Using Microsoft Visual Studio to code in C
Saturday, October 3, 2009

First step prior to building of Ingres, I need to grab Microsoft Visual Studio. I have been told that Microsoft Visual Studio is a neat tool to build C++, however, I have never heard anything about it for C code. Therefore, the first thing I explore about Visual Studio is that how to get it to work with C code.

Step #0: Know more about Microsoft Visual Studio

Step #1: Get Microsoft Visual Studio
If you are a college/university student, you can get a free copy from msdnaa if your college or university has affiliation with Microsoft. I have obtained a copy under msdnaa at University of Toronto.

Step #2: How to create a new project in C
Create an empty project. You do this by selecting Visual C++ >> General from the left hand tree in the New Project screen and selecting "Empty Project" From the panel on the right. Then once in the project, right click the source files folder from the tree on the left and "Add Item". Now here it will only give you the choice of creating a .cpp file, do it. Once you have the .cpp file created, you can write straight C in there and it will work fine.

Remember that C++ is actually "C" with classes. So you can write C code in a file with a cpp extension and it will execute as C. You could even rename the file later if you like. As long as it is an empty project you won't be including any extra libraries or frameworks that will flag your C as not legit "C++ code".

Step #3: Compiling in C
Ans: Go to Project and Properties, then somewhere in the myriad of options you'll see "Compile as C++" where you can change it to "Compile as C". And while you're at it, change the source file extension to .c instead of .cpp.

Posted byA nerdy girl at 9:45 PM 0 comments  

UCOSP status report #1
Friday, October 2, 2009

A week after the code sprint, the configurations is still going on. This week I have configured Drupal with the remaining modules left over from code sprint, as well as Ingres. Also I have obtained a copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and its .NET components for moving on to building of Ingres. Since I'm new to Visual Studio and the .NET framework, I will be spending next week to get myself familiar with Microsoft Visual Studio and its .NET components. If I have time, then I'll move onto the building of Ingres.

Posted byA nerdy girl at 9:05 AM 0 comments  

Labels: ,

Usability design
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Design is not only for the art students with punky shocking pink hair or a CN tower tatoo on their biceps, but also for computer scientists.
Some thoughts that every programmer should bare in mind when they are designing the user interface.

Posted byA nerdy girl at 6:30 PM 0 comments  

Labels: ,

UCOSP code sprint: day 3, wrap up and thoughts
Sunday, September 27, 2009

Today is the last day of code sprint and everyone is wrapping up and give their thoughts. I agreed with our project head Andrew Ross that communications is really important in collaborations. To the very least, "let the community know what you are doing". On top of that, the community itself is a very useful place to get help from and responses to very specific technical questions. Moreover, this way you also can let the community knows more about you, your interest and ability and put you in the right place to contribute. Afterall, coding should be fun!

Another side note, the most rewarding experience from the code sprint is to "pass it on". It feels so excellent to get them up to speed about their tools and technologies sets needed, such as using version controls, IDE, and how to tackle a problem. I saw myself in the past from my teammates, and wished that only if there had been someone in the past who could have told me all these.

Great experience, great people, great talks, great connections, great food... The only bad point that I can come up with is that at the start of the code sprint, the students should have been "sync-ed" with the tools that they need, regardless if they are familiar with them or not, such that they can spend the time more usefully on things that would be valuable to be done face to face.

Posted byA nerdy girl at 3:50 PM 0 comments  

Labels: ,

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)