Can only speak for myself. The one project where I use C++/MFC is one that was started back in 1997 when MFC was state of the art. The project has grown to over half a million lines of code. No money/sponsor to recode the whole thing. It's only a small part of my job now. I know lots of other languages/platforms, but when I want to quickly build a tool I reach for C# WinForms. If it ever gets to the point where I can't quickly make a program, I'll look elsewhere. But, I hope to be retired before then.

I've found that most of the suggestions (80%+) are exactly what I wanted to do. I've been pretty wowed by the technology. Maybe it's because it's looking over my shoulder and learning from a truly great programming master ;-)

When I have to use GIT (which is becoming most of the time now), I use SourceTree - the GUI Front End that makes it a little easier. I usually break something, so I have to call in a GIT expert and they fix it all up (GIT experts love fixing GIT problems). So, yeah, if you use GIT, git yourself SourceTree. Then, git yourself a GIT expert.

Ah, the memories! First did this when my computer had a 16 bit address bus and 8 bit op-codes and a total of 4K of RAM. Then I discovered there was something called a "compiler" and haven't had the urge to engage in this kind of masochism since.

BASIC on a TRS-80 at the back of the Math classroom in High School - 1980. Soon got my own TRS-80 Color Computer. Shortly thereafter got frustrated at the limits of 4K (yeah 4096) bytes of RAM - couldn't write very interesting games with 4K. Began poking Motorola 6809 instruction into memory. Imagine my joy upon discovering there was something called "Assembly Language". Ah well, memory lane...

I think you've nailed it. Apple products are fancy gizmos for people who don't need real computers. This could be a real computer.

I think you'll like netduino. My son (age 13) and I have been having a lot fun with it for the last couple of months.

J W