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Hi All,I am planning to buying C++ software to learn it at home. Is Visual C++ Express a good option for that? If anyone had any experiences with Visual C++ Express, please share them. Or Visual Studio? I read a few negative reviews about Visual Studio - Standard edition on Amazon.com.Another option I came across is Borland C++. I am not sure about the difference between MS and Borland versions.I also came across Visual C# Express. As a budding quant analyst, should I focus on Visual C++ or Visual C#? I do not know the extent to which C# and C++ are similar/dissimilar.Any advise will be really helpful in making a wise decision in terms of investment and career path.Thanks

Go with VC++ Express, it's free, got a good help system and debugger.You can use it with both Boost and STL, and with Express you don't get MFC which is actually good because they are a crock.C# is easier to learn, but the market for C++ in quant work is much stronger.

why do you want to buy one.. you can download really good C++ IDEs absolutely free I would recommend DEV-C++ from bloodshed As far as similarity of C# and C++ they are quite different.. C# is basically simplified C++, very similar to Java. It is much easier to use since you do not have to deal with object life time, in .NET Garbage Collector does all the dirty work for you.It is much easier to switch from C++ to C# then other way around

Visual studio is what I see all my colleagues use - and each compiler has its set of quirks (oh yes), so there's something to be said in using the environment you're likely to use at work. Also, as a GUI it's not great, but if you add Whole Tomato Visual Assist X, it's actually great. That's the config I use at work, and that's what would I use at home should I work at home briefly someday. This is not meant to say that VS got a better compiler (each has its weirdnesses), but with Visual Assist X it's actually almost enjoyable to work in.

The fun way to learn, in my opinion, is by chopping code samples/examples. If your fun examples are Visual Studio projects, then you will want to be able to load them up and run them. There is a lot of financial stuff written for some Java development kit that I couldn't tell you, and also a lot for Visual Studio. So get a recipe book with its examples in C++, or get some off the 'Net, and then get whatever compiler you need to play with them.

Mind you, I was speaking figuratively. You may have to compete against people who thinking learning C++ is fun, but I am not one of them. I guess if you have ever tried to learn Java, then learning C++ might seem fun...