Then I re-recommend QtCreator as a possible solution. Also, you could make yourself a Knoppix CD and run linux from disc. It'd be legit, and Linux has tons of programming tools you could use.

He can't make pong. You expect him to be able to run Linux? Go buy Windows 8. It's cheap. The hardware requirements are low. And really you have no excuse not to. Especially if you actually want to program something.

(Just to be clear, the person you just responded to wasn't the person who recommended the Linux live CD. *I* sent her to use Linux, for better or worse, not the person you quoted)

I recommended QtCreator because I personally find it more user-friendly than Visual Studio.

I suggested Linux (and a Live CD) as an alternative to the pirated copy of Windows, first because the OP already mentioned Linux but had trouble installing it sometime in the past, and second because because I thought maybe the problem with Visual Studio was it detecting that the Windows install was pirated; certain Microsoft software intentionally breaks down if Windows isn't authenticated, but I don't know if Visual Studios is one of those. I agree that a legitimate version of Windows would be preferable - but if that's not an option, Linux is preferable to a cracked Windows copy, IMO.

But the two things (Linux live CD and QtCreator) were partly separate solutions to the same problem. I'm not a Linux user myself, and I've only used Knoppix a few times for file-recovery issues. so the difficulty of using Linux hadn't crossed my mind.

Then I re-recommend QtCreator as a possible solution. Also, you could make yourself a Knoppix CD and run linux from disc. It'd be legit, and Linux has tons of programming tools you could use.

He can't make pong. You expect him to be able to run Linux? Go buy Windows 8. It's cheap. The hardware requirements are low. And really you have no excuse not to. Especially if you actually want to program something.

She can't make pong because she doesn't have a working build environment, not because of her specs lol. Why spend money on something like Windows 8 when Ubuntu is just as good and is basically made for programming? (not going to say better because I don't want to start a flame war about what the best Os is lol). I use windows 8 and it is good(fast booting times,clean metro ui, vibrant wallpapers), but I wouldn't recommend actually buying it unless it came with your pc.

I still don't buy that. She can't make pong because she doesn't have a working build environment. But you send her to use Linux, which is a bit more complicated in use than Windows. Plus, she didn't know that there is such thing as a live CD. I don't use Linux and I know that.

If Ubuntu works for her, great. But when anyone is using a pirated version of XP, didn't know to get a Linux OS in the first place, and has refused to buy an actual OS. I tend to believe that their technical skill is lacking somewhat.

ok.

1. I knew what a live CD is. I'm not a moron. the only reason I never used one was because of the fact that I wasn't sure which one I should use, and I never had a real reason to set one up, because most of the time all I'm doing on this thing is reading textbooks, and coding in other languages which I already have IDE's set up for.

it really didn't matter that much for me until just now.

2. I knew to get a linux OS. again. I'm not a moron. the only reason I never did, was because I was reluctant to partition my hard drive, and as for live systems, refer back to number one. I've tried the wubi setup for ubuntu as well, but my computer sucks at being a computer, as mentioned previously.

3. I just set up linux on a live cd, and it was as easy as it gets. in what universe was this difficult. seriously.

I admit I'm new, but I'm not an idiot.

and thanks for openly insulting me. that was nice too.

I'm sure it wasn't intended as an insult towards you, just an educated estimate at your skill level. To say someone's technical skills is maybe possibly lacking is not an insult, and is not saying you're stupid. Einstein's computer science skills were lacking, because he never learned programming. My golf skills are lacking because I've never played golf (unless miniature golf counts - and even then, I just ran around with the club hitting people, so it scarcely taught me how to play ). My 3D modelling skills are greatly lacking, because I haven't invested time in learning.

My siblings' technical skills are lacking, despite being great artists, writers, and mathematicians. To gauge someone's skill level (knowledge) is not an insult towards their intelligence. It's perfectly reasonable to make an attempt to gauge someone's skill level when suggesting courses of actions for them to take. Especially when the person posted in 'For Beginners', and tagged their thread with 'noob', 'beginner', and 'lost'.

Besides, he was criticizing my suggestion of it. But even so, there's a difference between insults and criticism. I can be criticized without being insulted (I might feel insulted, or get insulted, but that doesn't mean it was an insult). Further, there's a difference between him criticizing an action and him criticizing me as an individual. His criticism of my suggestion was good criticism anyway.

Our community is really friendly and welcoming, but heavily critical with non-insulting constructive criticism that can be a little off-putting if people aren't used to it. It's definitely not something to take personally, as no one means for it to be taken as a personal insult. We don't insult... but we criticize alot of things - and it benefits all of our educations.

So really, all around it's a non-issue, and thankfully your question has been happily resolved before I accidentally derailed the thread.

Best of luck on your programming adventures - if you need future programming help, you know where to post! A different thread for each different problem is the best option.