Getting Started with a Visual Studio C++ 2013 IDE

[W. eWatson]

I understand C++. What I'm looking for is how one operates the IDE
provided in VS C++ Desktop. What programming I've done usually does not
include a sophisticated IDE. I see FILE, EDIT,VIEW, DEBUG, etc. along
the top of the IDE. I'd like more details on these items. I would
suspect somewhere there's an explanation of them. Most manuals describe
them in the first 10 pages. Does a tutorial or manual that explains them
exist? It would be nice to see some examples of building a program and
compiling libraries for it.

BTW, I've spent a lot of time today Googling VS introductions to IDEs,
but they never sync with the VS C++ 2013 product I have.

[Robert Wessel]

While this is OT for the group, MS has lots of tutorials and samples.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj620919.aspx looks like just
what you're looking for.

[W. eWatson]

Is there a NG for my question?

Been at that link, but it didn't help. I think there are just too many
variety of editions for Visual Studio.

I just installed 2010, and see there's a video in it for Beginner
Developers. Cleverly the title is for the 2008 Express Edition. A little
examination here shows me this isn't going to help me. Sigh!

[Tobias Müller]

"W. eWatson" <wolft...@invalid.com> wrote:
> Been at that link, but it didn't help. I think there are just too many
> variety of editions for Visual Studio.
>
> I just installed 2010, and see there's a video in it for Beginner
> Developers. Cleverly the title is for the 2008 Express Edition. A little
> examination here shows me this isn't going to help me. Sigh!

From VS 2005 to VS 2010 there are only minor differences regarding the user
interface. Especially when it comes to the basic concepts. Most notable
improvements in VS 2010 are IMO the much better intellisense (on-the-fly
analysis for code completion, refactoring and navigation) and the profiler
that is available not only in team edition.
But for the first steps that probably not so relevant.

Tobi

[Victor Bazarov]

To answer a question in another post, no, there is no NG for it (not an
active one anyway).

I recommend getting a book. Something in line with "Visual Studio for
Dummies". They are usually well written (not that I've read any, but I
heard many people's praises) without condescension and full of easy
explanations on how to accomplish some simple tasks, which should give
the OP at least some handle on the product.

As with any other complex tool, ease comes with practice. So, start by
doing what the book says, and then try repeating those (usually simple)
steps with some variations.

V
--
I do not respond to top-posted replies, please don't ask

[Rick C. Hodgin]

There is an add-on utility I would recommend. It's called "Visual Assist X"
and it's made by Whole Tomato (www.wholetomato.com). It will augment your
editing experience to provide many features that are natively lacking in the
Visual Studio IDE environment.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

[W. eWatson]

I drove down to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore this afternoon.
It's45 miles from here. I found about six C++ books, They pretty much
off handed remarked about the IDE. One was probably the Dummies (2010)
book you mentioned. It briefly mentioned IDE. There are about 10
versions of the Dummy books. Only two allow "Look Inside". Pretty
limited in what they allow to be read.

Well, I guess I just bounce around the IDE, and see if I can make any
sense of it. That plus some googling.

[Rick C. Hodgin]

On Saturday, February 1, 2014 8:31:59 PM UTC-5, W. eWatson wrote:
> I drove down to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore this afternoon.
> It's45 miles from here. I found about six C++ books, They pretty much
> off handed remarked about the IDE. One was probably the Dummies (2010)
> book you mentioned. It briefly mentioned IDE. There are about 10
> versions of the Dummy books. Only two allow "Look Inside". Pretty
> limited in what they allow to be read.
>
> Well, I guess I just bounce around the IDE, and see if I can make any
> sense of it. That plus some googling.

YouTube is a great resources. And it's (reasonably) free.

[W. eWatson]

Actually, I tried Google, but your remark prompted me to look again. I
found several chapter like videos that were fairly OK. However, I
happened on another such set by <xoax.net>, which was quite good. When I
went to their site, I found the chapters to be displayed better than on
YouTube. Under Videos->C++ they had about 50 chapters. They had a 4-5
directed at, loosely, IDE. They showed how to build and compile a single
console program. That's fine, but only gives a glimpse of IDE. The
others covered all sorts of programs, Simple Classes, Namespace
essentials. I'll go back and probe them for their relevance to IDE.

xoax.net has lots of educational stuff on it. MIT Classical Mechanics.
Stanford Particle Physics. It all seems to be free, and no mention is
made of a sponsor. The Forum doesn't look like it is heavily used.

[Cholo Lennon]

On 02/01/2014 04:09 PM, W. eWatson wrote:
> On 1/31/2014 9:16 PM, Robert Wessel wrote:
>> On Fri, 31 Jan 2014 20:28:55 -0800, "W. eWatson"
>> <wolft...@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I understand C++. What I'm looking for is how one operates the IDE
>>> provided in VS C++ Desktop. What programming I've done usually does not
>>> include a sophisticated IDE. I see FILE, EDIT,VIEW, DEBUG, etc. along
>>> the top of the IDE. I'd like more details on these items. I would
>>> suspect somewhere there's an explanation of them. Most manuals describe
>>> them in the first 10 pages. Does a tutorial or manual that explains them
>>> exist? It would be nice to see some examples of building a program and
>>> compiling libraries for it.
>>>
>>> BTW, I've spent a lot of time today Googling VS introductions to IDEs,
>>> but they never sync with the VS C++ 2013 product I have.
>>
>>
>> While this is OT for the group, MS has lots of tutorials and samples.
>> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj620919.aspx looks like just
>> what you're looking for.
>>
>
> Is there a NG for my question?
>

Microsoft moved its newsgroups to web forums. Post your questions here:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio

Regards

> Been at that link, but it didn't help. I think there are just too many
> variety of editions for Visual Studio.
>
> I just installed 2010, and see there's a video in it for Beginner
> Developers. Cleverly the title is for the 2008 Express Edition. A little
> examination here shows me this isn't going to help me. Sigh!

--
Cholo Lennon
Bs.As.
ARG

[W. eWatson]

Wholetomato looks good.

[Rick C. Hodgin]

> Wholetomato looks good.

Some of your new best friends:

Alt+G -- Goto declaration or definition. Works with overloaded functions
by name, and does not limit the scope by parameters.
Alt+Shift+R -- Refactor the highlighted token (change its name system-wide)
Alt+Shift+F -- Find the highlighted token

Also, there are options to turn on highlighting (such as when you move onto
a token it highlights other nearby instances to give you visual cues of
where that token is referenced). Hovering over a token shows you the
definition line and nearby comments, etc.

It will change the way I looked at the Visual Studio IDE.

[Jorgen Grahn]

On Sat, 2014-02-01, W. eWatson wrote:
> On 1/31/2014 9:16 PM, Robert Wessel wrote:
>> On Fri, 31 Jan 2014 20:28:55 -0800, "W. eWatson"
>> <wolft...@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I understand C++. What I'm looking for is how one operates the IDE
>>> provided in VS C++ Desktop. What programming I've done usually does not
>>> include a sophisticated IDE. I see FILE, EDIT,VIEW, DEBUG, etc. along
>>> the top of the IDE. I'd like more details on these items. I would
>>> suspect somewhere there's an explanation of them. Most manuals describe
>>> them in the first 10 pages. Does a tutorial or manual that explains them
>>> exist? It would be nice to see some examples of building a program and
>>> compiling libraries for it.

...

> I just installed 2010, and see there's a video in it for Beginner
> Developers. Cleverly the title is for the 2008 Express Edition. A little
> examination here shows me this isn't going to help me. Sigh!

Mostly out of curiosity: do you really need to use this IDE? You
don't seem very excited about it, and you seem comfortable with
whatever tools you have today. That's not a good start. In fact,
those are the reasons I've never used an IDE myself ...

/Jorgen

--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .

[malcolm...@btinternet.com]

On Saturday, February 1, 2014 4:28:55 AM UTC, W. eWatson wrote:
> I understand C++. What I'm looking for is how one operates the IDE
> provided in VS C++ Desktop. What programming I've done usually does not
> include a sophisticated IDE.
>

I'm basically in the same situation.
I downloaded the latest version of Visual Studio Express for my new Windows 8.1
machine.
Start by creating an empty console project. Then create a C version of "hello world". Get that running, and it means that the compiler is basically set up.

Then try allowing it to make the skeleton for you, still in a console project.
You'll get lots of non-standard stuff, but nothing too awful. Write hello
world out in Unicode. (In Hebrew it's "shalom liolam", shin-lamed-vav-mem
space lamed-ayin-vav-lamed-mem, see if you can get it working in a non-Latin
script).

The try hello world in a window.

Gradually build up, getting more familiar with the IDE as you add complexity.