Re: From VC6 to .NET 2 questions

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On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 07:39:06 -0000, "Simon" <spambucket@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> You seem to be confused. ".NET" is not the opposite of "MFC", and for
>> some reason or
>> other a lot of people seem to be very confused about this point. MFC is
>> MFC, and MFC has
>> several incarnations, from 16-bit MFC through VS 2005, but it is still
>> MFC. So this is
>> still the newsgroup for all versions of MFC in all operating environments.
>
>I am not confusing anything. I was looking at a NG to help me convert my
>app.
>I have a project that was created with VC6 and I want to move to .NET.
>I wanted to know the benefits of such a move and/or to know if it would
>totally break my application.
>
>> Yes, the executables will require new DLLs. That's what installers worry
>> about, packaging
>> up all the correct components. So if you abandon any idea that copy ==
>> install, which has
>> not been true for about a dozen years, then there is no issue to be
>> addressed.
>
>No, that what I will worry about.
>My projects require that I am in control of my applications, not some magic
>fairy.
***
OK, if you want to be "in control" of your application, it means that you are going to
write your own installer. This is because Microsoft rather carefully specifies what DLLs
and what version of DLLs must be installed on your target machine to make it work. Feel
free, but doesn't it seem like a colossal waste of time to re-invent something that
professionals who do nothing all day but worry about the right way to do something have
already created solutions that work?

Oh yes, do you trust the "magic fairy" called a "compiler" to translate your programs from
source to executable object code? What about that magic fairy called the "linker"? Duh!
An installer IS JUST ANOTHER TOOL and is as essential to delivering a reliable and robust
product as the c/c++ compiler, resource compiler, and linker. Can you explain in simple
terms just why you trust all these other tools and don't trust installers? Just where do
you "lose control" by using an installer? You don't have "control" of the critical
translation process for any of your source code, so why do you suddenly need "control" of
every detail of the install process?

By the way, I've written installers. That's one reason I wouldn't touch the problem
today. And I would certainly not feel I was "losing control" by using any of the
commercially-available installers.

I don't use installers because my clients already have an installer-of-choice, often with
customizations to their corporate look-and-feel of installations, and often a full-time
person who deals with deployment packaging across their entire product line. But not one
of them would dream of giving a .exe file and saying "copy this to your disk and you're up
and running".
>
>I _never_ said anything about copy=install. Thanks for the cheap shot.
>
>>
>> The compiler is a lot more stringent, some types have been redefined to
>> cause compilation
>> errors when misused, and when used in debug mode, the environment is a lot
>> more meticulous
>> about certain runtime checks as well. So there is a chance that previous
>> errors will be
>> detected. Note also that you can also make sure you have not made some
>> serious blunder
>> like assuming that DWORD, int, UINT, and similar 32-bit integer types are
>> fully
>> interchangeable with pointers (they no longer are if you are in Win64, and
>> the compiler
>> will complain).
>> joe
>
>Thanks
>
>Simon
>
Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm
.

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