Should I use microsoft visual c++

Why is it better than my free compiler and how much does it cost? My compiler works fine. Why bother?

what compiler do u use ?

I use DEV-C++ and I got it at bloodshed.net. It works fine. I just want to know what extra stuff Visual C++ can do and how much it costs.

Well, one thing that I really like about MSVC++ 6.0 that I don’t see available in DEV-C++ is Edit and Continue. Which allows you to make changes to the program as you are debugging it. It is a real handy feature to have. The cost of MSVC++ varies depending on the version and edition. You may be able to pick up the Learning Edition of MSVC++ 6.0 for under $50. I myself got the Professional Edition of MSVC++ 6.0 on student discount for about $100. The professional version also comes with the MSDN Library for Visual Studio 6.0 (not sure if Learning Edition has that) and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (Maybe it comes with Win2K now?), which is also nice to have. The bad thing with the Learning Edition, is it adds a stub to your program to mark it as undistributable.

I’ve never used DEV-C++, but I really like the IDE for VC++. The class view makes code navigation a breeze. Being able to double click a function or class member to jump to that location in the code beats having to search for the function when you’ve got a project made up of multiple files. The class view is a little buggy when you try to do things like creating your own template classes, and it sometimes messes up if you have default function paramaters, but for the most part it works pretty well.

I got my copy at school with the Visual Studio Suite, which was around $250 and includes other things like VB, Visual InterDev, Visual FoxPro, and Visual J++. I use VB and VID for other various development, though so it was worth it for me to get the whole suite rather than individually buying them.