I am a hobbyist programmer, and have experience in Java and C++. I have Visual C++ 6 and am interested in doing some Windows programming. Is it worth my time getting a book and learning MFC, or is the Visual C# method of Windows programming better?

I won't be doing any professional/commercial level programs, just little projects. I am interested in getting into some DirectX stuff too though, if that makes a difference.

The short advice answer is get the new Visual Studio 2005 Express ( http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/expres...p/default.aspx ). It is in Beta right now but it is what MS has created to get people in your situation up to speed on the future.

Or you could just do it in MFC which is harder. But at least you will be able to buy books cheap because no one (relatively speaking) will be programming in MFC so they won't want their books. Also there is already tons of code out there that you can use as examples (but then there is tons of C# .NET code out there too).

If you are a 'hobby' programmer because you are doing 'device' programming you might want to go MFC because it has been around a long time and many of the interface problems have been solved but MS is pushing Windows as a device OS so I would imagine they will provide 'support' for .NET interfacing at the 'device' level. If you are going to be doing web designing or database supported programming the only way to go is .NET.

Thanks a lot! I wasn't looking forward to spending $50+ on the Academic Visual Studio 2003.

Does it help to know MFC before moving on to .NET? Or can I just jump right in with no prior knowledge? (I do have a basic understanding of how the OS works, with message loops and all that).

No I don't think it would be beneficial to learn MFC first. Although the analogy may be a bit thin you would not learn Spanish first just so you could learn French, even though they are both 'Romance' (based in part on Latin) languages.

What you need to learn about the inner workings of Windows will be presented to you as you expand your knowledge of how the .NET Framework is organized. It is organized much differently than MFC even though the basic 'structures' in Windows programming are still there. In .NET you are shielded from actually having to work with some of the thornier aspects of Windows programming that MFC was an earlier attempt to minimize.

Since you have Java experience you will find the Object Oriented organization more familiar in .NET than MFC. And because you have experience in Java and C++ you should be able to handle the syntax of C#.

Well I downloaded C# Express, and I must say, the IDE is vastly improved from Visual Studio 6. C# at first glance looks like Java with some changed keywords, but it looks like fun.

Thanks for the help KABay.