I am a new student of Visual Studio and C++ languages. But, I have read enought to answer some of your questions.

The word "Visual" in Microsoft Visual Studio stands for the fact that you can use the visual styled graphical user interface to drag and drop items into your new program. Such items can be buttons, images, menus, search bars. After you graphically select the features you want to add, then the Visual software will generate the corresponding written code and will show you a visual "form" which is what your program will look like when it is done.

So, to make a simple console application you don't need Visual products. But, to make complex Windows graphical user interface programs you may need the Visual products to save hours of time and energy writing user interface code. :o

Visual Studio is the complete package which includes all the popular languages such as Basic, C#, C++, and others. Visual Studio software requires you to have Microsft NET Framework software installed in order to function properly.

You can create software with Visual Studio or any of it's languages to make software that runs on computers similar to what you would purchase...BUT...it would take you a year or more of learning to make even a simple functional software like a game or word processor.

Also, Visual Studio can be used to make simple console applications and or NET based applications. But, if you make a NET based application then the computer that you are going to run the software onto must also have the Microsoft NET software installed to function***.

Many popular software titles that you purchase are made by teams of people...not one person alone (unless he is an extreme genius). :cheesy:

Also, be aware that in the recent past Visual C++ with Microsoft Foundation Class MFC was the preferred way to make graphical Windows programs. But, MFC has been replaced by .NET environment. The NET environment is a newer and vastly more complete set of classes and assemblies (groups of classes and namespaces). Also, be aware that Visual C++ has undergone changes to some of the language in the NET version in the past two years. Although C++ NET is touted as the most powerful language it is the most difficult to learn (partly due to the continuous evolution from C ...to... C++ ...to... C++ with MFC ...to... C++ NET ...to... C++ NET for 2005. :cry:

Yes you could write your own installer, but you don't have to. You can buy ($$$) InstallShield which is probably the most popular installer. I think Microsoft also has an installer that can be used (not sure about that though). I wouldn't be supprised if there are shareware installers too.

Visual Studio .NET produces two types or programs -- managed and unmanaged.

Unmanaged programs are just like any other c++ program that compiles to *.exe program.

Managed programs can be written with all its language parts in the same program -- write parts of it with VB, C# and/or C++. You can mix and match as you please because they are all compiled down to some sort of code that must be interpreted later with the .NET framework that must be already installed on the computer. The compiler does not link the program into *.exe file.

If you want to know why the word Visual is associated with so many software titles it is because you have Visual Studio which is the whole suite of four languages: C++, C#, Basic, and J#. But, you can also buy software and books which encompass only each one of those individual languages: ie Visual C++, Visual Basic etc. .

The NET part of the Visual Studio .NET stands for the ability to use the framework of assemblies, namespaces and classes which are set up for you to use. When you use the NET framework it is called managed code as noted by the previous poster. Manged code has the memory allocation manged for you.

I believe the word NET refers to the fact that these classes and namespaces were designed to make it easy to write programs that can integrate into internet networks. You are given prewritten classes using such features as network sockets, XML services, database services, and such. :eek:

It also is important to note that NET classes are designed to be able to handle cross-language programming. This is due to the fact that NET programs are compiled into an intermediate language IL. Then the final compilation is done at run-time. So, a Basic class can actually inherit from a C++ class (although I've certainly never tried it myself .

You can download a free trial of some of the Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 software. You can also buy some used Visual Studio 6 on ebay. They also have Visual Studio Express for free. But, the Express does not support MFC code.

My experience has been initial mass confusion when installing and learning Visual C++ NET for the first time. But, when you examine all the available classes and namespaces using the Object Browser feature then you see that the NET framework contains a huge amount of well organised classes to start with compared to any previous versions of C++.

One source of confusion is that when you read sample code from c++ books it may not work within the Visual Studio environment until you make subtle changes to the code or to the Visual environment's options. For example: old header files may not work, 2003 syntax (__gc) may not work, precompiled header files may have to be changed, etc, etc. . Most of the code can function within the new environment if you learn how to change the Visual Studio environment options or if you alter and update the code a bit. But, most code will fail to work properly if you just type or paste it into the environment without any changes. This can drive you insane when you are just learning. :evil:

The easiest way to avoid these problems is to use a book that exactly matches the software. For example you would have to use Visual Studio NET 2005 book with Visual Studio NET 2005 IDE environment. If you try to use the 2003 book with the 2005 environment then you would have to change the compiler options to use the old syntax. That is easy for an old pro....but another monstrous obstacle for a beginner.