Member Avatar for chuckc

Excluding freeware, what would be the best reasonably priced software tools (i.e. compiler, database, erc.) to buy for a new Windows computer in order to develop financial apps that could easily be distributed to one's own Windows computers as .exe files? Programing language either C or something like VB.

It needs to support at least 10 digit math, and database capability like MS Access.

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A concise, practical buyer's note that builds on 's brief and the replies by and .

For paid but reasonably priced Windows toolchains, the standard commercial option is the Visual Studio family (Professional/Enterprise) for VB/.NET and C/C++—it gives an integrated IDE, designers, profilers and an easy path to build Windows EXE installers. (Community is free for many individual scenarios, but check the edition/licensing details for commercial use.) See the Visual Studio edition comparison for current licensing guidance. Visual Studio editions. (visualstudio.microsoft.com)

If the priority is correct financial arithmetic, favor a .NET stack (VB.NET or C#) and use the Decimal type (System.Decimal) for money to avoid binary-floating rounding errors; Decimal gives far more than 10 digits of exact precision. A tiny VB.NET example showing Decimal usage:

Dim balance As Decimal = 1234567890.12D
Dim interest As Decimal = balance * 0.025D
Console.WriteLine(balance.ToString("F2"))

Read the official System.Decimal notes for limits and rounding guidance. System.Decimal documentation. (learn.microsoft.com)

If you prefer native C++ and a commercial RAD workflow (visual form designers + native EXEs) consider Embarcadero RAD Studio (C++Builder/Delphi) as a paid alternative that bundles database access components and native compilers. RAD Studio overview. (embarcadero.com)

For Access-like data and easy desktop distribution: use Microsoft Access / ACCDB for small single-user apps (or SQL Server for multi-user/back-end scenarios). To ship a single executable from .NET, publish a self-contained single-file app (Visual Studio Publish or dotnet publish with PublishSingleFile) and test the runtime/bitness on the target PCs. See the single-file publish guidance and the Access runtime distribution notes. Single-file publish overview. Access Runtime info. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical tip: match the tool (IDE + libraries) to the long-term support and deployment model you want—VB/.NET with System.Decimal is simplest for Windows-only financial apps; C++/RAD tools are better for native performance or single-binary native GUIs. Test on the exact Windows builds you’ll run and confirm any license limits before purchasing.

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

What you could consider is the Community version of Visual Studio. Once you get your apps done, then you can ponder if you want to buy that.

Why buy now?

Edited by rproffitt because: Spelling.
Member Avatar for chuckc

Thanks. I'll look at that more carefully.
The programming I do now is a hobby, so there is no particular rush, and I hoped it might start a discussion. Maybe I put it in the wrong place? Are most people OK with the cost of development tools, and is there any freeware one can download without having to worry about downloading spyware or tons of advertising?

I've gotten some wonderful help from Daniweb in the past, but that was some years ago, and I am having a little difficulty navigating the website. Is there something you would suggest that I read?

Member Avatar for rproffitt

You followed with more questions. I'll put them into a list.

  1. Wrong place?
    This is fine.
  2. Cost of dev tools.
    The Community version is free. Android Studio is free. What's not to like here?
  3. Freeware one can download without spyware or advertising.
    I have installed both the ones I noted and consider them free from spyware and advertising. I can't guess if you would get them from a torrent or other than the source so maybe you are trying to avoid the source (Microsoft and Google) and ended up with a bad experience. I can't guess why folk do that.

As to the last question about Daniweb and navigating, I have yet to find any reading material about that.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

I've been developing software since the mid 70s (retired since 2008) and I recently switched from vb.Net to Python/wxPython. I know you wanted to develop to exe but there is a tool that will generate an exe from Python. While creating a GUI with wxPython is more challenging than with vb.Net and Visual Studio, writing and debugging the actual code is much easier with Python, although Visual Studio still kicks ass for interactive debugging (I'm using VS 2019 with Python). Also, with Python/wxPython you only have to install them once (easy) and ypu'll never have to set up a separate installer. I believe Python will handle integer math to your requirements. If it can handle math.factorial(1000) it should do.

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