (I love C++ but never gave MS VC++6 high
> marks for user friendliness). I have some questions and reservations, and
> would appreciate any advice.
>
> --Will installing the free VC++ express mess up my installation of VC++6,
> somehow making that less usable?

No.

>
> I imagine installing VC express might answer the remaining questions, but
> I'm a bit afraid to do that without reassurance about its effect on VC++6.
>
> --does VC express have the full ISO C++, including STL?

Yes.

> --are there restrictions, like amount of memory used, size of arrays, etc?

No.

> --does it produce reasonably fast code?

Yes, quite.

> --is it easy to get started?

That's for you to decide.

> --what else does VC express lack that the full commercial product has?

MFC, ATL and the Platform SDK headers/libraries. You can download the
Platform SDK headers and libraries and integrate them with VC++ Express
yourself (there's some subtlety to doing it - a quick Google should get you
the answers). You can only get MFC and ATL by buying one of the higher
editions.

> --any other comments are welcome
>
> My code is not going to be polished professional work--just a favor for
> one friend. But I do need STL, operator overloading, reasonable speed of
> execution, and to be able to read/write text files on disk and display
> info to the user. Basically, the program is going to read *a lot* of data,
> do some *lengthy* numerical number crunching, write some results back to
> disk, and display some results.

If all you need is ISO standard C++, then VC++ express gives you a very good
implementation of that "out of the box". You probably don't even need the
platform SDK, based on what you've described.

-cd

Bruno
Wed Sep 20 13:44:26 CDT 2006

> --Will installing the free VC++ express mess up my installation of VC++6,
> somehow making that less usable?

No. I have VC6, VC2003 and VC2005 installed on the same system without a
problem.

> I imagine installing VC express might answer the remaining questions, but
> I'm a bit afraid to do that without reassurance about its effect on VC++6.
>
> --does VC express have the full ISO C++, including STL?
Yes, But if you want to write windows apps, you need to install the platform
SDK as well.
This is explained in more detail on the VC++ express 'getting started' page.

> --are there restrictions, like amount of memory used, size of arrays, etc?
Nope. Nothing of the kind. The only limitation is that the express version
does not ship with MFC and ATL. It also cannot produce 64 bit executables.

> --does it produce reasonably fast code?
Yes. The compiler contains all optimization options that the 'for pay'
versions have.

> --is it easy to get started?
AFAIK, yes.

> --what else does VC express lack that the full commercial product has?
Here is a complete overview:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hs24szh9.aspx

> --any other comments are welcome
Ditch VC6. It is almost 10 years old. It is not C++ standards compliant. The
reason is that the C++ standard was not yet formalized at the time. VC2005
is very standards compliant.

> My code is not going to be polished professional work--just a favor for
> one friend. But I do need STL, operator overloading, reasonable speed of
> execution, and to be able to read/write text files on disk and display
> info to the user. Basically, the program is going to read *a lot* of data,
> do some *lengthy* numerical number crunching, write some results back to
> disk, and display some results.

That should be absolutely no problem, using VC2005 express.

--

Kind regards,
Bruno van Dooren
bruno_nos_pam_van_dooren@hotmail.com
Remove only "_nos_pam"

michael
Thu Sep 21 05:54:14 CDT 2006

Many thanks to you, Carl & Bruno, for your comments.
I'm assuming, of course, that I'll be able to package an install program
for my friend...or if that's not possible, that he could install VC++
express himself, and then run my project.

Thanks again!

"michael brooks" <msb107@gnnx.net> wrote in message
news:uUOVFIO3GHA.1588@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> I'm planning to write some code for a friend (for free), and may use C++,
> which I haven't used in 5 years. Just installed my VC++6 on Windows xp
> home edition.
>
> Since my recollection of MS VC++ has faded anyway, I was thinking of
> trying their free VC++ express (I love C++ but never gave MS VC++6 high
> marks for user friendliness). I have some questions and reservations, and
> would appreciate any advice.
>
> --Will installing the free VC++ express mess up my installation of VC++6,
> somehow making that less usable?
>
> I imagine installing VC express might answer the remaining questions, but
> I'm a bit afraid to do that without reassurance about its effect on VC++6.
>
> --does VC express have the full ISO C++, including STL?
> --are there restrictions, like amount of memory used, size of arrays, etc?
> --does it produce reasonably fast code?
> --is it easy to get started?
> --what else does VC express lack that the full commercial product has?
> --any other comments are welcome
>
> My code is not going to be polished professional work--just a favor for
> one friend. But I do need STL, operator overloading, reasonable speed of
> execution, and to be able to read/write text files on disk and display
> info to the user. Basically, the program is going to read *a lot* of data,
> do some *lengthy* numerical number crunching, write some results back to
> disk, and display some results.
>
> Thank you all!
>
>
>
>
>

Carl
Thu Sep 21 09:30:32 CDT 2006

michael brooks wrote:
> Many thanks to you, Carl & Bruno, for your comments.
> I'm assuming, of course, that I'll be able to package an install
> program for my friend...or if that's not possible, that he could
> install VC++ express himself, and then run my project.

VC++ Express doesn't include any support for building installers - you'd
have to use something external. (In general, the Express editions include
support for building "ClickOnce" installers, but VC++ doesn't support
ClickOnce). If you build your program so it links to the static runtime
libraries, you'll only have to distribute your EXE file & the other
dependencies that you create and you shouldn't need an installer that's more
complex than xcopy.

-cd

David
Thu Sep 21 09:31:53 CDT 2006

michael brooks wrote:

> Many thanks to you, Carl & Bruno, for your comments.
> I'm assuming, of course, that I'll be able to package an install program
> for my friend...or if that's not possible, that he could install VC++
> express himself, and then run my project.
>
> Thanks again!
>

Michael:

If you use static linking, you should just be able to give your friend
the .exe file.

Re your original post, if you found VC6 unfriendly, you will find VC++
Express worse, IMO.

David Wilkinson


David Wilkinson

Carl
Thu Sep 21 10:36:31 CDT 2006

David Wilkinson wrote:
> michael brooks wrote:
>
>> Many thanks to you, Carl & Bruno, for your comments.
>> I'm assuming, of course, that I'll be able to package an install
>> program for my friend...or if that's not possible, that he could
>> install VC++ express himself, and then run my project.
>>
>> Thanks again!
>>
>
> Michael:
>
> If you use static linking, you should just be able to give your friend
> the .exe file.
>
> Re your original post, if you found VC6 unfriendly, you will find VC++
> Express worse, IMO.

Unless you're doing MFC development, my experience is that the newer IDEs
are superior in nearly every way to VC6.

-cd

Mark
Tue Sep 26 10:15:27 CDT 2006

"Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]" wrote:
> Unless you're doing MFC development, my experience is that the newer IDEs
> are superior in nearly every way to VC6.

A curse of bowel disorder on you!

There was nothing, anywhere, as bad as those properties selectors for VC6,
just stuck there in the middle of the screen going 'wooo look at me!!!', and
then the cleaned up message maps without a trillion (exageration) extra
comments needed just to let the IDE know where it was..

But lets not forget a proper solutions explorer :O)

--
- Mark Randall
http://www.temporal-solutions.co.uk
http://www.awportals.com