I refuse to get into such debates, because the truth is, “Whatever works
best”. One thing I am absolutely sure of: raw Win32 API programming cannot
be the “best” solution for any aspect of programming that involves a GUI.
The advantages of MFC and WTL over C#/.NET is that it is easier to get to
the low-level APIs when you need them, without a lot of complex setup which
is akin to magic.
I wrote apps in the raw API from 1990-1995 and I discovered MFC. I have not
gone back to writing raw API code since 1995, and I strongly advise anyone
against it.
Example: when I taught the Win32 Programming course, in the early 1990s, by
Thursday, we could, with a lot of previous lectures, create an app that
almost resembled a “real” program (in spite of the fact that it was missing
really useful features like toolbars, a status bar, etc.). When I teach
MFC, we create one in under 5 minutes on Monday morning, before lunch, and
it has all the features you expect an app to have. MFC handles all the
boring stuff, letting you concentrate on the problem. I might say the same
thing about WTL, C#, or other .NET environments if I were expert in them.
But raw API programming in C is the second-worst way to write apps (writing
them in assembly code qualifies as the worst possible way). But if you have
unlimited time and budget, it is probably OK, if you don’t mind the results
are mediocre at best. For a C programmer who needs to write a little test
app for a driver, MFC/WTL would be at the top of my list of best choices.
And my bias is purely to MFC, because in this life I don’t have time to
learn everything possible. (By the way, if you don’t know C++, it doesn’t
matter; I didn’t know C++ when I learned MFC, and it didn’t matter; I was
delivering a prototype app within two weeks. It took me three days to learn
enough C++/MFC to do it. It took me another two years to become an expert
in C++ and an expert in MFC, which are not quite the same skill set, and
along the way I was still building and delivering apps).
joe
-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of xxxxx@osr.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 1:46 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE:[ntdev] wrong entry point
*I* was hoping for a C++ versus C#, MFC + WTL versus .Net debate, myself.
Peter
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