VC++ Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow

Hello all,

We are excited to partner with CodeGuru on this slow chat. Activities like this are great since they give us the opportunity to connect more directly with the C++ community. As Brad mentioned in his initial post, the topic of the chat is Visual C++: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. We’ll answer questions about the history behind the product, current areas of development and ideas for future evolution.

Over the years, Visual C++ has progressed significantly from supporting just native compilation and single file optimization. In the VC7.0 release, managed code and link time code generation were introduced. This was followed by major language conformance work in the VC7.1 update. The most recent release, which is VC2005, included enhanced Whole Program Optimization (WPO) and Profile Guided Optimization (PGO), integrated 64-bit development, C++/CLI for easier managed coding, IDE enhancements, a “safe” version of the CRT and many more features. This chat provides an opportunity to discuss this progression and ask about the future. We’re here to answer your questions so fire away!

Participating in this chat will be many members from the program management and software design teams. Program managers are responsible for writing the design specifications – and in some cases the architecture – across the various feature areas. The software design engineers are responsible for the actual feature implementation.

As we reply to your questions, we’ll provide brief introductions so you know our job role and what features we work on.

Once more, we are very happy to be part of this effort. We are awaiting your questions. Let the fun begin!

Thanks,
The Visual C++ Team

Note: Please keep questions related to the topic and use the regular forum areas for other issues