Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 6.0 for OpenGL programming?

Hi everyone!

Four years ago there has been a discussion in this forum about if Visual Studio .NET was better than Visual Studio 6.0.
The discussion was kind of even; however with many people implying that they were still using C++ 6.0 and not planning to move to C++ .NET -ever-.
C++ 6.0 Vs .NET Discussion 2002 (4 years ago)

Now Visual Studio 2005 has been released, and even though that Microsoft has dropped the .NET keyword, it is also based in the .NET framework (as I know of).

I am still using Visual Studio 6.0 and I feel the same as many people in 2002, I feel a lot of rejection to the .NET framework. However now more than 8 years have passed since the original release of Visual Studio 6.0 (1998), and I fear it may become obsolete with time.

What is the situation today?

Just concerning programming OpenGL software, forget about -any- other type of applications, what do you experts consider is the best solution for programming proffesional OpenGL based software for optimal performance?

What do you guys use now, and have your preferences changed?

Visual Studio 6.0 or Visual Studio 2003?

Cheers!
Thanks so much in advance for your answers!
Rod :slight_smile:

I use both (2005 at work and vc6 at home) and I have to say 2005 is superior in almost every way.

In 2005 they fixed their IDE to be more “vc6 like” and it also has a lot of compiler improvements. (security and compiler optimizations are far better plus you have 64 bit support)

The only reason I still use vc6 at home is that it does everythng I need it to do so I have no reason to shell out cash for 2005 (I do have the free express edition installed for some things, but the lack of decent source control is a killer feature I need - also vc6 is very snappy on modern machines - running macros is about 1000x faster than 2005)

Also note that just because you can use the .Net framework in vs2005 does not mean you HAVE to. You can happily produce native unmanaged apps. (with the express editions this requires a bit of setup however)

Ditto. I’d rather have my gums scraped than give up VS05 :slight_smile:

In all fairness to other products, I haven’t really used anything else for some time. I dabbled with Borland 6.0, I think it was, and Watcom 10, but never really looked back after VC5.

As it was already pointed out by sqrt[-1], it’s a common misconception that Visual Studio .NET versions forces you to program in .NET.

Sincerely, I cannot understand how someone can still use Visual C 6.0 (for C++ programming that is). Even VS2003 was already much more superior. So a VS 6.0 vs VS 2005 is a no brainer.

There are a lot of improvements over VS 6.0, but the two points that really matter for me are the C++ compiler and the visual debugger.

I don’t want to be rude, but I think anyone claiming to be a C++ programmer and still using VS 6.0 is either a big liar or living in his own little world. VS 6.0 C++ compiler is totally outdated when it comes to C++ standard compliance. In fact, it is not a C++ compiler in the strict sense. Rather, it’s a compiler based on a draft version of C++ closer to a “C with classes”.

I will not even talk about the quality of the C++ Standard Library that shipped with VS 6.0… :rolleyes:

So, I cannot use VS 6.0 for OpenGL projects, 'cause they would not compile. This reason alone should be enough to stay away from VS 6.0 IMHO.

Thanks guys!!! :slight_smile:
…moving to Visual Studio 2005.
I kind of feel like moving from Window 3.1 to Windows XP with your comments! haha…

Cheers!
Rod

I’ve just installed Visual Studio 2005.
I’ve compilled a Win32 application without .NET.

The OpenGl application has terrain heightmap rendering, animated textures, and uses vertex and fragment shaders to simulate water.

Compiled with Visual C++ 6.0 it runs at 50 ms per frame (20 FPS).
Compiled with Visual C++ 2005 it runs at 1000ms per frame (1 FPS)

Oh! Great! Visual C++ 2005 build runs 20 times SLOWER that the C++ 6.0 version!!!
Visual C++ 2005 SUCKS!!! Microsoft really did a great job with these new versions.

Could you guys tell me if there are any compiler optimizations that I am missing? :rolleyes: . Cause I am losing it. :mad:

Thanks in advance,
Rod

Firstly calm down, things are probably not that bad.

Here is a check list:

  1. Ensure you are running a release version of the compile.(if running release - ensure you are doing timing outside the IDE - just run the exe directly - the IDE can be a hog if you launch your app from it)
  2. If you are running release, go into the options and turn on all optimizations then turn off all security checks (buffer overflows etc)
  3. If you use heavy STL code, by default it is set to “secure mode”. There is a #define you can make to turn off all these checks.
  4. I think VS2005 only uses the multi-thread safe C-libs which some people have reported as being slower. I think there is a way to switch to the non-multi-thread version however.

Also try googling for this. I seem to recall a few people complaining about vs2005 making their project slower until they learnt the new methods.

Oh yes!!!
I am so happy!
Now it runs at real 1 FPS… not like before. Now the compiled app even catches keyboard events so that I can turn off my program using ESC in less than five minutes.

Guys… please tell me that I am not alone with is? :rolleyes:

I am about to switch to old but good C++ 6.0 or to Borland. I feel like trashing this VS2005…

Rod
P.S: Thanks sqrt for your help anyways. :slight_smile:

Rubex, are you slow or just plain stupid?

Regards,
Leghorn

It looks as if you were using software rendering … Are you sure you get correct GL_RENDERER and GL_VERSION ?

Originally posted by Leghorn:
[b] Rubex, are you slow or just plain stupid?

Regards,
Leghorn [/b]
His nick is Rodrix btw. =)

Rodrix> I had such issue like this before, as ZBuffer said, seems running in software rendering. I updated my drivers and what sqrt[-1] suggested…never found the bug so I just reinstalled my OS. I still use Visual Studio 2005 (but I moved from Beta 1 and later, Beta 2 to Express release) it’s a good IDE/compiler, really improving your coding capabilites (not skills), and this is not a joke: we have VC6 at school, it is horrible :mad:

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