Help with assignment

[pawpro]

Hello everybody.
I'm looking for hands-on help (private lessons) with my assignment. It will roughly take 2 hours and I will reimburse the patient one who will choose to help (possibly up front). I've been programming in php for over 4 years (commercially also did perl and other similar languages) so the concepts of OO and programming in general aren't new to me. On the other hand C++ (apart from syntax) is.
The application in mind will have to have couple of lists, input fields, buttons and settings file. It will download some content of the internet and allow for displaying it. It must be done in VS 2008 and must include at least one open-source library (for which I already have an Idea).
I have quite a good idea of how it would work and what needs to be done but am struggling to do anything in this new environment to me.

Thank you for reading. You are welcome to reply by email.

[pawpro]

After few hours I got no reply. Let me explain what is most difficult to me.
I totally get the c syntax, header files and other basic concepts. I can get threads working off google. I managed to get XML settings file working with a brilliant XML library (by Chourdakis Michael). But it's all going too slow and I am nowhere near doing MFC like interface using win32.
There is just no way that after 6 tutorials I will suddenly know how to handle whole concept of either MFC or i.e. win32 mode in VS (and c++). Win32 seems more logical to me with the messages queue etc. MFC on the other hand where I got all the interface is full of strange syntax which i suppose is specific for Visual C++ or VS itself.

[Skizmo]

After few hours I got no reply.

You can wait until forever, but you will never get a reply. We help people to answer their specific questions... nothing else. So ask a question, or buy a book.

[pawpro]

I have plenty of specific questions. Let's start with:

Provided one needs to write the simple application* in plain c++ (OO) with graphical interface (windows specific syntax/libraries and not plain c++) and use of threads. Which model will be most suitable (Win32/MFC etc.)? Why?
*Say simple RSS reader/archiver with background sync based on some timers and way of viewing past content+searching by date.

Mind that I am required to use VS 2008 (and I dont terribly mind since it's quite neat and free for MSDN Academic Alliance members).

More questions would follow depending on the answer to the above. This could actually turn into quite useful tutorial for either branch of VS C++ programming. I will bet 20 students from my course would kill for answers to those questions (I did spend few hours researching but answers where either cryptic, non-specific, 2 decades old (not necessarily invalid but it's a sort of disturbing thought), very specific and not helping in deriving analogy to other problems.

Thank you for your time

[hoxsiew]

If you have the MFC9 feature pack for VS2008, download the samples:

Descriptions:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb983962.aspx

Direct Download link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

There's a lot of neat stuff MS has put together to show off the MFC9 features. This will give you some ideas on what is possible with MFC9 and may be able to push you in the right direction.

[pawpro]

Will such an application compile on any VS 2008? I need to bring the source to school and they will try to compile. Failed compilation equals 0 mark for the project.

[pawpro]

You see Skizmo and Hoxiew if I could chat to somebody on skype or otherwise and pay him say 40 euros (for 2 hours) I would have the above within 30 seconds and not 24 hours. I'm pretty much nowhere still (although I appreciate your suggestions). I don't understand why would you be so reluctant in wanting to answer those questions one to one in an interactive way.

[Skizmo]

Originally Posted by pawpro

Will such an application compile on any VS 2008? I need to bring the source to school and they will try to compile. Failed compilation equals 0 mark for the project.

Maybe your teacher can give the boundaries of what you can and can't use, so you know what you can choose.

[pawpro]

I know that it needs to compile on VS 2008. My work must mostly comprise of plain C++ (that's what the course is about). That's it. He told me that he doesn't care what wizard I'm going to use but it must be VS 2008, compile in it without adjustments and do useful stuff (as described above).

[Skizmo]

Originally Posted by pawpro

I know that it needs to compile on VS 2008. My work must mostly comprise of plain C++ (that's what the course is about). That's it. He told me that he doesn't care what wizard I'm going to use but it must be VS 2008, compile in it without adjustments and do useful stuff (as described above).

Then my advice would be to use MFC without any addon packs. You won't get the super fancy look, but the standard fancy look (which also looks fine), and you are sure that it compiles and does what you want.

[hoxsiew]

Originally Posted by pawpro

You see Skizmo and Hoxiew if I could chat to somebody on skype or otherwise and pay him say 40 euros (for 2 hours) I would have the above within 30 seconds and not 24 hours. I'm pretty much nowhere still (although I appreciate your suggestions). I don't understand why would you be so reluctant in wanting to answer those questions one to one in an interactive way.

Basically, I get about 2 or 3 minutes out of every few hours that I can browse this forum and reply to posts. I post to help people learn, not to make any monetary gains, so your offer is somewhat insulting.

[Martin O]

Originally Posted by pawpro

You see Skizmo and Hoxiew if I could chat to somebody on skype or otherwise and pay him say 40 euros (for 2 hours) I would have the above within 30 seconds and not 24 hours. I'm pretty much nowhere still (although I appreciate your suggestions). I don't understand why would you be so reluctant in wanting to answer those questions one to one in an interactive way.

One reason people would be so reluctant is because it would not in fact reduce your time to '30 seconds'. People new to programming think its just about getting the correct 'codes' to type in & then they will be on their way. Instead what would happen is, you'd get your 30 second hand-holding session (type this this & this), then you'd be back with 'ok now this doesn't work', 10 minutes later, 'ok now I get this error', 10 minutes...'ok now how do I do this'.

You have to actually learn the stuff.

[pawpro]

Being on this forum for a long time you know how people are and I don't blame you for expecting laziness and "bugging" for "one" more answer.
Hoxsiew you are being unfair because I clearly explained my intentions in an email sent to you yesterday NOT asking for your help in this (but for referring me to someone who would be willing as I recognise that you have more important things to do than babysit).
In fact I would not expect any self-respecting programmer to want to get involved in such a lame venture. I was looking for anybody even just enthusiasts who could save me time and point into the "right" directions in specific VS 2008 related issues.
I have a good grasp of programming in general but know NO libraries/classes or functionalities in VS C++ environment.
I'm not writing a power plant management application but silly assignment in a language I don't know and have absolutely no time at the moment to learn. In fact I choose c++ module because all my other modules are happening on Friday so that I wouldn't have to leave the office for more than one day.
Anyway this turned into more of ideological thread (quite unnecessarily). I suppose it's time to cut it off.
Thanks you all for your time.

[Arjay]

I didn't respond to your email for the same reasons as the others.

Folks get into a programming class and for whatever reasons, find that it is harder than they expect so we (forum members) are constantly getting asked about helping either for free or pay.

Bottom line is that you aren't going to be able to learn a language in 2 hours no matter if you are paying someone.

If you are interested in learning then you are going to have to invest the time. A good place to invest the time is learning how to search in google effectively and the same for Msdn. Most questions can be found here without needing to post forum questions.

The better you are at searching (getting experience with the correct key words, etc.), the faster you are going to get your answer - and faster than trying to post a question to a forum.

Posting to a forum should really be a last resort. At first, searching Msdn or google isn't going to be too productive, but it gets easier and soon you'll be able to find answers relatively quickly.

On the other hand, if you aren't interested in learning programming but just have to get that programming project done because it's due soon, then try a site like rent a coder . com. As far as the responses given here, don't get too mad at us. We're here to help those that want to learn programming and are giving it an honest try.

[pawpro]

Than you Arjay that is probably the best thing I can do (rent a coder that is I'm afraid).
I did not mean to offend anybody and I do know that my reasoning may "appear" flawed.
Thank you once again everybody and keep up the good work!