Member Avatar for castro1688

Im 24 and a time ago..when i was a junior and senior in high school i did some programming. We used basic...lol...then turbo pascal...lol...and just touched on C in my senior year...All the old guys with me remember basic...

anyway, I'm going back to school for a degree in Computer Information Systems and I have the whole .net package... I haven't started any programming specific classes yet.

so whats the difference between C++ .net and c++ anything else? is the syntax the same???

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by cpopham

Dani AI

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Short answer: you can think of two C++ "modes" you'll meet. One is standard (ISO) C++, which compiles to native machine code and uses manual resource management (RAII). The other is the managed flavor used with .NET (historically Managed C++, now C++/CLI) which adds language extensions and targets the CLR/IL runtime. Basic native C++ syntax still works, but C++/CLI introduces new keywords and a different memory/runtime model.

To expand on points from and : .NET itself is a runtime and class library, not a single language. C++/CLI is a Microsoft extension that lets you write managed types (for example ref class, gcnew, and the handle ^) and also mix native and managed code in the same project. That mixed-mode capability is its main use: wrap existing native libraries for use by .NET UI or services. It is not a drop-in replacement for ISO C++ if you need portable, cross-platform native code; for cross-platform work prefer standard C++ or cross-platform .NET (Core/.NET 5+ or Mono) rather than C++/CLI which is largely MSVC/Windows-centric.

If you’re starting a CIS/.NET track: learn .NET concepts with C# first (clearer .NET idioms and tooling), and learn modern ISO C++ separately for systems-level work. Use C++/CLI only when you need tight interop between native C++ and .NET. Visual Studio gives the RAD experience mentioned, including mixed-mode project templates and debugging.

Small example of the managed-only syntax (shows how C++/CLI looks):

ref class ManagedThing {
public:
    void DoWork() { }
};

ManagedThing^ m = gcnew ManagedThing();

Troubleshooting notes: enable mixed-mode compilation (MSVC /clr) when combining code; convert between System::String^ and std::string explicitly (or use msclr::interop::marshal_as); watch lifetimes—C++ destructors map to IDisposable patterns while finalizers run under GC.

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Member Avatar for Dani

.NET is entirely object oriented from what I understand - there is no getting around it as with C++ and C doesn't support OOP at all. I don't know much else about it really. I'd really like to wish you the best of luck on your degree, but as far as your question goes, all I can do is wish you luck and twiddle my thumbs until someone more experienced comes a'callin.

Member Avatar for Paladine

C++ is an improvement on C in the sense of OOP. It tries to be an complete OOP language, but its cousin Java 2 is much more robust in the OOP programming than C++.

C++.Net is C++ in the .Net environment. Making it Cross platform compatible ( the one thing C++ lacked was portability like Java 2), and C++.Net uses OOP to its fullest with the .Net Framework to draw on.

Hope this helps... I am in the weee hours of the morning writiing this ...

Member Avatar for cpopham

The .net suite is also more centered around RAD (Rapid Applications Development). You can go from scratch to having a fully blown program pretty quickly in the .net enviroment.

Chester

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