A QUICK OVERVIEW OF VISUAL C 2005 EXPRESS

A QUICK OVERVIEW OF VISUAL C++ 2005 EXPRESS

The visual in Visual C++ means that you can see and interact with all the tools and code necessary for making an application. It has also come to mean the process by which you create the visual portion of an application that your users will see, also known as the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Within the name, C++ refers to the language that you use to build your applications: the C++ programming language.

Hint 

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the part of the application that the user sees and can interact with using the mouse.

Visual C++ is a development tool based on the C++ programming language, used to build applications for Windows and the Web. It is used to turn your projects, which begin life as no more than text and graphics files, into complete standalone applications. You can then run these applications without assistance, just like any other tool, game, or application you have used.

You create applications by compiling code. You then translate this code into a format that your computer can read. When you're ready to run a program, you only need to locate it on your computer system and click its icon.

Hint 

Compiling is the process of translating the English-like code statements that make up an application into a format that a computer can understand and execute.

The C++ programming language has earned a reputation for being one of the most powerful and flexible languages available. Microsoft Visual C++ gained immediate popularity by offering these advantages to programmers in a set of consolidated tools that were easy to use and understand. As a result, Visual C++ quickly set a standard as one of the most widely used compilers among professionals the world over. Both large and small businesses use it to create Windows and server-side Web components, and game companies use it to create the latest cutting-edge entertainment software.

Visual C++ has gained widespread popularity for a number of reasons. Three of the most important reasons include its support of the following:

• Drag-and-drop GUI design

• Rapid application development

• Object-oriented design and development

Graphical User Interface Development

It is through your program's GUI that your users can interact with and control your program. It is the face of your application. The way you design your GUI affects how easily your users find the program they want, and this impacts how happy they are with the program overall.

One of the best things about using Visual C++ 2005 Express is how quickly and efficiently you can create a professional-looking GUI. When you start a new project, Visual C++ gives you a new blank window to work with. Next to this window is a series of readily usable interface components, such as check boxes, text boxes, menus, and buttons. You can add them to your program by clicking on the element you want and dragging it on top of the window. Visual C++ then lets you position and layer them as needed. The result is a working application that you can create in minutes.

Rapid Application Development

Visual C++ is a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool. RAD refers to the process of being able to quickly get the skeleton of a program up and running. By dragging and dropping interface components onto a window, you can quickly allow users to preview the way your program will look and feel. Because your users can give you feedback early, RAD can save you work. Rather than spending many long hours writing and testing your program, Visual C++'s RAD capabilities allow you to respond to user expectations early and deliver a product that is more suited to their liking.

Hint 

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a process whereby programmers quickly create a mockup of an application's GUI for initial review by the users for whom the application is intended to demonstrate how the application will ultimately look and operate.

Object-Oriented Programming

One of great strengths of the C++ language is that it is an Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) language. OOP is a way of designing and building applications out of small, organized components. Using it, you can create an application whose parts are well tested, self-contained, and able to be used in other applications. These components can even be extended in new and different ways, saving you time in writing new code.

Whereas the GUI relates to what you see, OOP involves how you build your program and how all of its parts interact. From the perspective of OOP, you build a program out of classes. Classes essentially act as independent units of computer code that can store, process, and provide access to information. When the program runs, the class becomes an object, and the information given to it can then be used to control how the object works. In OOP, the interaction of multiple objects is what gives your program functionality.

In Visual C++, for example, when you drag a button onto a window, the button is a self-contained component. It has everything it needs to draw itself, including its size and the font used on its label. When you press the button, it knows how to communicate with the rest of your program so that it can behave properly.

The great benefit of OOP lies in the fact that you can use powerful objects without having to concern yourself with the details of how the code is used to write the functions. Well-written classes simply drop in to a program. OOP allows you to draw on the expertise of other programmers, such as those at Microsoft when you use the buttons and other interface tools they provide to build your own program. Later, as you become a more competent programmer, you can provide classes for other programmers to use.

Hint 

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a software design methodology involving the creation of self-contained modules that store all the code and information necessary to carry out a specific task, in addition to the functionality needed to interact with that module and its information.

A Little Visual C++ History

Visual C++ is built upon the C++ programming language. The C++ language is an outgrowth of an earlier language called C, which itself is older than some programmers writing it! (It was invented in the 1970s.) The C programming language was a powerful language because it more closely modeled how computers worked internally than many other languages at the time. This enabled programmers to gain an unprecedented level of control over how the computer used and stored information, which in turn allowed them to write programs that were fast and flexible. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, C became extremely popular. It's still widely used today.

One major problem that C had was that many programmers found it easy to write code that caused them headaches. Because the language was so powerful, programmers could create mistakes that were difficult to find. Some mistakes could even be as damaging as the program was powerful. Even when programmers perfected a module, they found it difficult to use that code in other programs.

With the invention of the C++ language in the mid-1980s, the designers sought to provide a way of keeping C's power but integrating OOP principles. The result was a language that improved on many of C's strongest features. C++ has more capabilities, matches the power and speed of C, and makes up for many of the original language's shortcomings.

The initial tools for developing applications in C and C++ were difficult to use. Many required that a programmer understand cryptic files or programs with obscure command-line interfaces. But as the process of programming became more complex and applications became larger, the tools for developing applications began to become more centralized and unified.

Visual C++ represents Microsoft's version of a toolset that brings all the programs and resources that you need to build applications under one roof. It also includes extensions and enhancements that improve the C++ programming language. Initially, Visual C++ was targeted at creating Windows applications. The compiler included numerous optimizations to the Visual C++ compiler targeted at creating both client- and server-side business applications. But as Internet development gained monumental popularity, Microsoft increasingly saw the need to provide tools that would allow developers to create Web-based server and Internet browser applications.

As time went by, strategists at Microsoft began to envision tools that would serve development for what they termed the Next Generation Internet. This new Internet would be made up of many different types of devices, including handheld PDAs and smart devices, not just full-fledged PC servers and client systems, as had been most popular in the past. In 2000, Microsoft released the .NET Framework to serve developers in meeting this new opportunity.

The first attempts at integrating .NET into Visual C++ produced many difficulties for established Visual C++ programmers. It also was challenging for new programmers to understand. Many had trouble with the changes they had to make to their coding style and philosophy to accommodate .NET. But despite these problems, the power that .NET provided was compelling. Businesses reported strong increases in productivity, some managing to produce in months what had taken a year or more.

With improvements to the .NET Framework and the Visual C++ compiler, the release of Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition marks a more successful and simpler integration that brings Visual C++ up to speed with its contemporaries, Visual Basic, Visual C#, and Visual J#. Microsoft has adopted a new emphasis on giving programmers the ability to focus on the language that they are most efficient in. This envisions the .NET Framework as serving as the connecting glue that allows programmers to maximize the strengths of their favorite language to create programs that interoperate with each other. The result is faster development time of larger systems that are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Trap 

To run an application created using Visual C++ .NET, a computer must have the .NET Framework installed on it. Microsoft has upgraded the .NET Framework several times since its introduction. Visual C++ .NET 2002 was designed to work with .NET Framework 1.0. Visual C++ .NET 2003 was designed to work with .NET Framework 1.1, and Visual C++ .NET 2005 works with .NET Framework 2.0. Although an application created using Visual C++ .NET 2002 runs on any computer that has a version of .NET installed on it, an application written using Visual C++ .NET 2003 requires that .NET 1.1 or 2.0 is installed. In similar fashion, an application written using Visual C++ .NET 2005 requires .NET 2.0.

IN THE REAL WORLD

The emphasis on the .NET Framework has caused Microsoft to offer a programming library with .NET that somewhat verges away from the widely accepted C++ standard, known as the ANSI/ISO Standard, drafted by the American National Standards Institute. This means that C++ code written in the past might need to be updated if a programmer wants it to function with the .NET Framework. Microsoft and several other companies have been working with the European Computer Manufacturer's Association (ECMA) to develop a new standard for C++ code intended for use with .NET. Programmers can also still write and compile ANSI/ISO Standard C++ code without the .NET Framework.