puffy if you serious about learning C++ then it doesnt' matter which one you start with becuase you should learn from the beginning the actual language itself is a very small selection of operators and data expressions.
everything else language specific are just programmed extentions some of which designed to only compile using certain version's compilers - but the undelying language itself is no different despite the version you choose.
if you take advice from you're tutor at college then mate your a big mug ... because think about it, if there people really knew so much about everything why exactly are they teaching fulltime rather than working in a development company?
they have to do the same stuff over and over, teach the exact same areas over and over, show the same techniques over and over.
If he is a guest lecturer who is only there for a few lessons within the year then i'd take listen to the advice, but someone who is either washed up or has decided to take a less creative route for programming ... i'd have to seriously question his judgements.
I mean most tutors are just morons - and you know thier morons when you actually know alot more than them and they're learning new things from your rather than the otherway around!
Visual C++ is perfect for the beginner because it does so much, but just because it does almost every actually frees you up from all the boring shight of programming. I mean i swear it's bad enoguh when i want to create a windowed instance in C++ that it takes around 25lines to do, ontop of that if i needed to link all my libraries, remember all the function tags and namespaces i've given, the structure names i've given to pointers and such, etc...
it's all well and good doing everything yourself, but at the end of the day its just wasting time doing EVERYTHING - i mean i'd agree that the Classwizzard is a big fat cheat, but to be honest you'd only use that when you're making an MFC based program as it quickly enums everything you need for it, which is VERY long and boring because each function has to be registered.
ever say there and tried to come up with AFX names from the top of your head based on the function name?
i personally don't see how anyone could truely be against Visual C++, i mean having something automatic isn't a bad thing puffy.
For example having Automatic Headlights when it gets dark or Windscreen wipers when it rains for your car - would you be so totally against them?
if you think about it, its the same difference with Visual C++'s features ... they're there to make your life easier, not take over driving the bleeding car
Tsu'va Oni Ni Jyuuko Fiori Sei Tau!
One block follows the suit ... the whole suit of blocks is the path ... what have you found?