Features and rich documentation of MFC vs Small Executable of WTL
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I am looking around for topics like MFC vs WTL. There have been many discussions regarding that. I am trying to make a decision of what type of library to use for programming C++ GUI application on Windows7/8. One of the strongest arguments in support for using WTL over MFC was the fact that executable of WTL will be around 4x smaller in size than statically linked MFC Application. Now, given the fact that we are living in 2015 now, does it really matter? If your program is 8MB or 2MB? From what I see, MFC has many more rich features, and most of all, it is very well supported. For example, I can install Visual Studio 2013, and build MFC right away and change it the way I want. On the other hand WTL does not even install properly with its installer under new Visual Studio unless you do some tricks/corrections. Plus, WTL literature/examples are scattered here and there, and there is very minimal support to it. And most of all, it doesnt have as many nice UI features as MFC does. The only thing WTL buys me is the fact that its applications will be just more compact, and smaller, but then again, does it really matter for PC's of these days? Also, MFC gives programmer to do anything what he could do with Win32 API. Am I missing anything else what is needed to make a decisio whether I should go with MFC or WTL? So, if one wants to develop some big and professional Windows GUI Application, what is better invest time for coding/learning, MFC, or WTL?
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I am looking around for topics like MFC vs WTL. There have been many discussions regarding that. I am trying to make a decision of what type of library to use for programming C++ GUI application on Windows7/8. One of the strongest arguments in support for using WTL over MFC was the fact that executable of WTL will be around 4x smaller in size than statically linked MFC Application. Now, given the fact that we are living in 2015 now, does it really matter? If your program is 8MB or 2MB? From what I see, MFC has many more rich features, and most of all, it is very well supported. For example, I can install Visual Studio 2013, and build MFC right away and change it the way I want. On the other hand WTL does not even install properly with its installer under new Visual Studio unless you do some tricks/corrections. Plus, WTL literature/examples are scattered here and there, and there is very minimal support to it. And most of all, it doesnt have as many nice UI features as MFC does. The only thing WTL buys me is the fact that its applications will be just more compact, and smaller, but then again, does it really matter for PC's of these days? Also, MFC gives programmer to do anything what he could do with Win32 API. Am I missing anything else what is needed to make a decisio whether I should go with MFC or WTL? So, if one wants to develop some big and professional Windows GUI Application, what is better invest time for coding/learning, MFC, or WTL?
Member 11203277 wrote:
WTL literature/examples are scattered here and there, and there is very minimal support to it
Documentation, or lack thereof, would be a deal breaker for me, I vote for MFC as there are TONS of examples and lots of documentation. I can't remember the last time I really cared about the size of an executable.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment "Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
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I am looking around for topics like MFC vs WTL. There have been many discussions regarding that. I am trying to make a decision of what type of library to use for programming C++ GUI application on Windows7/8. One of the strongest arguments in support for using WTL over MFC was the fact that executable of WTL will be around 4x smaller in size than statically linked MFC Application. Now, given the fact that we are living in 2015 now, does it really matter? If your program is 8MB or 2MB? From what I see, MFC has many more rich features, and most of all, it is very well supported. For example, I can install Visual Studio 2013, and build MFC right away and change it the way I want. On the other hand WTL does not even install properly with its installer under new Visual Studio unless you do some tricks/corrections. Plus, WTL literature/examples are scattered here and there, and there is very minimal support to it. And most of all, it doesnt have as many nice UI features as MFC does. The only thing WTL buys me is the fact that its applications will be just more compact, and smaller, but then again, does it really matter for PC's of these days? Also, MFC gives programmer to do anything what he could do with Win32 API. Am I missing anything else what is needed to make a decisio whether I should go with MFC or WTL? So, if one wants to develop some big and professional Windows GUI Application, what is better invest time for coding/learning, MFC, or WTL?
Member 11203277 wrote:
Now, given the fact that we are living in 2015 now, does it really matter? If your program is 8MB or 2MB?
Depends. I'm on a 3G connection with a maximum with 7Gb a month. I won't fret over 6Mb, but most setups are larger than those 8Mb, often including stuff that has already been downloaded.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I am looking around for topics like MFC vs WTL. There have been many discussions regarding that. I am trying to make a decision of what type of library to use for programming C++ GUI application on Windows7/8. One of the strongest arguments in support for using WTL over MFC was the fact that executable of WTL will be around 4x smaller in size than statically linked MFC Application. Now, given the fact that we are living in 2015 now, does it really matter? If your program is 8MB or 2MB? From what I see, MFC has many more rich features, and most of all, it is very well supported. For example, I can install Visual Studio 2013, and build MFC right away and change it the way I want. On the other hand WTL does not even install properly with its installer under new Visual Studio unless you do some tricks/corrections. Plus, WTL literature/examples are scattered here and there, and there is very minimal support to it. And most of all, it doesnt have as many nice UI features as MFC does. The only thing WTL buys me is the fact that its applications will be just more compact, and smaller, but then again, does it really matter for PC's of these days? Also, MFC gives programmer to do anything what he could do with Win32 API. Am I missing anything else what is needed to make a decisio whether I should go with MFC or WTL? So, if one wants to develop some big and professional Windows GUI Application, what is better invest time for coding/learning, MFC, or WTL?
Member 11203277 wrote:
One of the strongest arguments in support for using WTL over MFC was the fact that executable of WTL will be around 4x smaller in size than statically linked MFC Application. Now, given the fact that we are living in 2015 now, does it really matter? If your program is 8MB or 2MB?
Well, when it comes to MFC, you should probably be dynamically linking to system installed dll's anyways. In that case, the size of the libraries doesn't really matter since you'd be sharing the system MFC libraries (instead of bloating the application).