Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.

[Lucifer Lost]

It's been a looong time since I've done any programming (we're talking Basic and Pascal over 20 years ago here folks!) ... But recently I've gotten an itch to take a look at some Visual programming languages and play around with what would seem to be a pretty simple application.

So, the primary question is which language in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 should I start with?


I'd basically like to write an application that can:

1) Have a Host/Client program that can share a graphical table of data over an internet connection.

2) Create a set of rules where some data in the table can be randomized and modified (on demand) with clients getting updates on the new data.

3) Keep some information hidden from the clients.


Basically, for those familiar with Pen and Paper RPG's, I'd like to create a network capable Initiative program that is internet friendly.

 

[postmortemIA]

If you know some Basic, then Visual Basic would be good starting point.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Windows Communication Framework is the latest bit of network coding support, look it up at MSDN. There are other network libraries in .Net 2.0 as well, MSDN and www.codeproject.com should have sample code you can borrow to work from.

Windows Forms is the application type with a user interface you create by dragging and dropping the pieces, then writing blocks of code for the messages / events triggered by button presses.

You could use Basic, C++, or C#. C++ and C# will be less quirky since they come from well-designed languages while Basic had objects bolted on with baling wire.

You might poke around CodeProject, grab some samples, and see which ones seem easiest to follow.

 

[Schadenfroh]

My university starts people off with C++

 

[gsellis]

For web and ASP stuff, our company is using more and more C#. C++ is the foundation for it and then merges Java style stuff to it. VB is an easy start if you have never coded, but I think C# has better value later. C++ on your own takes a bit more effort and it is easier to make mistakes without knowing where the hard parts are.