C++ Team Blog
The latest in C++, Visual Studio, VS Code, and vcpkg from the MSFT C++ team
Latest posts
Address Sanitizer Updates for Visual Studio 2022 Version 17.14
Introduction It has been an exciting few months for the Address Sanitizer (ASan) since our last update. In addition to our continuous focus on quality and correctness, our internal “dogfooding” (i.e. internal adoption) effort has reached several important milestones. In this update, I want to go over some of the quality improvements since Visual Studio 2022 version 17.13, and to give a peek into how ASan is now protecting our C++ toolset against memory safety errors during development. Some improvements in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14 This release also contains several other impr...
What’s New for C++ Developers in Visual Studio 2022 17.14
Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14 is now generally available! This post summarizes the new features you can find in this release for C++. You can download Visual Studio 2022 from the Visual Studio downloads page or upgrade your existing installation by following the Update Visual Studio Learn page. Standard Library and Compiler We’ve made a myriad of fixes and improvements to the MSVC compiler and standard library. See C++ Language Updates in MSVC in Visual Studio 2022 17.14 for a full list of changes on the compiler side, and the STL Changelog for all the standard library updates. Compiler We’ve added support...
Introducing the /forceInterlockedFunctions switch for ARM64
In Visual Studio 2022 17.14, we are introducing the switch, which generates and links with out-of-line atomics that select Armv8.1+ Large System Extension (LSE) atomic instructions based on CPU support. This switch is on by default for Armv8.0 and off for Armv8.1+. Outlining is necessary in Armv8.0 because this version's interlocked intrinsics use exclusive instructions—/—that do not guarantee forward progress. This can cause performance issues due to intermittent livelocks. See Arm Architecture Reference Manual for A-profile architecture, section "B2.17.5 Load-Exclusive and Store-Exclusive instruction usage ...
C++ Language Updates in MSVC in Visual Studio 2022 17.14
Introduction In this update, we continue the tradition of bucketing bugs into helpful categories for you all to filter through along with even more notes from the compiler team as to what, exactly, was fixed. This blog is also complemented by the recent Pure Virtual C++ pre-conference talk by RanDair Porter; so please check out RanDair's talk, "MSVC C++23 Conformance", if you have not already to get a better view of MSVC's conformance status for Visual Studio 2022 overall. 17.13 notes for reference. C++23 Features Note: C++23 features can be used by either adding or to the command line. In addition, feat...
What’s New in vcpkg (April 2025)
This blog post summarizes changes to the vcpkg package manager as part of the 2025.04.09 registry release, 2025-03-22, 2025-04-01, and 2025-04-07 tool releases, as well as changes to vcpkg documentation throughout April. This release contains bug fixes, a new documentation article on offline usage of vcpkg, and other minor improvements. Arm64 Linux users of vcpkg also no longer have to build the vcpkg tool from source when they install vcpkg. Some stats for this period: vcpkg changelog (2025.04.09 release) The following notable changes were made in April: ...
There’s a Linux File Explorer built into Visual Studio!?!
The Remote File Explorer in Visual Studio provides developers with a convenient way to browse, view, and edit files on remote machines—directly from within the IDE. It's a powerful tool for managing remote environments without leaving your development workflow. Scott Hanselman published a new YouTube video to his channel, taking us on the journey of discovering and using the Remote File Explorer to interact with his personal PiDP-11 through shell scripts stored on the minicomputer. Check out Scott’s video and his thoughts about using the Remote File Explorer below: Using the Remote File Explorer and re...
VS Code C++ Extension 1.25 Release: Explain C++ symbols using Copilot & Customize recursive include paths
The 1.25 release of the C++ extension in Visual Studio Code introduces a new way to understand your code faster with GitHub Copilot-powered symbol summaries, as well as new customization options for recursive #include path processing. With these enhancements, you gain AI-powered insights into unfamiliar or undocumented code and can optimize IntelliSense performance based on your preferences. Experience these new features for yourself by updating to version 1.25. Copilot Hover Want to understand your unfamiliar codebases like undocumented library code quicker without having to navigate around files and re...
Pure Virtual C++ 2025 is Tomorrow
Pure Virtual C++ is our free, one-day, virtual conference for the whole C++ community. It's running live tomorrow, 30th April, from 14:00 to 16:30 UTC. The talks are: We also have a host of pre-conference content available on YouTube. We look forward to seeing you there!
Pure Virtual C++ 2025: Pre-Conference Videos
Pure Virtual C++ is our free, one-day, virtual conference for the whole C++ community. It is running on 30th April. The first half of our pre-conference videos is now available on YouTube. The videos are: We look forward to seeing you at Pure Virtual C++!