Would you use a .NET framework construct with Pure C++?
I would.
Let me explain…
After diving into the .NET world head-first over the last 4 months with C# in a pure .NET shop I must say my reticence towards embracing the core technology has faded somewhat. Well, ok, a lot. It *is* very productive. And the C# grammar has some very handy features I will allow.
But I still feel a bit dirty not cleaning up after myself (I detest GC at a fundamental level, it perverts a language enforced ctor/dtor element to the acquire/release model intrinsic to OO programming, but that’s a different post….) … but, alas, I love the .NET framework. It’s what MFC never was (or Ritchie forbid, ATL) - or any other monolithic framework designed to help with all the grungy bits of code we all know and hated in a pure Win32 world.
Anyone who has coded perfmon counters, version info blocks and anything network related along with a ton of cobbled together bizarre interfaces (raw com anyone?) that comprises the life of a low level win32 jock must agree immediately, or risk being discarded as disingenuous.
So I’ve brought this up to coworkers - fellow C# jockeys mind you - would you write pure (unsafe, *gasp*) C++ if you had a library as clean and elegant as the .NET framework?
I sure would.
…If for no other reason than sheer romanticism.
