Microsoft’s Visual Studio.NET




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Getting Started with Visual C++

The programs and example tiles used through out this book and contained on the
accompanying CD were developed using a full installation of the now current
Academic Edition of Visual Studio.NET (Version 2003)’. Visual C++.NET is
also available as a stand alone package and as such it operates within the Visual
Studio environment but is the only available language. In either case, Visual C++
is part of the comprehensive Microsoft Development Environment and it contains
many options and possibilities that are outside the scope of this book (in fact,
way outside the scope of this book). We will focus exclusively on the set of
possibilities that will allow us to move quickly into the use of Visual C t t and
MFC Applications for writing Windows programs and using computer graphics
in personal computing.


A First Program

It has become an established tradition to write a “Hello World” program as a first
step in using a new programming environment. The purpose of such a program is
to furnish an introduction to the environment and allow you to produce your first
executing program. The tradition is so strong that Microsoft has even included a
default “Hello World” program as a standard part of Visual C++. However, we’ll
write our own program as directly as possible and the few lines of code below are
all that we will need:


Exploring the Project Folder

At this point, if you have followed the steps above successfully, the HelloProject
has been created with its executable Hel1oProject.exe. All of your work resides
in the folder C:V€elloProject on the hard drive.


Modifying the HelloProject
Let’s now return to the HelloProject and fix it so that its display will remain on
the screen after execution. Return to the HelloProject by finding the file
HelloProject.sln in the C:WeZZoProject folder and then double clicking on it.
Once Visual Studio has started, you should see the HelloProject just as you left it.
The workspace area is where you can see the structure of a project at a glance.
Display the Solution Explorer by clicking on the “Solution Explorer” tab of the
workspace area or by cliclung on the Solution Explorer button on the toolbar
toward the right.