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POEffort estimation: using C / Win32 or learning C# / .NET
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copied!<p>I intend to write a small application to scratch a personal itch and probably make the life of some colleagues easier. Here is what I have:</p> <ul> <li>10+ years of experience in C</li> <li>Plenty of experience in programming against the Win16/32 API in C from the Win3.1 to 2000 days.</li> <li>C library written by myself already doing about 75% of what the application shall do.</li> </ul> <p>What the application shall do:</p> <ul> <li>open a binary, feed it into the mentioned library.</li> <li>take the resulting text output and feed it into a new Excel Workbook.</li> <li>apply some formating.</li> <li>integrate nicely with the Windows environment (availability in "Open With...", remember some stuff using the registry etc.)</li> <li>(maybe later) before giving the CSV data to Excel, parse it by looking up the meaning of some values in an XML file.</li> </ul> <p>Except for the XML parsing part I have done all of that stuff before including COM / Office Automation in C/Win32. There is a lot of boilerplate code involved, but it is doable and the result will be a pretty small application without the need for an installer.</p> <p>So why even think about C# / .Net?</p> <ul> <li>no experience with parsing XML</li> <li>the promise of less boilerplate code for the Windows and Excel stuff (yes, I have done C++ with OWL, MFC, ATL etc. but I am not going there anymore - not for free/fun)</li> <li>Since I have also experience with C++, VB(not .Net) and a little Java / Objective-C I suppose learning C# will all be about the .Net libraries and not actually about the language.</li> </ul> <p>My considerations so far:</p> <ul> <li>Learning .NET might be fun and might result in less code / first steps in a more modern environment.</li> <li>Sticking with what I know will lead to a predictable outcome in terms of effort and function (except for the optional XML stuff)</li> <li>VB looked great at the beginning until the projects where about 80% done, then the pain started and the DLL coding in C. I am concerned history could repeat itself if I choose .Net.</li> </ul> <p>My primary objective is the functionality. Effort is a concern. The XML parsing is optional. </p> <p>Please advice.</p> <p><strong>Update:</strong> one thing I forgot to mention explicitly is that I am also worried about easy deployment of the tool to my co-workers. With Win32 I am pretty sure I can come up with an EXE file < 1Mb that can be easily emailed and does not require installation. With .Net not so much. Can I create the necessary MSI or whatever in Visual Studio <em>Express</em> (free) or do I need 3rd party tools?</p>

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