C++ Team Blog
The latest in C++, Visual Studio, VS Code, and vcpkg from the MSFT C++ team
Latest posts
The Visual C++ Weekly Vol. 1 Issue 3 (Jan 15, 2011) Is Out
We just released the third issue of The Visual C++ Weekly. For technical reasons, from the original list of articles, there are two that weren’t caught and got lost but we’ll make sure to include them in the fourth issue (to appear next Saturday, January 22). This issue contains an Intel concurrency demo based on the classic dining philosophers problem, where the authors showcase Intel’s Threading Building Blocks. C++ MVP Kate Gregory encourages you to vote C++ and native development sessions for the next TechEd North America 2011. MS’s Chas Boyd features an on-demand session (ori...
A 101 on GPU-Accelerated Apps in the Windows Platform
In the last Professional Developer Conference (PDC), a few months ago, Chas Boyd –PM Architect with Windows Graphics at Microsoft- delivered a general overview of the Windows Graphics architecture, its different APIs and the application types they are intended to. It’s a 100-level session, what means that is informative with no code being shown, but a gentle overview for those of you interested in starting with GPU-enabled applications who may have wondered about its many technologies or felt a bit overwhelmed in your initial approaches to it. The speaker offers an interesting list of usage example...
C++ Programming Interviews: What Interviewers Want You To Show
A recent study showed that C++ is still among the most used languages (ahead of any other Visual Studio officially supported language like C# or Visual Basic). But despite being widely used and known by several generations of developers –thanks that it has been out there for decades now, while being still the most taught language in the Academy- when you look for a C++ development job those facts don’t guarantee that you’ll be chosen. It will depend on how well you perform in the programming interview –among other factors. Regardless of how deeply you know the C++ syntax, how many STL components you memorize, it ...
The Visual C++ Weekly Vol. 1 Issue 2 (Jan 8, 2011) Is Out
C++ MVP Kenny Kerr starts a new series on modern Windows development with C++0x. Intel features a highly parallel optimized crowd simulation technique. Get All-In-One: a code sample library for Microsoft development technologies. C++ MVP Kate Gregory shares a “lost+found” ISO technical report on C++ performance. And much, much more in the current issue of The Visual C++ Weekly.
Rvalue References and Type Traits – Video Introduction to the STL, Parts 9 and 10
The final parts of my video lecture series introducing the Standard Template Library are now available. Part 9 covers a single function, std::move(), and explains how rvalue references power move semantics. Part 10 covers <type_traits>, a header added by TR1/C++0x, and explains the basics of template metaprogramming. Here's the full series: Part 1 (sequence containers)Part 2 (associative containers)Part 3 (smart pointers)Part 4 (Nurikabe solver) - see Wikipedia's article and my updated source codePart 5 (Nurikabe solver, continued)Part 6 (algorithms and functors)Part 7 (algorithms and ...
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for C++ in Visual Studio 2010
Hi! I’m Ale Contenti and I’d like to show you here a session on Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for C++ in Visual Studio 2010 I presented last November at TechEd Europe, in Berlin. People often wonder how we expect C++ developers to take advantage of the many ALM scenarios enabled in Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. Today it's true that some features remained tied to managed languages (although we listened you and we are working toward a language parity in that and other senses), this talk will illustrate all the value that is available "out-of-the-box" for managing today large native code bases. In addi...
Grr… My VC++ Project Is Building Slower in VS2010. What Do I Do Now? (A Step by Step Guide)
Hi, my name is Renin John and I work as a Software Development Engineer in Test with the VC++ Project and Build Team. I was involved in testing the Build performance of the VS 2010 IDE and I wanted to give you all an idea about what to expect, and some basic steps you could take if you end up in a situation where your project builds slower in VS 2010 than it did in VS 2008 or a previous version. VS 2010 has better or equal performance in majority of the cases we have measured. However, if you’re hit by a build performance degradation, stay tuned and I will show you ways to investigate the issue, identify w...
2011 Comes with a New C++ Weekly Roundup
Happy New Year!! Starting 2011, we’ll be releasing every week a compilation of articles, videos, downloadable stuff, interviews and other news related with our programming language. Sources may or may not be MS-owned, as long as the content is of the common interest. This may also apply for the timeline of articles: they may not be published that same week but recently, if we consider it too valuable to let it go if by chance you missed it. Thus, we hope we’ll bring every week a collection of resources that are compelling and amusing as well, particularly with the incorporation of some related ...
Making an Exception
An interesting debate about C++ exceptions took place a few weeks ago in the C++ MVPs discussion list. The trigger was something as innocent and specific as “would you guys just throw std::runtime_exception with some error message string or you define a new exception hierarchy? What’s your opinion on AtlThrow/AtlThrowLastWin32?” But as it typically happens, replies motivated new questions, justifications, etc., thus moving the point around and showing yet another example in this sour software industry on the impossibility to find that “holy grail”, that one-size-fits-all answer for any possible question (current ...