Cheapest way to build .net applications?

Cricri

I tried Java and it's a pain. Not only do you need the framework, but you have to mount folders etc which makes the language difficult to master. True, for command line applications, it is straight forward. If you are looking for a free, platform independent language, it's probably your best choice. You can get a free IDE such as NetBeans or Eclipse.

If you want to develop purely for later versions of Windows and don't mind forcing the installation of the .Net framework on your users, I'd go for .Net. VB is RAD IDE (rapid development), so if you want to get into programming in 20 minutes, it's your best choice. If you actually need more power (e.g. inline assembly, pointers, true classes, etc, although VB.Net might actually support some of those), which in most cases you don't, you might want to use C# instead.

Myself, I'll stick to VB6. I tried VB.Net, and it didn't bring me anything apart from the need of the framework to run the app (whereas I can bundle my VB6 executable with few DLLs so that they run on any Windows machine no matter if they have a specific framework or not).

Finally, C is only better if you know how to program. I know some people who were bragging that they develop their apps in C when I used VB. Differences were:
- I could develop my app in a fraction of the time they needed
- I mastered VB much better than they mastered VC, which means that at the end of the day, my app was faster!

In short, a powerful IDE is only beneficial if you actually know how to exploit the extra power, and if you need it.

rmg1

tomstickland wrote: »

Hmm, the vbinstall file is now stalled at "Setup is loading installation components. This may take a minute or two". It's been there for about 15 minutes now so I think something is wrong. Maybe I should check that all of the services are turned on.

Edit: I've got XP Media Centre 2005 and need service pack 2 in order to run .net.

Edit 2: I've sorted SP2 but installation still locks up. I've read up on it and it says try manual installation. Why are computers like this?

Edit 3: It's 01:20am and I've just built my first VB.net application. A single form with a quit button on it. It works! I'm going to have some fun with this tomorrow.

Good for you. I downloaded Visual Basic for Dummies in PDF format. Although it doesn't cover VB Express as such, it's got a lot of useful information. Helped me write simple temperature converter with a slide bar in about 30 minutes.