Best programming suite recommendations.

I used VS5 a lot, but refused to move to VS6 because Microsoft had some bugs in VS5 that weren't fixed in 6, and they wouldn't even acknowledge they were bugs and document them in their knowledge base... They could easily be reproduced with a 12-step process. So out of principle, I wouldn't use VS6. Also, VS6 had some pretty major problems of it's own in it's early versions. VS.NET is a whole new animal. Therefore, the initial versions (even though there were many betas) will still have some flaws. But Microsoft has .NET as a long-term strategy, and they've thrown a lot of the old stuff away to pave the way for new technology. VS.NET is one of the best new things I've seen in quite a while. I would *not* consider myself burned with VS.NET. I would have felt that way with VS6 if it had been my money that purchased it. There are plenty of books on VS.NET out now. If you're not quite sure, get a book and read it before investing in the software. Also, you can get the .NET SDK which includes all the runtime, plus the compilers for free. You just don't get the fancy IDE, but you can write and compile any .NET code you want with just the SDK. I was a little overwhelmed with the VS.NET IDE at first. But I'm quickly becoming very comfortable with it. I really like the popups that happen while you're typing in code, so you know what your options are at every step of the way. (Sometimes there's a few too many popups, but I guess more is better than not enough). If you have something specific you want to know, or want me to try and see how it is handled, let me know (off-list, preferrably) and I'll do what I can to help answer any questions you might have. - Bob -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-admin(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of John Allain Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 9:37 PM To: CCTalk Subject: Re: Best programming suite recommendations. What I am trolling for is people who have bought into it and have been burned. I used v4 and v5 and had mildly positive experiences, but was disappointed with them overall. example: ask for a help lookup on an overloaded function on compiled and linked (read: external references resolved) code. The help system listed all the operation loadings and had you pick one, dummmm. Pro-quality, mainly. John A.