we can't seem to get in the MFC resource editor even after all this time.
programming to connect the dots. If native does die it will be because the
I can use STL, but just for those things that I need (like std::vector or
std::map), and I can use *very little* Boost (just shared_ptr, and maybe a
bit more).
I don't master template metaprogramming, or more advanced Boost stuff.
(And I'm not interested in that, at least in this moment.)
I think some people (at the beginner level) find C++ hard because they
program in C++ like they were in C. For example, they don't use tools like
array classes (CArray, or std::vector) or string classes (CString, or
std::[w]string). They instead use raw C arrays (also char* for strings),
which cannot be resized, which cause buffer overruns, etc.
Or they use pointers in complex scenarios, without wrapping these pointers
in smart pointers classes like shared_ptr or others.
Said differently: C++ offers tools to make life easier, but several C++
programmers do not use these tools, and have hard-time trying to write
programs in a "C way".
But MFC is hard compared to WinForms, which gives a much more pure
Windows abstraction. So I think even though MFC requires more C++ than
C#, and more Win32 than WinForms, C++ taken to the extreme is not in the
equation.
I think that MFC is hard not because that (= "MFC being hard") is a God's
law, but because the authors of MFC do little effort to make things
better.
For example, why not providing methods like SetBackgroundColor or
SetForegroundColor that work for every control?
Why not make possible to describe ribbons using an XML description? (I
think that the new BCGSoft extensions in Feature Pack 2008 do not support
XML description for ribbon...)
Why not add some class for XML management?
Why when I derive a class from CFileDialog and overrhide OnCltColor, I
can't change the background of file dialog (as would be expected) ?
I believe that if more effort would be put in MFC improvement, MFC will be
a stronger competitor with WinForms.
But if MFC remains almost the same as some years ago, WinForms will win.
The ribbon improvement is a good step forward, but more steps must be
done, IMHO.
Giovanni