In this article I will focus on the basic features of the language, future articles will cover more advanced topics such as inheritance, interfaces and attributes. After reading this series of articles you will have a basis for determining if C# is for you.

Welcome to the first installment in a series of articles exploring GUI programming with the Qt C++ toolkit.

Recently, I've been thinking hard about what makes code maintainable, and how to write code to be maintainable. This interest has partly been driven by the mentoring of those starting out in C++ that I've been doing, both through the ACCU mentored developers program, and for work.

The principles I've identified have not really been hidden; since they've been widely documented for years, and they're actually things that most good developers do as a matter of course. However, as with many things, you don't necessarily realize their benefits until you rediscover them yourself.

Please note that participation in this competition is open to all members. The title reflects the fact that the code used is normally provided by a student as part of their course work.

This item is part of the Dialogue section of C Vu, which is intended to designate it as an item where reader interaction is particularly important. Readers' comments and criticisms of published entries are always welcome.