Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. I Think MFC is a Dying Form, From the POV of other Programmers. IS IT?

I Think MFC is a Dying Form, From the POV of other Programmers. IS IT?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
helpc++csharpjavascriptpython
28 Posts 23 Posters 5 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • R Randy Faldon

    I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

    R Offline
    R Offline
    Rick York
    wrote on last edited by
    #9

    There are quite a number of people who still use MFC. Presently, it is in maintenance mode at Microsoft and it is doubtful there will being any significant updates made to it.

    "They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • R Randy Faldon

      I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

      J Offline
      J Offline
      jschell
      wrote on last edited by
      #10

      Randy Faldon wrote:

      I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish.

      Isn't that statement self contradicting? Pretty sure Microsoft has no idea what you (or I) want to accomplish.

      Randy Faldon wrote:

      PASCAL and FORTRAN...SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE??

      You use Pascal and Fortran so I am rather certain that no one here is going to convince you of the death of MFC.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • R Randy Faldon

        I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

        S Offline
        S Offline
        Shao Voon Wong
        wrote on last edited by
        #11

        MFC was the first framework I learnt in order to land a windows programmer job in 2003. It's a pity I never had a chance to use it professionally. My first (junior) job was deigned to mindless mundane chores like localization (replacing English text in HTML with other language text.) The next job was coding WinForm with C++/CLI (.NET enabled C++). To think MFC is obsolete now. I only used it in my personal projects and wrote some CodeProject articles about it. Now the technology world has moved on to the web, mobile and AI. Looks like my efforts to learn it is wasted.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • R Randy Faldon

          I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

          M Offline
          M Offline
          Member 9167057
          wrote on last edited by
          #12

          I personally think MFC is solid. It will stay there for time to come, it's basically a rock. ... and just as malleable. I'm not exactly deep in the matter but what I've gathered, more modern solutions are easier to use and incur less overhead. But if you're invested in MFC (and your customers don't demand visual bells & whistles which I hope they don't, an unnamed customer of ours once did and I'm glad it got stuck in the swamp of corporate legal), there's no reason to switch. On .NET, Win.Forms got a status roughly comparable to MFC (works, but is so-not-modern and doesn't get cool stuff like first-party multiplatform support) and I've started a project with it.

          L R 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • R Randy Faldon

            I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

            G Offline
            G Offline
            Gian Paolo
            wrote on last edited by
            #13

            I cannot imagine a single reason to write a user interface in C++/MFC instead of C#. C#/WinForms let you write code at an higher level, not caring too much to low level implementation detais, but also allows you to handle yourself the windows messages if you really need such a low level control of your code. "Yes, but with C++ I can write high performance code, faster than c#" (not really true actually) If you find a part of your code too slow when written in c#, you can write a c++ dll for that specific algorithm you need to run faster and use it from a .Net program (with interoperability and/or managed c++) I really see no space for MFC to be the right tool of the job. C++ can be for some jobs, but not for writing UI, IMHO

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • M Member 9167057

              I personally think MFC is solid. It will stay there for time to come, it's basically a rock. ... and just as malleable. I'm not exactly deep in the matter but what I've gathered, more modern solutions are easier to use and incur less overhead. But if you're invested in MFC (and your customers don't demand visual bells & whistles which I hope they don't, an unnamed customer of ours once did and I'm glad it got stuck in the swamp of corporate legal), there's no reason to switch. On .NET, Win.Forms got a status roughly comparable to MFC (works, but is so-not-modern and doesn't get cool stuff like first-party multiplatform support) and I've started a project with it.

              L Offline
              L Offline
              LCMesquita1403
              wrote on last edited by
              #14

              The inventor of C++, Bjarnes Stroustrup states that there are languages that people complain about and the remaining languages that nobody uses. I have been using C++/MFC since the early 1990s and definitely prefer it to C# or Java as the applications that I develop tend to be CPU and memory intensive. C#, Java were explicitly created for programmers who could not master the usage of new/delete operators. Both C# and Java languages waste too much time searching for garbage.

              M 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • L LCMesquita1403

                The inventor of C++, Bjarnes Stroustrup states that there are languages that people complain about and the remaining languages that nobody uses. I have been using C++/MFC since the early 1990s and definitely prefer it to C# or Java as the applications that I develop tend to be CPU and memory intensive. C#, Java were explicitly created for programmers who could not master the usage of new/delete operators. Both C# and Java languages waste too much time searching for garbage.

                M Offline
                M Offline
                Member 9167057
                wrote on last edited by
                #15

                You find the feud between you & managed languages so important, you're missing what's in common: both me & the OP are into tech that's universally considered old, yet runs like a solid horse. Isn't that way more important, than fussy bickering?

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • R Randy Faldon

                  I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

                  K Offline
                  K Offline
                  K Personett
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #16

                  I'm probably one of a sparse number of MFC holdouts. Decades ago, back in the Borland Turbo C++ days, I used OWL. After that, MSFT C++ and MFC. I should note that the only aspects of MFC that I use are the UI centric ones. Windows, Dialgos, Property Sheets/Pages, Menus, etc... never used Ribbons, can't think of an instance where I would. The majority of my work doesn't involve UIs, most of it is functional code called by others, APIs, and ISAPI Services. When I do require a UI, such as for configuration or reporting access callable from our main product, MFC is there. It is consistent, and it continues to function as designed from one VC++ release to the next. Because most of the modules I write must integrate tightly with our primary product as "plugins", moving to a ".net" would incur a lot of additional work. I also feel that when I do need something highly specialized, it is easy to inherit from MFC and create controls with modified appearance and behavior. As long as MFC is available, I'll continue to use it, and if they decide to no longer ship it with VC++ and cause errors using legacy MFC libraries, I would likely recompile it for use with the newer release.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • R Randy Faldon

                    I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

                    D Offline
                    D Offline
                    darktrick544
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #17

                    I worked in VC++ land for probably 15 years. Did a ton of C++/MFC code and was quite proficient at it. Never under estimate the prowess of an experienced C++/MFC coder, I could do anything with that toolset. Moved to a new job when .NET was coming up the curve, and my coding partner (we were a single team of 2) and I figured we best get on board with this new shift. So we embraced C#/.NET and did some solid work. Next job was me being a team lead to a group of 8 developers coding in PowerBuilder, Access and VB. C++/MFC was still my toolbox of choice, but it was clear there was no way I was going to get these folks coding in that arena without seriously blowing sht up. So, with some sadness, I walked away from C++/MFC for C#/.NET. And while I'm extremely productive in C#/.NET, I miss C++/MFC every single day. Been coding since 1984, and while C#/.NET pays the bills, C++/MFC was my 9th symphony.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • M Member 9167057

                      I personally think MFC is solid. It will stay there for time to come, it's basically a rock. ... and just as malleable. I'm not exactly deep in the matter but what I've gathered, more modern solutions are easier to use and incur less overhead. But if you're invested in MFC (and your customers don't demand visual bells & whistles which I hope they don't, an unnamed customer of ours once did and I'm glad it got stuck in the swamp of corporate legal), there's no reason to switch. On .NET, Win.Forms got a status roughly comparable to MFC (works, but is so-not-modern and doesn't get cool stuff like first-party multiplatform support) and I've started a project with it.

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Rusty Bullet
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #18

                      Working in WinForms myself, albeit with DevExpress widgets. WPF was supposed to replace it, but haven't seen people really cotton to it.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • R Randy Faldon

                        I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

                        M Offline
                        M Offline
                        Member 14840496
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #19

                        Biggest bunch of crap, other than BizTalk, that was ever created. Visual Studio was created for developers to create application quickly, as in RAD development; not watch a hundred or more files get piled into an application and pray it all comes together. There are too many people at Microsoft with nothing to do, creating new nightmares.

                        C 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • M Member 14840496

                          Biggest bunch of crap, other than BizTalk, that was ever created. Visual Studio was created for developers to create application quickly, as in RAD development; not watch a hundred or more files get piled into an application and pray it all comes together. There are too many people at Microsoft with nothing to do, creating new nightmares.

                          C Offline
                          C Offline
                          charlieg
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #20

                          What? :confused: Please re-write that so someone understands.

                          Charlie Gilley <italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • R Randy Faldon

                            I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

                            C Offline
                            C Offline
                            charlieg
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #21

                            This discussion has become confused. mfc is NOT C++ nor is it Visual Studio. Please understand the difference. mfc was a necessary step to abstract the asinine Windows development approach. Really? Code your own case statement for events? At the time I discovered this, I was writing UI's on X-Windows, and X was way ahead of Microsoft when it came to toolkits, abstracting the event loop out of the developers head. Along comes Visual Studio that automated the editing process of handling events, added MFC, etc. It's important to keep the issues separate. But at the end of the day, use what helps you get the job done. I just read in another post that Microsoft has released yet another UI approach. They just churn it to look relevant.

                            Charlie Gilley <italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • R Randy Faldon

                              I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

                              B Offline
                              B Offline
                              Bitbeisser
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #22

                              What is MFC?

                              J 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • B Bitbeisser

                                What is MFC?

                                J Offline
                                J Offline
                                Julian Ragan
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #23

                                Microsoft Foundation Classes - a framework for VC++ with OO code for doing Win32 stuff, at least that is what I understand it to be. Really old, hard to find documentation and examples (most of it is missing from publicly available pages at MS). Tried to do something with it during my CS course, I cursed every hour while searching for documentation and examples. Usually dead links. Microsoft is making sure new people don't have it easy to use it.:mad: You can still use it in Visual Studio if you want to.

                                B 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • J Julian Ragan

                                  Microsoft Foundation Classes - a framework for VC++ with OO code for doing Win32 stuff, at least that is what I understand it to be. Really old, hard to find documentation and examples (most of it is missing from publicly available pages at MS). Tried to do something with it during my CS course, I cursed every hour while searching for documentation and examples. Usually dead links. Microsoft is making sure new people don't have it easy to use it.:mad: You can still use it in Visual Studio if you want to.

                                  B Offline
                                  B Offline
                                  Bitbeisser
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #24

                                  I think you seriously misunderstood... :laugh:

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • B Bitbeisser

                                    I think you seriously misunderstood... :laugh:

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Julian Ragan
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #25

                                    I blame Microsoft for obscuring it away so much. ;P

                                    S 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • R Randy Faldon

                                      I would like to say or believe that MFC is here to stay, but the more I study the more I find that a lot of articles, peoples posts, Microsoft and other things that are focused on MFC seem to get little responses or so vague that we can't get a full explanation of a code block. Is Microsoft pulling away from MFC, has there been an issue with MFC that just doesn't jive with the C or C++ common language? If I'm missing something like "a better idea that has evolved from MFC into a NEW library that has the same functionality than by all means please spit out!" I like the libraries of MFC and I believe that straight C++, writing your own code can be more helpful in the long run than having someone who doesn't understand the complexity of what you want to accomplish. With that being said I believe that with the base ingredients of MFC libraries that we can expand our knowledge of this and write expandable code into the pre-existing libraries. I might be rambling on about this programmatic issue, but for me, MFC is a lot more than just another problem that I hear in a lot of forums in which programmers are not fond of for whatever reasons that they come up with, it's just another straightforward class in which I have a lot of respect and enthusiasm(Good Luck MFC). There are languages that I can start from scratch in Notepad, there are languages that I need help with along the way, but there are languages that I can't comprehend to this day which is frustrating for me, meaning that sometimes we all need help in one way or another. Am I wrong by writing this or should I elaborate more on this subject? To me there are four main Microsoft languages (C, C++, C# & VB) and outside the realm of Microsoft, my choices are COBOL, JAVASCRIPT, PYTHON, straight HTML & CSS together, PASCAL and FORTRAN. Anyway, this post may be in the wrong section, still the same, I would like to get some love and not negativity. No one likes to be beaten up with online sarcasm or just plain disrespect and disregard. SO, WHO BELIEVES THAT MFC WILL LIVE ON OR DIE?? Love ya, Mean it!!!

                                      J Offline
                                      J Offline
                                      Jason Henderson
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #26

                                      Languages and frameworks never truly die unless the platforms they exist on die. As long as Windows lives, so will MFC. Its certainly less popular and hard as heck to work with if you are used to .Net.


                                      "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • J Julian Ragan

                                        I blame Microsoft for obscuring it away so much. ;P

                                        S Offline
                                        S Offline
                                        Stefan_Lang
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #27

                                        MFC was developed at a time when documentation was printed out and provided in the form of books. I still remember the thick stack from Visual C++ 3.0 (or maybe 3.1?): about a dozen books with a total of >5000 pages of text. Programmers at the time were required to find out what parts of these books they needed and then actually read it. Better yet: find third party books on specific topics such as MFC UI programming and read those instead, and only use the documentation for reference. Nowadays, programmers expect to use new APIs on the fly: spending more than an hour reading documentation is considered unacceptable, and an API requiring that considered obscure or outright bad. Microsoft doesn't obscure MFC documentation, they just never integrated all that additional information contained in those third party sources - quite possibly in part due to copyrights, but also because they instead focused on .NET as a replacement.

                                        GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)

                                        J 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • S Stefan_Lang

                                          MFC was developed at a time when documentation was printed out and provided in the form of books. I still remember the thick stack from Visual C++ 3.0 (or maybe 3.1?): about a dozen books with a total of >5000 pages of text. Programmers at the time were required to find out what parts of these books they needed and then actually read it. Better yet: find third party books on specific topics such as MFC UI programming and read those instead, and only use the documentation for reference. Nowadays, programmers expect to use new APIs on the fly: spending more than an hour reading documentation is considered unacceptable, and an API requiring that considered obscure or outright bad. Microsoft doesn't obscure MFC documentation, they just never integrated all that additional information contained in those third party sources - quite possibly in part due to copyrights, but also because they instead focused on .NET as a replacement.

                                          GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)

                                          J Offline
                                          J Offline
                                          Julian Ragan
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #28

                                          No, Microsoft during various migrations of its documentation sites simply decided not (or didn't care) to migrate a lot of stuff related to MFC and left lots of dead links to articles and example code on its own websites (at least that was the state of things about three years ago, maybe they fixed it by now). In case of a large company like Microsoft I call that obscuring. And I spent way more time, than few hours searching through the web to find what was needed. I don't expect to ever find an API I can use on the fly, unless it is some extension to an API I already know. It would be nice If API documentation was written in a way that enables this, but so far I have not seen something like that.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups