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Steven O. · Guest

My work is mainly technical writing, not programming, but I have taken
a bunch of classes in programming, including C++. I am doing some
work on my own at the moment, playing with some AI stuff.

A couple of years ago, I wanted to do GUI programming in C++, so I sat
down and taught myself MFC programming. It was torture. I compare
using MFC to trying to prepared a four course gourmet meal using
nothing but a carrot peeler. An uber-computer-geek friend says that
using MFC is like trying to build a house out of toothpicks. Doing
the simplest things was a giant pain.

I recently purchased "Teach Yourself Borland C++ Builder in 21 Days"
(SAMS publishing) on Amazon, an old version for C++ Builder Version 4.
It included a trial version of the software. I'm only through chapter
6, and the first four chapters were really a refresher on the C++
language, so I've only really seen a bit of the GUI development tools.
But, so far at least, it seems *radically* easier than MFC. In fact,
in many ways it reminds me of the tools used to build a GUI in Visual
Basic (which I suspect Microsoft borrowed from Borland!).

Yet, in scanning this newsgroup, there are some clear beefs about bugs
in C++ Builder that are not addressed by Borland. I just spent a few
dollars to order the C++ Builder 6 Personal edition, but now I'm
wondering if that was money well spent. So, first question -- can
someone summarize what they find to be the key problems with C++
Builder?

Second question -- According to the book, VCL was written in Pascal,
so to access functions one must use the Object->Function() style,
rather than Object.Function(). Is that still the case, or was VCL
ever rewritten in C++ to take advantage of C++ syntax?

Third question: One thing I do recall from Visual Basic, and -- if
memory serves right -- from Visual C++, is that when you did type an
object name, followed by a period or the arrow (that is, Object. or
Object->), the Visual Studio environment responded by popping up a
list of available properties and functions for the object. This is
obviously very useful. Do the more recent releases of C++ Builder
have this functionality as well?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.

P.S. Am always available for contract technical writing projects.
www.OpzzREMOVE_ALL_Zs_AND_ALL_BETWEEN_zzComm.com

Standard Antiflame Disclaimer: Please don't flame me. I may actually *be* an idiot, but even idiots have feelings.