The Microsoft Visual C++ version 6.0 Standard Edition (formerly called the Learning Edition) includes a rich variety of professional tools to help you learn C, C++, and many other professional technologies such as MFC, OLE, ODBC, DAO, ActiveX, and COM.
The Standard Edition is packaged with a book and C++ tutorial (on CD-ROM) that helps you learn how to use Visual C++.
The Standard Edition is comprised of features found in the Professional Edition, with the following exceptions:
Static linking allows you to include the MFC library in your program’s compilation, thereby resolving MFC references at link time and not at run time. So, if you write programs that use the MFC library with the Standard Edition, the resulting executable will require that the MFC library code be available as a shared library (DLL). Calls to the MFC library that you place in your code are resolved at run time and not at link time.
Code optimization, implemented with the compiler’s /O compiler options, make your final executable files (EXE) and dynamic-link files (DLL) smaller or faster.
The Visual C++ source code profiler helps you determine which parts of your code could benefit from performance modifications.
The RemoteData control and the DBGrid, DBCombo, and DBList controls are for use with data-access clients and are only found in the Professional and Enterprise editions.
The Custom AppWizard project type allows you to create an AppWizard that you will subsequently use to create projects with customized starter files.
InstallShield is a program packaged with the Professional and Enterprise editions that lets you package your application in a setup program for easy installation.
The Cluster Resource Type Wizard generates two projects for implementing a Microsoft Cluster Server resource type. Writing a custom resource type allows an application to be more closely managed and monitored by MSCS. The two generated projects are a resource DLL project, which produces a DLL which is loaded by an MSCS resource monitor on a cluster node to manage and monitor the application, and a Cluster Administrator extension DLL project, which produces a COM in-proc server DLL for providing a user interface for managing resources of this new type.
See Also
Comparison Chart of Features in Each Edition