Re: C++ IDE with graphical application building and good portability
On 2008-01-11 19:28, Lars Uffmann wrote:
Erik Wikstr?m wrote:
There are only a few widely used GUI frameworks out there, and either
you simply type all the code or they come with some kind of builder (or
you use a builder developed by someone else for your framework).
Hmm - I'm surprised that typing the code is actually still being done -
considering that very good integrated building environments were already
around over 10 years ago... Thinking of Borland Delphi & C++ Builder,
Visual Basic, VBA (MS Access). And considering that it sorta wastes a
lot of expensive programmer workhours if the design needs to be done by
foot...
Of course, most sane people use a builder when possible, but it is not
uncommon to generate controls etc. based on data and user input in which
case you must code since the tools can only be used for static designs.
Personally I think that VS is the best GUI available for Windows, and if
you do not want to use MFC you can use Qt, it should integrate quite
nicely into the IDE.
Hmm - I've downloaded Qt and while it is fancy looking, it instantly got
earned my disapproval for two reasons:
- I didn't have a clue how to integrate it into any program, even
after 5 minutes of looking at it (short attention span, because
self-explaining software allows you to make a first progress within a
minute or two, usually) - I can live with that if it's worth taking a
deeper look
Read the tutorials on their site and you should get an idea.
As far as compilers are concerned the VS compiler is more or less as
good as gcc, but not of them are the best.
Actually, I had enough of Visual C++ back in '97 or '98, when I first
saw it on my roommates comp, and it detected a syntax error in the
source but nevertheless finished compiling and linking to an executable,
that then - of course - would crash with an exception upon getting to
the module with the error. I felt like back in the old interpreter
days... I won't using Visual Studio to develop any serious software. Not
Ever.
Well, VC++6 is well-known as a not very good C++ compiler, but that was
10 years ago.
> By the way, what are those licence concerns you are having?
It's NOT open source, and Microsoft has the copyrights, and I do not
trust that no-good-company further than I can throw a bookshelf
containing hardcopies of the full msdn knowledge base. What is keeping
them from making the next version of Visual Studio non-free? Nothing.
Of course not, but considering that the current version is non-free too
that can hardly make things worse.
Actually - what's keeping them from discontinuing the development and
starting a brand new project instead? Righto - Nothing!
Money, they get paid by companies who buy their products. The employees
at those companies have become used to VS works and to make any radical
changes without backwards compatibility would be a big mistake.
Anyway, if you are using standard C++ and Qt (or some other non-MS GUI
framework) you can just take you code and use the next compiler if that
should happen, by then perhaps a decent IDE alternative is around.
Have a nice weekend!
The same!
--
Erik Wikstr?m