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Nektar's List of Problems with the SDKs

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Last Tuesday I received a very interesting response to a post I made. A user calling himself "Nektar" posted a laundry list of issues he and others have with our SDKs, and, by extension, learing about and using Microsoft applications. It was an interesting post, and I thank "Nektar" very much for posting it. I hope s/he will check back in this blog as I try to answer some of the points that he made. "Nektar", please let me know if I misinterpret anything that you posted. I'm going to grab comments, color them gray, and then answer them in black.

Some students hate Visual Basic. Why? We cannot find any useful documentation for it on MSDN. Students do not want to spend 2 weeks reading all the reference (marketing) material or ado, adox, ado.net, etc, etc, in order to finish their assignment which asks them to write a simple program which connects to a database.

I recommend you start at the Visual Basic Developer Center. From the main page, there is a link to Getting Started and to a very high-level New to VB section. The Developer Centers are intended specifically to help users learn how to use applications like VB and provide a portal to finding the information they need. There's also a portal to a community page for that technology, including links to blogs, newsgroups and free webcasts.

ask any student which SDKs they know about. Many will happily talk about the Java SDK. They know where to find it and how to download it. Windows SDK anyone? Noone. Since, it is toooooo large (700 mb my God!) and too technical. Who will spend hours downloading it, (if he/she finds it on the MS website first)? Who will read all that matterial for writing apps in C++? Who cares about the hard C++? If we do care and some do, learning Windows programming is not easy in C++. Where are the beginners' chapters in the SDK? The code samples? The ready made applications to try out? The step-by-step instructions. Oh I cannot be bathered, they will say.

In the Visual Studio 2005 Library, there is parity between every language. In the WinFX Library and Windows SDK Library, every possible page gives code samples in every available language, often including "XAML". For beginning chapters, as I mentioned, try the Developer Centers and for code samples, browse the documentation.

2. Professionals: Yes, the C++ compiler might be free and the MSDN online is free but ... why should I search online. Your search is horrible.

Search is by far the number one complaint we have about the site. In our defense, I think it is getting better.

Professionals: Ok. And how can I find the solution to my problem, like I want to learn this new technology that Microsoft has been talking about or perhaps I might want to write an Office app using the new .NET assemblies.
ans: You should read the MSDN.
Professionals: Yes, but it writes and writes and writes matterial and I seem never to find what I want. I just want to write a simple Outlook add-in.

I suggest, again, that you try DevCenters first, as a portal to information. Search might bring good results. Or find a good blog through the DevCenters and ask someone who can help. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of what's new on MSDN or in the blogs.

Nothing is simple for Microsoft. We should write and write and write all these things because, who knows, what information all those developers out there will need to create their feature-rich apps. We want MSDn to be as rich in content as possible.

I'm not sure if this is a complaint or not. We do in fact want all our SDKs to be as rich in content as possible. Overall, online there are approximately a million pages of content between the main MSDN Library, the Visual Studio Library, the WinFX Library and the Windows SDK. I understand those numbers can be overwhelming and I know there needs to be work done to connect users to the information they need more easily, but we take a lot of pride in the amount of documentation that's available for our users.

Professionals: Ok. Ok. I know that but where are some tutorials that get you started with a new technology? Why should I read a thousand pages to learn about COM or OpenGL?
ans: Well, if you don't enjoy reading then you should not have become a professional. Now, stop talking and start reading! First come the introduction, then the legal info (be careful to read and understand all that), then the requirements, then the benefits of using that technology, then the advantages over other similar technologies, then What Is New,
Professionals: But I no nothing about that specific technology I don't want the What Is New.
ans: Who cares ... listen, then comes the overview (the only thing is that the overview is even longer than the rest of the matterial, anyway), then comes the programmer's guide and if you are not tired please read the reference section as well since that will clarify everything.
Professionals: Yes, but all I wanted to write was a simple add-in, a simple Office solution app just for compliteness to my desktop app. Can't you simply show me an example.
Ans: Oh, yes I forgot you can find the samples at the end, the only thing is that in order to understand them you will need to follow the sample chapters in order. They are not a lot around 50 I guess.

I'm curious - why are the samples at, for instance, this location or this one too difficult to understand?

Again, I really appreciate the posting and I apologize if I misunderstand you. Can you expand on the points you made so I can understand you more fully?

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  • Anonymous
    October 03, 2005
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