Creating Simple Utilities with Free Compilers

[aychamo]

Hey guys!

I need to write a few simple utilities for working with files. They are really basic. I just realized I don't even have a compiler! I know VisualBasic and Borland Delphi (so I'm practically worthless), but I don't have either compiler.

I saw that Microsoft offers VBNetExpress which is a free version of Visual Basic but it uses .NET2.0 which is beta? I wouldn't use anything related to .NET, I'd really only be shelling to command.com, running a few commands and analyzing some files and strings. That's it.

Can I program such simple things in VBNetExpress (I still don't even know what .NET is!)? Or is there any other free compiler that I could use for such a thing?

Thank you
Aychamo

 

[Dilbert]

.Net is a basically a new platform that is more "universal", for instance you can easily convert your code from VB to C#.
Visual studios which uses the .Net framework has a better graphical interface. Codewise, i just think it has become worse. It is a better environment for Windows development but i just don't like it as well as the previous visual studios.

I have read about VB.NET Express, not sure what it is yet but i have gotten the picture that it is a new environment for "dummies", making it easier to learn for newbies. Although i am not sure, they say that it should have full .Net capabilities so i reckon that it can become rather powerfull.

 

[faust9]

Hey guys!

I need to write a few simple utilities for working with files. They are really basic. I just realized I don't even have a compiler! I know VisualBasic and Borland Delphi (so I'm practically worthless), but I don't have either compiler.

I saw that Microsoft offers VBNetExpress which is a free version of Visual Basic but it uses .NET2.0 which is beta? I wouldn't use anything related to .NET, I'd really only be shelling to command.com, running a few commands and analyzing some files and strings. That's it.

Can I program such simple things in VBNetExpress (I still don't even know what .NET is!)? Or is there any other free compiler that I could use for such a thing?

Thank you
Aychamo

Here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...43-7e4b-4622-86eb-95a22b832caa&displaylang=en

95/98/me have the WSH already installed (but not turned on). Enable the host just before you use it and disable it immediatly afterward.

Good Luck.

 

[rgrig]

for instance you can easily convert your code from VB to C#.

Actually the idea behind .NET is that you don't _need_ to convert code from one language to another since different languages interact seemlessly if if you follow CLS.

 

[dduardo]

Don't forget that all the users that run your program need to have the same version of the .NET framework

 

[rgrig]

Don't forget that ...

Huh? What exactly do you mean?

 

[dduardo]

It means, like java, you need to have the bytecode interpreter to run your .NET programs. Microsoft has basically locked you into their platform by programming in .NET.

 

[aychamo]

I've heard that the VBNET.Express uses .NET 2.0 Beta or something. Do you think if I only used things that were in the .NET 1.1 it would be backward compatible?

I need to read up on .NET. I'm just not sure about it. I've seen some example code of people using .NET stuff and it is just a bunch of weird calls or something .. I don't know :)

 

[rgrig]

It means [...] you need to have the bytecode interpreter

Ah, OK. You scared me :) I thought you said something about versions and you were actually talking about the virtual machine. Sorry, but I'm not a mind reader.

Microsoft has basically locked you into their platform by programming in .NET

If you want to develop using .NET on UNIX you can always use MONO or DotGNU.