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From: ebergman@isis.cs.du.edu (Eric Bergman-Terrell)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Basic Windows questions
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.142146.5158@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
Date: 18 Jun 91 14:21:46 GMT
References: <78253@brunix.UUCP> <1991Jun13.170114.9299@mrspoc.Transact.COM>
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Reply-To: ebergman@isis.UUCP (Eric Bergman-Terrell)
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix (sponsored by U. of Denver Math/CS dept.)
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Disclaimer1: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University of
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Is it a bear to write MS Windows in C/C++?  Well it depends what you're
comparing...  (I'm currently finishing up a port of a 30,000 line program
from DOS to WINDOWS).

If you're used to writing programs that simply write to standard output
and read from standard input, converting the program from a teletype-style
user interface to a GUI user interface will be a big job

IF HOWEVER you're used to writing all the GUI code YOURSELF, Windows 
programing is a breeze.  In my DOS program, I wrote all of the dialog
box handling code, all of the menu handling code, etc.  In other words I
wrote the code to put a dialog box on the screen and interpret it.  Ditto
for menus.  What a chore!  (yes I know that there are libraries out there).

Anyway it was a joy to move the program over to Windows, THROW AWAY my
printer drivers (the three I wrote took maybe 2 weeks each), THROW AWAY
my menu manager and dialog box manager, and port the remaining application.

Anyway, the punchline is this:  if you're used to writing programs that provide
a modern user interface, Windows programming will seem easy.  If you've yet
to step up to drop-down menus, dialog boxes, etc. it will seem more difficult.

Note that this isn't a plug for C/C++.  Use what works.

Terrell