C++ Team Blog

Profiling template metaprograms with C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxMay 28, 2020May 28, 202005/28/20

The use of templates in C++ programs can sometimes lead to longer builds. C++ Build Insights puts tools at your disposal for analyzing template usage patterns and their associated impact on build time. In this article, we show you how to use the vcperf analysis tool and the C++ Build Insights SDK to understand and fix problematic template patt

Join us this week at Microsoft Build digital event

Marian Luparu [MSFT]May 18, 2020May 18, 202005/18/20

We are looking forward to this week's main event, Microsoft Build 2020. Build 2020 starts tomorrow Tuesday, May 19 and will run for 48 continuous hours as a digital-only event that is open to anyway around the world, at no cost. This is the first major tech conference to go full-digital with an experience designed from the ground-up for a virt

Visual Studio Code C++ extension: May 2020 update

Julia ReidMay 14, 2020May 14, 202005/14/20

The May 2020 update of the Visual Studio Code C++ extension is now available. This latest release offers brand new features—ARM and ARM64 IntelliSense modes and C++ language-specific code folding—along with a bunch of enhancements and bug fixes. To find out more about all the changes, check out our release notes on GitHub. ARM and ARM64 I

Faster builds with PCH suggestions from C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxMay 8, 2020May 8, 202005/8/20

The creation of a precompiled header (PCH) is a proven strategy for improving build times. A PCH eliminates the need to repeatedly parse a frequently included header by processing it only once at the beginning of a build. The selection of headers to precompile has traditionally been viewed as a guessing game, but not anymore! In this article,

Pure Virtual C++ Conference 2020 Videos and Survey Available

Sy BrandMay 6, 2020May 6, 202005/6/20

The videos of all Pure Virtual C++ 2020 sessions are now available on YouTube. If you attended the conference, we'd love to hear your feedback. Please fill in our survey so we know what to improve if we run another similar event in the future!

Vcpkg 2020.04 Update and Product Roadmap

Augustin PopaMay 1, 2020May 1, 202005/1/20

This is the April 2020 blog post on vcpkg, the cross-platform, open source C/C++ library manager. In this post, we will share some information on the 2020.04 release of vcpkg and discuss the vcpkg product roadmap, which we are publishing and will keep up to date over time. To try out vcpkg for yourself and save yourself some time acquiring you

Finding build bottlenecks with C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxApril 22, 2020Apr 22, 202004/22/20

C++ Build Insights offers more than one way to investigate your C++ build times. In this article, we discuss two methods that you can use to identify bottlenecks in your builds: manually by using the vcperf analysis tool, or programmatically with the C++ Build Insights SDK. We present a case study that shows how to use these tools to speed up

Sign Up For Pure Virtual C++ Conference 2020

Sy BrandApril 16, 2020Apr 16, 202004/16/20

Pure Virtual C++ 2020 is a free single-track one-day virtual conference for the whole C++ community. It is taking place on Thursday 30th April 2020 from 14:30 to 23:00 UTC. Sign up on the event website. All talks will be pre-recorded and streamed on YouTube Live with a live Q&A session with the speakers. After the event, the talks will

GSL 3.0.0 Release

Jordan MaplesApril 16, 2020Apr 16, 202004/16/20

GSL 3.0.0 Release Version 3.0.0 of Microsoft's implementation of the C++ Core Guidelines Support Library (GSL) is now available for you to download on the releases page. Microsoft’s implementation of gsl::span has played a pivotal role in the standardization of span for C++20. However, the standard does not provide any runtime checking guar

MSVC Backend Updates in Visual Studio 2019 Version 16.5

Mei XuApril 8, 2020Apr 8, 202004/8/20

In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 we have continued to improve the C++ backend with new features, new and improved optimizations, build throughput improvements, and better security. Here is a brief list of improvements for you to review. Do you want to experience the new improvements of the C++ bac