Anyone here use Microsoft Visual Studio?

[garmonbozia]

I notice it's called for in many IT job ads.  I've been doing some programming recently at home, and figure I might as well get Visual Studio (despite its expense) and learn to use it if it will make me more marketable.  (I'm still in that job I've bitched about on here before.  It's going okay these days but it's still rather brain-dead for an I.T. job.)

[Pyraxis]

You can get Microsoft Visual Studio Express for free here:

http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx#webInstall

I've played with it a little, but not enough to know anything interesting about it.

[Frolic_Fun]

Tried to learn C# and C++ through it, I'm pretty much hopeless at programming.

[garmonbozia]

You can get Microsoft Visual Studio Express for free here:

http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx#webInstall

I've played with it a little, but not enough to know anything interesting about it.

I just tried to go there but the page came up blank.  Could have something to do with this being a Mac running the Safari browser.  (If I get Visual Studio, it'll be for the Dell computer sitting right next to it, which runs Windows XP.)  By "Express", I assume that means just the basics to write a decent program, correct?  (For what I'm doing, that's probably all I need.)  What does the non-express version do that the express version doesn't?

I've been writing my program in Perl, with plans to convert it from procedural to object-oriented.  However, I have ideas for it that might eventually require C++.

I haven't tried C#, but I have used C++ a little.  It can be a bitch to figure out unless you've got lots of patience and time to acquire the skills.  I've been programming on and off since I was 10 years old.  (My first experience being with BASIC on old Apple II computers.)  If I haven't been programming for a while and finally get back to it, my skills might be rusty but once I get back "in the zone", it's great.

I'll try getting this Visual Studio Express later.

[Pyraxis]

Wikipedia has a decent summary of the features of Express and what's been taken out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio_Express .

And you're probably right about Mac Safari. I can get to the site fine from Firefox in Windows XP.

[Peter]

I've been wondering about learning C so that I can write modules in it to speed up a python A-life project I'm working on, which is heavy on iterating through lists to update members and runs pretty slowly.  I've got visual studio express installed, but haven't had more than a cursory look at it.

[ApotheosisIV]

I wouldnt worry about employers asking for Microsoft whatever experience.
If you can write code in C++, then a couple of days with an exercise book should be enough to code in any language. Most employers will know this.
Of course, it may improve your marketability - but only if you havent much else on your CV ( other things will count for a lot more).

[odeon]

I've been writing my program in Perl, with plans to convert it from procedural to object-oriented.  However, I have ideas for it that might eventually require C++.

Have you ever written object-oriented Perl? It's very cool--for example, see Damian Conway's book, Object-Oriented Perl.

I'm using Visual Studio when developing stuff for the XMetaL XML editor. Frankly, it sucks. It's like having to use an 18-wheeler to drive to the market to buy your groceries.

[garmonbozia]

Well, it's downloaded and installed.  I tried Microsoft's site again and found an ISO file that can be used to make an install DVD, so I got that.  I was in the bookstore the other day going through books about Visual Studio, .NET, and all that stuff, so now I have at least a general understanding of how all of Microsoft's developer tools fit together.

As for not having anything else on the CV, that's definitely not the case.  I've got a master's degree in computer science.  Strangely, few employers seem to care about degrees.  They're more interested in certifications and what languages/technologies are hot right now.  Alot of them mention Microsoft's development products, and I'd just like to be able to truthfully say I know how to use them.  I've been working the same IT job for five years.  Unfortunately, it's got me pigeonholed into one niche, making it hard to move on.

For my own project, at this point, I'm not entirely sure whether I'll be continuing with Perl or switching to C++.  I just need to be able to figure out how to implement user interfaces reasonably quick.  (My programs so far have been run as console scripts.) 

Also, it needs to be able to use an ImageMagick API.  Perl's is very good.  Whoever took on Java's, dropped the ball and left it incomplete, so that ruled out using Java for this.  I'll have to see what the APIs are like for C++, Visual Basic, etc.  (ImageMagick's APIs make it easy to write image processing into your programs without having to actually know the algorithms for every type of image processing operation.)

Weird thing happened today.  I was working with some images from one of my cameras.  Turns out there's a filename extension conflict between Visual C++ and my Sony camera.  They both have a type of file that uses extension ".SRF"  For the Sony camera, it means "Sony Raw Format".  For Visual C++, it means "Server Response File" or something like that.  I clicked on a raw image file and it launched Visual C++, which subsequently crashed.