Visual Basic is a good option for small programs on Windows. It does cost a lot of money depending on your needs. It's not a good choice for large programs (or at least used to be). The older versions of VC++ are very hard and difficult, the newer versions seem to be o.k. I used to prefer Borland C++Builder for large Windows projects.
Both Java and C++ are very complex languages, they wouldn't be my first choice to learn programming basics. Python is especially nice if you are using Some Unix environment. I like how it interoperates with Qt for designing user interfaces. It's free too, but for Windows you might need to wait for Qt version 4 to be able to create User Interfaces o Windows. I like the Eric3 program to develop my applications. As to the actual programming: Writing the documentation, helpfiles and maintaining the application is what will take most of the time, not the actual writing itself. Here are some sites that might have some useful hints for creating easy to use applications: "http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/mysterymeatnavigation.html"; "http://www.nngroup.com/"; "http://www.rha.com/ui_hall_of_shame.htm"; "http://digilander.libero.it/chiediloapippo/Engineering/iarchitect/shame.htm"; "http://www.pixelcentric.net/x-shame/"; "http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html"; Adriaan Renting | Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ASTRON | Phone: +31 521 595 217 P.O. Box 2 | GSM: +31 6 24 25 17 28 NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo | FAX: +31 521 597 332 The Netherlands | Web: http://www.astron.nl/~renting/ >>> Cyril BAZIN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 06/28/05 11:25 AM >>> Hello, If you have enough money to buy a licence, Visual Basic seem a very good option. (But you should learn how to use design patterns.) Without knowing this language I was able to perform a graphical user interface to interact with an automat, a mySQL database and many analogical sensors in less than 1 month. Cyril On 27 Jun 2005 11:51:21 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm a manager where I work(one of the cogs in a food service company). > The boss needed one of us to become the "tech guy", and part of that is > writing small windows programs for the office. He wants the development > work done in house, and he knows I am in school for a CS minor. I know > basic C++(Part 2 of that is in the fall), and I will be taking Java 1 > in the fall also. What is the easiest way for me to make windows > programs that will do basic things like(Inventory, Menu Management, > etc...)? I have heard visual basic is where it's at. I want to keep an > open mind though, so I am wondering if python could be an option. The > programs have > no speed requirement. But they must be pretty, and not confuse my > boss. Plus he wants well documented help for each function. I asked the > windows programming group, but I thought I would ask here also. Thanks. > > Xeys > > -- > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
