Several problems! Singular solution?

[John J.]

I've recently switched from Borland products to MS VS.NET
EA through a MSDN Universal Subscription.

Generally, I stayed away from any MS technology specific
apps with Borland stuff, but now am trying my hand at it.

However, I have severe gaps in my knowledge because of
this previous attitude. Additionally, wanting to switch
to managed extensions in C++ doesn't work very well when
all the documentation and examples are aimed at C# and VB.

C++ Language Reference? Nope. C++ code examples to help
clarify the sometimes circular explanations? Well the
ones I have found frequently throw exceptions at run-
time, but mostly they just aren't there or won't compile.

Is there anywhere to turn for help besides here? I can
question people to death, and as you can tell I don't
know BRIEF. On-line references are not that useful to me
as I am frequently on the road and cannot access them.

I spoke with an On-Line Concierge who spoke with a lead
developer, and basically got "well that's how they choose
to distribute, sorry" for an answer.

Am I not using the distribution disks properly? Are
there ways to incorporate additional help files into the
help provided by VS .NET that I missed? Is there a GOOD
book that actually covers C++ and MS technologies as they
tie in with it? Or should I invest in a thicker hat to
minimize the bruising as I beat my head against the wall
for lack of cooperative code? =)

I'm sure I can figure out work arounds for most of my
issues, but I'd rather just do it right in the first
place.

Thanks very much for your help!
John

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

The short answer is: programming for Managed Extensions for C++ is somewhat
of a black art at present. As you've noted, most of the documentation is
written for C# and VB.NET.

Personally, I'd recommend using C# to learn .NET, while independently
learning C++. When you have a handle on C++ without .NET, and .NET without
C++, then tackle the combination.

Expect C++ to be a much better player in the .NET world in the future - the
managed C++ extensions that are available in Visual Studio .NET (2002 or
2003) are just a begining.

There are a couple of books specifically on programming with MC++. I
haven't read any of them so I can't comment on their quality or
applicability to any particular situation.

-cd
John J. wrote:

I've recently switched from Borland products to MS VS.NET
EA through a MSDN Universal Subscription.

Generally, I stayed away from any MS technology specific
apps with Borland stuff, but now am trying my hand at it.

However, I have severe gaps in my knowledge because of
this previous attitude. Additionally, wanting to switch
to managed extensions in C++ doesn't work very well when
all the documentation and examples are aimed at C# and VB.

C++ Language Reference? Nope. C++ code examples to help
clarify the sometimes circular explanations? Well the
ones I have found frequently throw exceptions at run-
time, but mostly they just aren't there or won't compile.

Is there anywhere to turn for help besides here? I can
question people to death, and as you can tell I don't
know BRIEF. On-line references are not that useful to me
as I am frequently on the road and cannot access them.

I spoke with an On-Line Concierge who spoke with a lead
developer, and basically got "well that's how they choose
to distribute, sorry" for an answer.

Am I not using the distribution disks properly? Are
there ways to incorporate additional help files into the
help provided by VS .NET that I missed? Is there a GOOD
book that actually covers C++ and MS technologies as they
tie in with it? Or should I invest in a thicker hat to
minimize the bruising as I beat my head against the wall
for lack of cooperative code? =)

I'm sure I can figure out work arounds for most of my
issues, but I'd rather just do it right in the first
place.

Thanks very much for your help!
John

[William DePalo [MVP VC++ ]]

"John J." <pe*****@mwpower.net> wrote in message
news:0d****************************@phx.gbl...

However, I have severe gaps in my knowledge because of
this previous attitude. Additionally, wanting to switch
to managed extensions in C++ doesn't work very well when
all the documentation and examples are aimed at C# and VB.
Right. IMO, the prevailing wisdom among developers is that C# is the best
language for doing strictly .Net develpment now. (A number of times members
of the VC++ team have mentioned that they are working to change our view in
the next revision of the compiler).
C++ Language Reference? Nope. C++ code examples to help
clarify the sometimes circular explanations? Well the
ones I have found frequently throw exceptions at run-
time, but mostly they just aren't there or won't compile.

If you already know the C++ language and if you want to use a dialect of
that language to target the .Net platform, or if you need to straddle the
fence between native and managed worlds, then I have two book
recommendations. (Just by the way, it is in stradding the fence that MC++
really shines. Of all the MS .Net compilers, its is the only one which can
mix native and managed code in the same module or executable.)

The first is "Essential Guide to Managed Extensions for C++" (ISBN:
1-893115-28-3) by Challa and Laksberg. They are in a position to know the
language because they are on its development staff. <g> I like the book
because it is divided into two parts. The first introduces the language but
more importantly the second shows how it might be used: to generate managed
wrappers for a C++ class, to access a managed class from unmanaged code,
using Platform Invoke to call on the Win32 API, making .Net classes appear
to be COM objects etc. It has very pragamatic bent and is a quick read.

The second is "Programming with Managed Extensions for MS Visual C++ .Net"
(ISBN: 0-7356-1724-4) by Grimes. The book is quite a bit fatter and a much
slower read.

You might want to peruse both in a bookstore.

Regards,
Will

[John J.]

Carl and Will,

Thank you both for your input. After digging a bit more
(more) and resetting some filter properties that had made
sense to me personally another way, I've found the on-
disk documentation of the reference.

As for the rest, wow. I had honestly thought it was just
me. I appreciate the book suggestions very much and will
look them up, though looking at a book store first isn't
an option for me.

C#... well it wasn't something I really wanted to delve.
While much of C++ still baffles me, I've become
comfortable with it to some degree. Which is to say I
can think out code in my head, and when I read someone
else's code it usually doesn't look like so much chicken
scratch. However, staying up with things isn't a bad
idea either.

It's also good to know that C++ will be seeing more
updates to bring it more in line with .NET technologies.

Again, thank you both! You've been most helpful.
John

> I've recently switched from Borland products to MS VS.NET

EA through a MSDN Universal Subscription.

Generally, I stayed away from any MS technology specific
apps with Borland stuff, but now am trying my hand at it.

First try to understand .NET using C#.
There are so many things to understand first before you have one program
that wants to run on different network drives using multiple dll's.
Once you understand this, then jumping back to C++ will make porting your
code much simpler.

C# is very simple to understand .NET syntax.
C++ .NET managed programmin is still black-art programming .

One thing I can tell you is that this .NET thing makes Microsoft finally
enter the stage where Delphi 1 was back in 1995.
It has events, it has properties, it is pure Object oriented design (unlike
mfc), you can create visual components on the fly....

[John J.]

Okay, I haven't laughed quite so hard in a long time...

I really didn't understand how voracious this virus distribution stuff was
until the morning after this FIRST post to a newsgroup in years.

Will getting this thread deleted do any good, and if so, who/how do I
contact to accomplish this? If its too late, that's cool but I would like
to know. Having to delete 99.99999% of the traffic is getting a bit
annoying if there is a simple fix.

btw: Oh yeah, Microsoft has been e-mailing security updates for years now.
<pfft> The "S" on my forehead means slow, not sucker. LOL

TIA

[Panda]

Outlook has the ability to "Cancel"
news post. You could try it. Probably
won't be allowed by server.With OE
you need to add the button to the toolbar.
or access it from Message menu.
I doubt it will help this late.

It's probably already cached by other NNTP
servers. And by infected computers, since
you're getting those emails.

Quote from:
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/swen.shtml#details

"The worm periodically scans HTML and ASP files on a hard drive and stores
found e-mail addresses in the GERMS0.DBV file located in Windows folder. The
worm also reads .EML, .DBX, .WAB, and .MBX files and fetches e-mail
addresses from there. The worm does not fetch addresses containing 'delete'
and 'spam' strings.
The worm also can search for e-mail addresses in various newsgroups. It
connects to NNTP servers listed in the SWEN1.DAT file, gets a list of all
newsgroups on that server and searches recent messages in these newsgroups
for 'nfrom:' and 'nreply-to:' tags. When such tags are found, the worm gets
e-mail addressed after them and writes them to the GERMS0.DBV file. This way
the worm can harvers a lot of e-mail addresses to send itself to.

The worm can post its e-mails to newsgroups, the names of which it finds
during searching process. The worm sends the same kind of messages as it
sends via e-mail."

"John J. mwpower.net>" <pegasus < at > wrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

Okay, I haven't laughed quite so hard in a long time...

I really didn't understand how voracious this virus distribution stuff was
until the morning after this FIRST post to a newsgroup in years.

Will getting this thread deleted do any good, and if so, who/how do I
contact to accomplish this? If its too late, that's cool but I would like
to know. Having to delete 99.99999% of the traffic is getting a bit
annoying if there is a simple fix.

btw: Oh yeah, Microsoft has been e-mailing security updates for years now. <pfft> The "S" on my forehead means slow, not sucker. LOL

TIA

[John J.]

Panda was heard to say:

It's probably already cached by other NNTP
servers. And by infected computers, since
you're getting those emails.

Had a feeling, but thought I'd check just in case someone more in the know
might have an answer on the green side of the meter.

Thanks! =D
John J.