C++ Team Blog

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

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Good Stuff on Channel 9
Nov 7, 2012
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Good Stuff on Channel 9

Eric Battalio
Eric Battalio

Looking for the C++ Good Stuff? Have you visited Channel 9 lately? And in case you missed it: *spoiler,marketing*Do you like Visual C++? Like us on Facebook (and post something)!Thanks!

Announcing November CTP of the C++ compiler, now with more C++11
Nov 2, 2012
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Announcing November CTP of the C++ compiler, now with more C++11

Eric Battalio
Eric Battalio

On February at the Going Native conference, we promised to work on implementing more parts of the C++11 standard. We also made a commitment to progressively roll out these features on a faster cadence through out-of-band releases such as CTPs (customer technology previews).We delivered!Today at Build 2012, Herb Sutter announced that we’re following through on our commitment by shipping the first batch of new C++11 features in the November 2012 Compiler CTP. Herb also announced that more information about the next batch of C++11 features would be coming in the first half of 2013.The November 2012 CTP re...

November CTP, isocpp.org, Standard C++ Foundations Announced Today
Nov 2, 2012
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November CTP, isocpp.org, Standard C++ Foundations Announced Today

Eric Battalio
Eric Battalio

November 2, 12:45pm PDT C++ use and investment continues to grow strongly in all parts of the software industry, and broadly across all major industries. As Herb Sutter said, more than ever “Microsoft is built on C++, and the world runs on C++.” At the same time, programmers now need to be educated that C++ is not the same language it was in the past; with the new C++11 standard that contains major updates, modern C++ code is cleaner and more powerful than ever. As C++’s creator Bjarne Stroustrup notes, “C++11 feels like a new language.” Today in a “The Future of C++” session at Build, Microsoft  made a num...

BUILD: Wednesday Update
Oct 31, 2012
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BUILD: Wednesday Update

Eric Battalio
Eric Battalio

C++ is alive at Build 2012! Developers have been filling the C++ sessions and getting tips, tricks, insights and example code from the experts. But you don't have to take our word -- sessions from Tuesday are available online: And if you have 90 seconds, catch this quick chat with Herb Sutter: [View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VWf01ECulHM] Visit C++ at Build 2012 for the larger list of sessions/summaries.

Project Austin Part 6 of 6: Storage
Oct 29, 2012
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Project Austin Part 6 of 6: Storage

George Mileka [MSFT]
George Mileka [MSFT]

Hi, my name is George Mileka. I’m a developer on the C++ Libraries team. I have been working on the Project Code Name Austin for many months with Jorge, Eric, and Alan. To learn more about what the Project Code Name Austin is, you can read this great post by Jorge Pereira. For Project Austin, we have used ESE (Extensible Storage Engine) as the storage engine. In this blog post, I will explain why we chose ESE, how ESE works, and finally what abstractions we have created around it for our own use. Why use ESE? When we started thinking about how to store the pages, the strokes, and the photos in the notebook,...

C++ at BUILD 2012
Oct 29, 2012
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C++ at BUILD 2012

Eric Battalio
Eric Battalio

Experience the Build conference on Channel 9 and learn how to build fierce Windows 8 apps using C++ from the experts: If you are at Build, try to catch a few of these sessions. If you were unable to make Build, watch Channel 9 for session videos. On the social front, like Visual C++ (Visual CPP) on Facebook and follow Visual C++ on Twitter! As always, we look forward to your comments, suggestions and other feedback!

Hello ARM: Exploring Undefined, Unspecified, and Implementation-defined Behavior in C++
Oct 25, 2012
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Hello ARM: Exploring Undefined, Unspecified, and Implementation-defined Behavior in C++

Michael from Redmond
Michael from Redmond

With the introduction of Windows RT for ARM devices, many Windows software developers will be encountering ARM processors for the first time. For the native C++ developer this means the potential for running afoul of undefined, unspecified, or implementation-defined behavior--as defined by the C++ language--that is expressed differently on the ARM architecture than on the x86 or x64 architectures that most Windows developers are familiar with. In C++, the results of certain operations, under certain circumstances, are intentionally ambiguous according to the language specification. In the specification this is kn...

C++/CX Part 4 of [n]: Static Member Functions
Oct 19, 2012
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C++/CX Part 4 of [n]: Static Member Functions

James McNellis
James McNellis

See C++/CX Part 0 of [n]: An Introduction for an introduction to this series and a table of contents with links to each article in the series. In this article, we'll take a look at static member functions and how they are supported by the Windows Runtime. A Windows Runtime reference type (also called a ref class in C++/CX, or a runtime class) can have static member functions. In C++/CX, the syntax used to declare a static member function in a runtime class is exactly the same as the syntax used in an ordinary C++ class. To demonstrate this, here is a runtime class with one static member function: (Note that we ...

Project Austin Part 5 of 6: Shadow Rendering
Oct 18, 2012
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Project Austin Part 5 of 6: Shadow Rendering

Jorge Pereira - MSFT
Jorge Pereira - MSFT

When we designed the user experience of Austin, we spent quite some time thinking about the different page views and layouts, and how to transition between them.  We wanted to create an immersive experience where the user can manipulate and navigate Austin's pages in an intuitive way; pages zoom in and out in 3D with pinch gestures, and the camera glides over the pages and even tilts a little bit when a finger is dragged on the screen.  This makes the pages simply appear to "float" in 3D space and move around and re-arrange themselves as needed.  To add some visual eye-candy, I spent some...