Monday, March 13

Microsoft Out - Surreals Dali

I've just been coding a small C++ Windows Forms app in Visual Studio Express .NET. It was the most surreal experience I've had for some time, let me tell you! Firstly, VSE 2005 emulates emacs, secondly C++ was my choice of language for coding a .NET app.

Editing using Emacs keystrokes in such a familiar environment, using a language that was almost, but not really C++ gave me a situation where I was seeing old habits and patterns appear in completely unfamiliar places. Every 5 mins I just had to pause and let the "what the hell?" feeling wash over me.

Still, I did get that app coded eventually, and it *was* easier than MFC. It only took Redmond eight (or was it 12?) years to improve on that..although to be fair, comparing the result of this exercise to a MFC 1.0 app is like comparing a light saber to a rusty tin-opener.

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