Win32 and Visual C++ Express Edition

I’ve been working with the Win32 api for a very long time, even for my client’s apps i tend to use Win32, i don’t like MFC, i have made several applications with MFC and Windows Forms, but i still keep working with Win32 whenever i have a chance. In fact i usually work with STL instead of any other c++ library, why? well for a start, it is easier to port the code to another operating system, and second, i don’t like to bloat the app just because i don’t want to leave the comfort of the new “modern” APIs.

Yeah, i know that’s not the best API, or the coolest one, or anything fancy at all, but i like the speed and the small size i get with applications made using just Win32.

A few days ago i decided to try Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition, and i realized that it only supports Win32 applications, and to my surprise, no resource editor, so how new programmers who are interested in learning to program C++ applications will do without the resource editor? is this version of Visual Studio for students and beginners? or for hard core programmers who can really understand the Win32 API inner workings as they have spent several years learning every function, message, parameter and structure supported by this api?

I’ve tried Visual C# 2008 Express, and of course this one does have the resource editor, you can add controls, forms, format and set properties all using visual controls, i guess Microsoft doesn’t want people to actually keep using C++ and instead they want them to go to C#.

Otherwise, i don’t see a reason to remove the resource editor from Visual C++.

Anyway, i have decided to keep the Express edition installed and implement some free apps using this compiler just because well, it is free, it seems fast enough, and i don’t care about the resource editor or any other stuff like that, i like to program like in the old days, if anything just to complicate my life and spend two hours building a user interface that i could get done in 10 minutes using the professional edition, or Visual C# Express.

Life goes on..