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The latest in C++, Visual Studio, VS Code, and vcpkg from the MSFT C++ team

Diagnostics - C++ Team Blog

Microsoft C++ Code Analysis supports SARIF 2.1

May 13, 2021 May 13, 2021 05/13/21
Hwi-sung Im
Starting with Visual Studio 16.8, MSVC Code Analysis officially supports SARIF 2.1.0 standard. SARIF is an industry standard for representing static analysis logs and we've been one of the earliest collaborators with the SARIF Technical Committee. Behind the scenes, analysis log files in the SARIF format powers Visual Studio IDE to ...

Even More New Safety Rules in C++ Code Analysis

October 28, 2020 Oct 28, 2020 10/28/20
Hwi-sung Im
In Visual Studio version 16.8 Preview 3,  we have added a few safety rules to C++ Code Analysis that can find some common mistakes, which can lead to bugs ranging from simple broken features to costly security vulnerabilities. These new rules are developed around issues discovered in production software via ...

Faster C++ builds, simplified: a new metric for time

October 12, 2020 Oct 12, 2020 10/12/20
Kevin Cadieux
C++ Build Insights is a collection of tools and APIs that can help you gain a deeper understanding of your build times. Today, we’d like to teach you about a special metric offered in this toolkit: the wall clock time responsibility (WCTR). It can be used to estimate how much time is really spent by each activity in your build, even in the ...

New Safety Rules in C++ Code Analysis

October 2, 2020 Oct 2, 2020 10/2/20
Hwi-sung Im
In Visual Studio version 16.8 Preview 3,  we are adding a few safety rules to C++ Code Analysis that can find some common mistakes, which can lead to bugs ranging from simple broken features to costly security vulnerabilities. These new rules are developed around issues discovered in production software via security reviews and...

Improving code generation time with C++ Build Insights

July 21, 2020 Jul 21, 2020 07/21/20
Kevin Cadieux
Code generation time is a significant contributor to total build time for optimized builds. During this step of the compilation process, source code is passed through several algorithms that transform your program into an optimized version that can be executed more efficiently. In general, the optimization of a C++ function happens quickly and...

Profiling template metaprograms with C++ Build Insights

May 28, 2020 May 28, 2020 05/28/20
Kevin Cadieux
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 ...

Faster builds with PCH suggestions from C++ Build Insights

May 8, 2020 May 8, 2020 05/8/20
Kevin Cadieux
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, ...

Finding build bottlenecks with C++ Build Insights

April 22, 2020 Apr 22, 2020 04/22/20
Kevin Cadieux
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 ...