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Does .net replace win32?

Dan
Okay...one last question. I've pretty much spent the weekend reading
up on .Net, Soap, web services and enough three letter acronyms to
feed the world alphabet soup.

Is it a fair and mostly true statement to say that when programming
Visual C++ using .Net, the .Net stuff basically replaces the Win32
API? I know you can still make a call back to win32 if need be, but
the general idea I gather is that .Net is the new "platform" to sit
ontop of windows for general applications, with Windows Forms
replacing MFC, etc...
Nov 17 '05 #1
5 2346
..NET do not ovverwrites MFC

..net is more about MS VM and generally more commercial. with longhorn it
will reach end user but it will take too much time(ok howmany XP users have
CLR ???)... For linux world it's a real single standart (with mono) so if
you program for linux platforms use mono GTK...

So if you use web services and if you program for your company you can use
..net but if you program for end users lave .net alone... keep using MFC

"Dan" <ne******@mordor.clayton.edu> wrote in message
news:9p********************************@4ax.com...
Okay...one last question. I've pretty much spent the weekend reading
up on .Net, Soap, web services and enough three letter acronyms to
feed the world alphabet soup.

Is it a fair and mostly true statement to say that when programming
Visual C++ using .Net, the .Net stuff basically replaces the Win32
API? I know you can still make a call back to win32 if need be, but
the general idea I gather is that .Net is the new "platform" to sit
ontop of windows for general applications, with Windows Forms
replacing MFC, etc...

Nov 17 '05 #2
Dan wrote:
Okay...one last question. I've pretty much spent the weekend reading
up on .Net, Soap, web services and enough three letter acronyms to
feed the world alphabet soup.

Is it a fair and mostly true statement to say that when programming
Visual C++ using .Net, the .Net stuff basically replaces the Win32
API? I know you can still make a call back to win32 if need be, but
the general idea I gather is that .Net is the new "platform" to sit
ontop of windows for general applications, with Windows Forms
replacing MFC, etc...


For the moment at least, .Net doesn't replace Win32, only augment it. The
basic idea behind it all is that the Win32 API is 11 years old, and that's
only if you discount the legacy it has on Win16, if you include that it's
even older. In those days, C was the most used language for client
applications, so the Win32 API is built with C programmers in mind. Because
of it's age, it lacks some of the niceties new technologies can offer, and
has become rather large, inconsistent, and has some really convoluted naming
schemes because there are no namespaces
(CoMarshalInterThreadInterfaceInStream anyone?)

The .Net Framework was a chance to start all over, using modern design
paradigms and technologies such as component based software engineering.
This makes the .Net Framework cleaner, nicer, easier to use, etc. And
because of the managed code thing, it's also safer and more secure, and
prevents certain types of programmer errors.

..Net is the future. Right now, programmers that write end-user apps are
hesitant to use the .Net Framework, mainly because they don't want a
dependency on something that is a rather large download if you don't have it
yet. But that will change. More and more people will have the .Net
Framework, as more and more applications require it. I know I never install
computers for anyone without putting the Framework on it. More and more
people having it, will cause more applications using, which will cause more
people having it, etc. Windows Server 2003 is the first Windows version to
include the .Net Framework, and in Windows codename Longhorn .Net will be
such an integral part of the OS that it is not only included, some of
Longhorn's new features are actually built on .Net.

..Net is the future. For server side applications the near future, for client
side applications the slightly further future, but the future nontheless.
The Win32 API won't go away for a long time though, and it's existing
application base (and more important, developer base) will make sure it
keeps being developed too, for years to come probably. And there will always
be a applications where managed code is not appropriate, and Win32, MFC,
ATL, etc. will be there for them. And as an added bonus, the possibilities
for interop between managed and unmanaged code will keep getting better too.
But in the years to come, you'll see it'll be more and more .Net that
dictates the pace on the Windows platform.

That at least is my take on things.

--
Sven Groot

Nov 17 '05 #3
> Is it a fair and mostly true statement to say that when programming
Visual C++ using .Net, the .Net stuff basically replaces the Win32
API? I know you can still make a call back to win32 if need be, but
the general idea I gather is that .Net is the new "platform" to sit
ontop of windows for general applications, with Windows Forms
replacing MFC, etc...

In my opinion currently, .NET is a little bit like Windows 3.1 on top of
DOS.
Windows 3.1 had to go through DOS and BIOS to make it work, slowing it down
compared to DOS.

But later Windows 95 came out and went around DOS and BIOS. Although it
started up in DOS.

And then Windows NT, W2K and XP that didn't start up with DOS anymore and
avoids the BIOS, DOS...

The .NET is something like this. At this moment it uses Win32 API. But when
more and more functionality is added, more and more .NET API will become
available and Win32 will somehow in the future not been extended anymore.
And in the far Future maybe Win32 will be emulated in a pure .NET Operating
system. (This can take 10 years or so)

The issue is that you now have to start learning the new technology, because
it can take years before you finally understand it enough to be sure to
develop commercial applications. Porting code libraries (in my case 150.000
lines, and my previous company even 800.000 lines) cannot be done
instantly, but take years.

Nov 17 '05 #4
Ol**********@skyscan.be wrote:
But later Windows 95 came out and went around DOS and BIOS. Although
it started up in DOS.

And then Windows NT, W2K and XP that didn't start up with DOS
anymore and avoids the BIOS, DOS...


You've got your order confused... ^_^

Windows NT (first version was 3.1) came out before Windows 95. All the
Windows 9x based OSs (including the horrible WinME) still used DOS, they
just hid it. Windows NT has been DOS-less from the start. It was designed
from the ground up as a stand-alone 32 bit OS, never carrying the DOS legacy
with it.

--
Sven Groot

http://unforgiven.bloghorn.com

Nov 17 '05 #5
And then Windows NT, W2K and XP that didn't start up with DOS
anymore and avoids the BIOS, DOS...
You've got your order confused... ^_^

Windows NT (first version was 3.1) came out before Windows 95. All the
Windows 9x based OSs (including the horrible WinME) still used DOS, they
just hid it. Windows NT has been DOS-less from the start. It was designed
from the ground up as a stand-alone 32 bit OS, never carrying the DOS

legacy with it.

Someone that paid attention.:-)
But you are right. :-)
Nov 17 '05 #6

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