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Well before this post slips off the page let me make what comment I can.
Microsoft has bade a BIG push to deperciate the non-.Net versions of its compilers. One can only assume that this is due to the future directions of its operating systems. I think this also works to marginalize competition.
I am not ussualy a Mircosoft basher, as they have always given me toys to program (I am a big fan of VBA in all its forms). Yes I was mad when Windows XP did not come with a new version QBasic... VBS is NO replacement, but I understood the difficulty in the whole GUI environment.
However, I am NOT happy about the .NET push. It is getting harder and harder to find information on strait C/C++ and even harder on VB6. The platform SDK that I have loved so much in the past is almost completely .Net-centeric making it harder and harder to find the information needed to work on the XP platform.
Microsoft used to be pretty good about letting you get to the old SDK's, now adays it is easier to get information on programming BASICA and QBASIC than it is to get information on the API for VB6/C/C++. (maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but it dosen't feel like one).
One of the things I have learned over the years though, is that you can't really let it get to you. The overall momentum is too great and we all have to roll with the tide.
In my own mind though, I worry. Has anyone went looking for a good assembly language book recently? They don't really make new ones. The HLA-based "Art of Assembly" seems to be the only modern book out there. I know, "who needs assembly?" I have been looking for a new C/C++ referance (I still use "Mastering Borland C++ 3.1" by Tom Swan) and have had very little luck.
However, it is important in the computer field to maintain knowledge of all the new trends and fads, lest you find yourself an out-of-work cobol/ada programmer.
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