Microsoft C++ questions

[groovin]

we have lots of apps written a while back in fortran. as you guessed, these apps are just number crunchers that accept input and then apply a ton of math to it. some of the fortran guys want to translate them to C++ and stick nice GUIs on them to make them more user friendly for all users. They say they need MS Visual C++. Now, looking around the net, i see MS Visual .NET C++ and am wondering if this would suffice. I havent kept up much on this kind of stuff, so all i know is that .NET is a framework for different programs to communicate... any thoughts on this? we dont need the .NET stuff most likely, but a MS based C++ compiler.

thanks

 

[Brian23]

Visual Studio .Net should work.

 

[groovin]

thanks for the reply.. hey... its only $100 for standard edition! I would have thought it was more expensive than that.

 

[Brian23]

make sure you get the right version of Visual Studio. There are visual basic versions and J# versions too.

 

[EagleKeeper]

There are translaters out there that can move about 80%+ of Fortran code automatically.
Can save some grief, depending on the quality of code.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
There are translaters out there that can move about 80%+ of Fortran code automatically.
Can save some grief, depending on the quality of code.

Calling Fortran from C/C++ isn't that difficult - I don't think I'd mess around with the translators. Depending on the environment, you'd have to revalidate the code which can cost alot of time & $$$

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
There are translaters out there that can move about 80%+ of Fortran code automatically.
Can save some grief, depending on the quality of code.

Calling Fortran from C/C++ isn't that difficult - I don't think I'd mess around with the translators. Depending on the environment, you'd have to revalidate the code which can cost alot of time & $$$

I was unsure if the OP was looking to port everything to C++ or just create a UI to replace the command line interface. Re-reading; looks like they want to dump the Fortran and replace with C++

It would be far easier to just replace the UI with a GUI. There are Fortran compilers for that have GUI interfaces.

One may want to look at determine the command line options for the program and then use a GUI to launch the program with appropriate values.

If the Fortran app requires continual user interaction, then it becomes more difficult and the app will have to be modified to interact with the GUI.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
There are translaters out there that can move about 80%+ of Fortran code automatically.
Can save some grief, depending on the quality of code.

Calling Fortran from C/C++ isn't that difficult - I don't think I'd mess around with the translators. Depending on the environment, you'd have to revalidate the code which can cost alot of time & $$$

I was unsure if the OP was looking to port everything to C++ or just create a UI to replace the command line interface. Re-reading; looks like they want to dump the Fortran and replace with C++

It would be far easier to just replace the UI with a GUI. There are Fortran compilers for that have GUI interfaces.

One may want to look at determine the command line options for the program and then use a GUI to launch the program with appropriate values.

If the Fortran app requires continual user interaction, then it becomes more difficult and the app will have to be modified to interact with the GUI.

Agree - unless it needs some kind of "real time" monitoring or interaction, it's probably best to just write a wrapper to abstract the CLI to a GUI.

 

[groovin]

yes, we want to dump fortran entirely. one of our engineers is pretty experienced at rewriting fortran into C++ so we are hoping he can lay some smooth groundwork. none of these fortran programs are too complex, but we do want to eventually want to start writing new apps in C++.

 

[xtknight]

visual studio 2005 express is free, and has a c++ compiler. it may require msvcr80.dll (the MS C++ 8.0 virtual machine/runtime). Fortran is easy to read so it shouldn't be that difficult to "transcode" it to cxx.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: xtknight
visual studio 2005 express is free, and has a c++ compiler. it may require msvcr80.dll (the MS C++ 8.0 virtual machine/runtime). Fortran is easy to read so it shouldn't be that difficult to "transcode" it to cxx.

A few questions about express to help the OP:
1. does it let you write "unmanaged" C++ or just managed / java-like / garbage-collected?
2. can it compile pure unmanaged apps or must it use the .Net framework?
3. does it include full debugging (breakpoints, single-step, watch, etc.)?
4. Is it marked "non commercial use only" or "academic use only"?

If "no" on 1-3 or "yes" on 4 then it probably makes more sense to spend the extra for the full visual studio package ($900 or so, see www.CodeProject.com to help out an excellent source code site and also get some free third-party toolkits with purchase).

I have MSDN Universal at work so I'm only familiar with the ultra-deluxe versions of Visual Studio

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: groovin
yes, we want to dump fortran entirely. one of our engineers is pretty experienced at rewriting fortran into C++ so we are hoping he can lay some smooth groundwork. none of these fortran programs are too complex, but we do want to eventually want to start writing new apps in C++.

10-12 years ago, I took some Fortran programs that were running a Traffic Signal Control system and fairly easily (over one summer) moved/ported them into C and running under Windows NT3.1 at the time.

I had only a rudementary knowledge of C at the time but was able to get a complete port from a 32bit mini-computer to a dual 486 PC.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: xtknight
visual studio 2005 express is free, and has a c++ compiler. it may require msvcr80.dll (the MS C++ 8.0 virtual machine/runtime). Fortran is easy to read so it shouldn't be that difficult to "transcode" it to cxx.

A few questions about express to help the OP:
1. does it let you write "unmanaged" C++ or just managed / java-like / garbage-collected?
2. can it compile pure unmanaged apps or must it use the .Net framework?
3. does it include full debugging (breakpoints, single-step, watch, etc.)?
4. Is it marked "non commercial use only" or "academic use only"?

If "no" on 1-3 or "yes" on 4 then it probably makes more sense to spend the extra for the full visual studio package ($900 or so, see www.CodeProject.com to help out an excellent source code site and also get some free third-party toolkits with purchase).

I have MSDN Universal at work so I'm only familiar with the ultra-deluxe versions of Visual Studio

1. yes, you can write unmanaged code (thank god)
2. yes, but I think you need the MS C++ 8.0 runtime dll (only v. 6.0 is included on 2k/xp). you must manually include it in your app.
3. I believe so
4. it's advertised that way (I don't know for sure)