Boss wants me to program

[James]

xeys_00 at yahoo.com 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

Since you already know a bit of C++, you can try C++ Builder 6 from
Borland. It's old but you may even get the Personal Edition for free if
you download the Nokia toolkit. Personal edition doesn't have database
components included however. C++ is not an easy language beyond class
room use but C++ Builder is about as easy as it can be made. You don't
need to truly understand C++ and OOP to get by with some simple Windows
apps in C++ Builder. And most of what you learn about VCL (GUI library
in C++ Builder) will more or less translate to other toolkits. Stay off
VC++. You need some expertise to use it. C++.NET may be OK for you too.
C# will also be natural to someone with C++ know how.

 Visual Studio.NET(C# and C++.NET in your case) and Delphi are other
good options. SharpDevelop (.NET) is free and should be very easy to
understand for beginners. You can also look at the (free trial) beta
release of Visual Studio 2005 if you want something a little more
sophisticated but SharpDevelop is probably better to start with (not
too many features to overwhelm). Boo is a Python like language that
works with .NET and is well integrated with SharpDevelop.

Java GUI toolkits (Swing and SWT) use sophisticated OOP designs and are
very complex. Not easy for beginners to wrap their minds around. Non
professionals should stay off them. Your Java 1 will not prepare you
enough for them.

While Python is a wonderful language, GUI Builders (Boa, PythonCard,
Glade etc) available for it are nowhere close in maturity compared to
the ones I mentioned above. So stay off Python for GUIs for now. You
can come back once you have understood programming better.

As for Visual Basic, version 6 is very easy to learn and use for basic
applications but is no longer sold (other than used copies at eBay).
The new VB.NET is a bit more sophisticated. You will be better off with
C# rather than VB.NET (both are essentially the same) here since it
will be a more familiar syntax for you.

The best advice I can give is to pick a language/IDE with which you can
get some live help (friend/neighbor/colleage) who can hold your hands
for a while.