Dev Blogs
These June updates add a vcpkg-tool switch to skip installation when packages are already cached, OpenHarmony (OHOS) platform support, and major library updates including curl 8.21, CGAL 6.2, and Graphviz 15.
The featured talks for Pure Virtual C++ 2026 are here! Join us on July 21 for a free, one-day virtual conference for the whole C++ community.
Pure Virtual C++ is back for its 7th year! Join us on July 21 for a free, one-day virtual conference for the whole C++ community.
C++ developers can now bring IDE-style semantic intelligence into Copilot CLI with less setup. The C++ language server plugin supports richer code navigation, diagnostics, symbol understanding, and code changes by using the same build context your compiler does. That build context usually comes from a file, which tells the language server how e...
Boosting Adobe Photoshop’s Performance with MSVC and SPGO Adobe and Microsoft worked together to improve Photoshop performance and responsiveness on Windows by combining MSVC’s peak-performance build settings with Sample-based Profile-Guided Optimization (SPGO). The collaboration focused on real customer scenarios where latency matters most, inclu...
GitHub Copilot modernization for C++ is out of preview as of Visual Studio 2026, helping you upgrade your MSVC Build Tools with an AI-guided workflow.
Try the latest updates to MSVC Build Tools Preview
This release includes major library updates for Boost 1.91, Qt 6.11, and OpenCASCADE 8.0, along with 27 new ports and over 500 port updates.
Visual Studio 2026 versions 18.1 through 18.6 deliver a wave of improvements for C++ developers. For MSVC Build Tools, the v14.51 release is now generally available with runtime performance gains and improved C++23 conformance. We also introduced Sample Profile Guided Optimization to help you improve the runtime performance of your C/C++ programs. ...
Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) has long been one of the most powerful tools in the MSVC compiler's arsenal for improving the runtime performance of C and C++ applications. By using execution profile data collected from representative workloads, PGO enables the compiler to make smarter decisions about inlining, code layout, and hot/cold code sepa...