C++ Team Blog

Simplify Your Code With Rocket Science: C++20’s Spaceship Operator

Cameron DaCamaraJune 27, 2019Jun 27, 201906/27/19

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team here at Microsoft and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library,

Guaranteed Copy Elision Does Not Elide Copies

Sy BrandDecember 11, 2018Dec 11, 201812/11/18

This post is also available on Simon Brand’s blog
C++17 merged in a paper called Guaranteed copy elision through simplified value categories. The changes mandate that no copies or moves take place in some situations where they were previously allowed, e.g.:

struct non_moveable {
non_moveable() = default;

Clang/LLVM Support in Visual Studio

Will BuikApril 24, 2019Apr 24, 201904/24/19

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 2 comes with support for Clang/LLVM out-of-the-box. Visual Studio has had great tooling for MSVC and GCC for quite a while now. The latest preview brings Clang into the fold.
Visual Studio 2019 includes out of the box support for editing,

Visual Studio CMake Support – Clang/LLVM, CMake 3.14, Vcpkg, and Performance Improvements

Will BuikApril 24, 2019Apr 24, 201904/24/19

We’ve introduced a bunch of improvements to our CMake support in the latest preview of Visual Studio 2019 Update 1. The latest release includes Clang/LLVM support, CMake 3.14, better vcpkg integration, and many more enhancements. If you are not familiar with Visual Studio’s CMake support, check out how to get started.

Exploring Clang Tooling Part 3: Rewriting Code with clang-tidy

Stephen KellyNovember 6, 2018Nov 6, 201811/6/18

In the previous post in this series, we used clang-query to examine the Abstract Syntax Tree of a simple source code file. Using clang-query, we can prototype an AST Matcher which we can use in a clang-tidy check to refactor code in bulk.

Exploring Clang Tooling Part 2: Examining the Clang AST with clang-query

Stephen KellyOctober 23, 2018Oct 23, 201810/23/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library, the C++ standards committee,

Exploring Clang Tooling Part 1: Extending Clang-Tidy

Stephen KellyOctober 19, 2018Oct 19, 201810/19/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library, the C++ standards committee,

Exploring Clang Tooling, Part 0: Building Your Code with Clang

Stephen KellySeptember 18, 2018Sep 18, 201809/18/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library, the C++ standards committee,

New templates for debugging CMake projects on remote systems and WSL in Visual Studio 2019

ErikaApril 3, 2020Apr 3, 202004/3/20

We heard your feedback that it can be difficult to configure debugging sessions on remote Linux systems or the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.6 Preview 2 we introduced a new debugging template to simplify debugging with gdb.

Visual Studio Code CMake Tools Extension: Multi-root workspaces and file-based API

ErikaFebruary 7, 2020Feb 7, 202002/7/20

The February 2020 update of the Visual Studio Code CMake Tools extension is now available. This release includes two of the extension’s top feature requests: file-based API support and multi-root workspaces. For a full list of this release’s improvements check out the release notes on GitHub.

Easily Add, Remove, and Rename Files and Targets in CMake Projects

Will BuikFebruary 6, 2020Feb 6, 202002/6/20

It’s easier than ever to work with CMake projects in Visual Studio 2019 16.5 Preview 2. Now you can add, remove, and rename source files and targets in your CMake projects from the IDE without manually editing your CMake scripts. When you add or remove files with the Solution Explorer,

Code Navigation for CMake Scripts

Will BuikFebruary 6, 2020Feb 6, 202002/6/20

Visual Studio 2019 16.5 Preview 2 makes it easy to make sense of complex CMake projects. Code navigation features such as Go To Definition and Find All References are now supported for variables, functions, and targets in CMake script files. This can be a huge timesaver because CMake projects with more than a handful of source files are often organized into several CMake scripts to encapsulate each part of the project.

CMake, Linux targeting, and IntelliSense improvements in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 2

ErikaJanuary 24, 2020Jan 24, 202001/24/20

Visual Studio’s native support for CMake allows you to target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 2 introduces several new features specific to cross-platform development, including:

File copy optimizations for CMake projects targeting a remote Linux system
Native WSL support when separating your build system from your remote deploy system
The ability to easily add,

Improvements to Accuracy and Performance of Linux IntelliSense

ErikaJanuary 10, 2020Jan 10, 202001/10/20

This blog post was written by Paul Maybee, a Principal Software Engineer on the C++ Cross-Platform Team. 
Accurate C++ IntelliSense requires access to the C++ headers that are referenced by C++ source files. For Linux scenarios the headers referenced by a Linux MSBuild or CMake project are copied to Windows by Visual Studio from the Linux device (or VM,

Debugging Linux CMake Projects with gdbserver

ErikaDecember 18, 2019Dec 18, 201912/18/19

Update 2/20/20: We have addressed a bug which allows you to debug simple CMake projects using one level of CMakeLists.txt files with gdbserver in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 3. The example launch configuration has been updated below.
Gdbserver is a program that allows you to remotely debug applications running on Linux.

Build C++ Applications in a Linux Docker Container with Visual Studio

ErikaDecember 13, 2019Dec 13, 201912/13/19

Docker containers provide a consistent development environment for building, testing, and deployment. The virtualized OS, file system, environment settings, libraries, and other dependencies are all encapsulated and shipped as one image that can be shared between developers and machines. This is especially useful for C++ cross-platform developers because you can target a container that runs a different operating system than the one on your development machine.

CMake Tools Extension for Visual Studio Code

ErikaNovember 21, 2019Nov 21, 201911/21/19

Microsoft is now the primary maintainer of the CMake Tools extension for Visual Studio Code. The extension was created and previously maintained by vector-of-bool, who has moved on to other things. Thank you vector-of-bool for all of your hard work getting this extension to where it is today!

Set Environment Variables for Debug, Launch, and Tools with CMake and Open Folder

Will BuikNovember 18, 2019Nov 18, 201911/18/19

There are many reasons why you may want to customize environment variables. Many build systems use environment variables to drive behavior; debug targets sometimes need to have PATH customized to ensure their dependencies are found; etc. Visual Studio has a mechanism to customize environment variables for debugging and building CMake projects and C++ Open Folder.

Debugging Linux CMake Projects with gdbserver

ErikaDecember 18, 2019Dec 18, 201912/18/19

Update 2/20/20: We have addressed a bug which allows you to debug simple CMake projects using one level of CMakeLists.txt files with gdbserver in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 3. The example launch configuration has been updated below.
Gdbserver is a program that allows you to remotely debug applications running on Linux.

Build C++ Applications in a Linux Docker Container with Visual Studio

ErikaDecember 13, 2019Dec 13, 201912/13/19

Docker containers provide a consistent development environment for building, testing, and deployment. The virtualized OS, file system, environment settings, libraries, and other dependencies are all encapsulated and shipped as one image that can be shared between developers and machines. This is especially useful for C++ cross-platform developers because you can target a container that runs a different operating system than the one on your development machine.

Using multi-stage containers for C++ development

Marc GoodnerDecember 13, 2018Dec 13, 201812/13/18

Updated January 10, 2020: Corrected link to article source that was broken by refactoring in the repo.
Containers are a great tool for configuring reproducible build environments. It’s fairly easy to find Dockerfiles that provide various C++ environments. Unfortunately, it is hard to find guidance on how to use newer techniques like multi-stage builds.

C++ development with Docker containers in Visual Studio Code

Rong LuAugust 14, 2018Aug 14, 201808/14/18

Containers allow developers to package up an application with all the parts it needs, such as libraries and other dependencies, and ship it all out as one image. This is especially useful for C++ cross-platform development – with containers you can choose to target a platform that runs on a completely different operating system than your developer machine.

Using MSVC in a Docker Container for Your C++ Projects

Marc GoodnerAugust 13, 2018Aug 13, 201808/13/18

Containers encapsulate the runtime environment of an application: the file system, environment settings, and virtualized OS are bundled into a package. Docker containers have changed the way we think about build and test environments since they were introduced five years ago.

Using C++ Resumable Functions with Libuv

Jim SpringfieldFebruary 2, 2017Feb 2, 201702/2/17

Previously on this blog we have talked about Resumable Functions, and even recently we touched on the renaming of the yield keyword to co_yield in our implementation in Visual Studio 2017. I am very excited about this potential C++ standards feature,

`yield` keyword to become `co_yield` in VS 2017

EricMitteletteJanuary 27, 2017Jan 27, 201701/27/17

Coroutines—formerly known as “C++ resumable functions”—are one of the Technical Specifications (TS) that we have implemented in the Visual C++ compiler. We’ve supported coroutines for three years—ever since the VC++ November 2013 CTP release.
If you’re using coroutines you should be aware that the keyword `yield` is being removed in the release of VS 2017.

Using C++ Coroutines to simplify async UWP code

EricMitteletteApril 4, 2016Apr 4, 201604/4/16

The Universal Windows Platform (UWP) introduced many async APIs; there are now almost 1700 of them. In fact, the team switched every API that could take 50ms or more to complete to async mode.
Coding with the async pattern is not an easy task,

Finding build bottlenecks with C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxApril 22, 2020Apr 22, 202004/22/20

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.

GSL 3.0.0 Release

Jordan MaplesApril 16, 2020Apr 16, 202004/16/20

GSL 3.0.0 Release
Version 3.0.0 of Microsoft’s implementation of the C++ Core Guidelines Support Library (GSL) is now available for you to download on the releases page. Microsoft’s implementation of gsl::span has played a pivotal role in the standardization of span for C++20.

MSVC Backend Updates in Visual Studio 2019 Version 16.5

Mei XuApril 8, 2020Apr 8, 202004/8/20

In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 we have continued to improve the C++ backend with new features, new and improved optimizations, build throughput improvements, and better security. Here is a brief list of improvements for you to review.

Compiler switch mitigation for the Intel JCC erratum.

New templates for debugging CMake projects on remote systems and WSL in Visual Studio 2019

ErikaApril 3, 2020Apr 3, 202004/3/20

We heard your feedback that it can be difficult to configure debugging sessions on remote Linux systems or the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.6 Preview 2 we introduced a new debugging template to simplify debugging with gdb.

Porting a C++/CLI Project to .NET Core

Mike RousosMarch 30, 2020Mar 30, 202003/30/20

One of the new features of Visual Studio 2019 (beginning with version 16.4) and .NET Core 3.1 is the ability to build C++/CLI projects targeting .NET Core. This can be done either directly with cl.exe and link.exe (using the new /clr:netcore option) or via MSBuild (using <CLRSupport>NetCore</CLRSupport>).

Doxygen and XML Doc Comment support

Nick UhlenhuthMarch 26, 2020Mar 26, 202003/26/20

Whether you’re using Doxygen or XML Doc Comments, Visual Studio version 16.6 Preview 2 provides automatic comment stub generation as well as Quick Info, Parameter Help, and Member List tooltip support.
Stub Generation
By default, the stub generation is set to XML Doc Comments.

IntelliSense Code Linter for C++

Kyle ReedMarch 26, 2020Mar 26, 202003/26/20

Introducing the IntelliSense Code Linter for C++; a preview of "as-you-type" code analysis with fixups. Try it out today in Visual Studio 2019 16.6 Preview 2.

More Spectre Mitigations in MSVC

Daniel DonenfeldMarch 13, 2020Mar 13, 202003/13/20

In a previous blog post, Microsoft described the Spectre mitigations available under /Qspectre. These mitigations, while not significantly impacting performance, do not protect against all possible speculative load attacks, described in industry research as Load Value Injection. We are now adding two new switches /Qspectre-load and /Qspectre-load-cf to provide a more complete mitigation of Spectre attacks based on loads for customers.

Analyze your builds programmatically with the C++ Build Insights SDK

Kevin CadieuxMarch 6, 2020Mar 6, 202003/6/20

We’re happy to announce today the release of the C++ Build Insights SDK, a framework that gives you access to MSVC build time information via C and C++ APIs. To accompany this release, we are making vcperf open source on GitHub.

The Performance Benefits of Final Classes

Sy BrandMarch 2, 2020Mar 2, 202003/2/20

The final specifier in C++ marks a class or virtual member function as one which cannot be derived from or overriden. For example, consider the following code: 
 struct base { 
  virtual void f() const = 0; 
}; 
 
struct derived final : base { 
  void f() const override {} 
};

Finding build bottlenecks with C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxApril 22, 2020Apr 22, 202004/22/20

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.

Analyze your builds programmatically with the C++ Build Insights SDK

Kevin CadieuxMarch 6, 2020Mar 6, 202003/6/20

We’re happy to announce today the release of the C++ Build Insights SDK, a framework that gives you access to MSVC build time information via C and C++ APIs. To accompany this release, we are making vcperf open source on GitHub.

Introducing C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxNovember 5, 2019Nov 5, 201911/5/19

C++ builds should always be faster. In Visual Studio 2019 16.2, we’ve shown our commitment to this ideal by speeding up the linker significantly. Today, we are thrilled to announce a new collection of tools that will give you the power to make improvements of your own.

Linux Development with C++ in Visual Studio 2019: WSL, ASan for Linux, Separation of Build and Debug

ErikaMay 10, 2019May 10, 201905/10/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 we announced several new features specific to the Linux Workload: native support for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL),

AddressSanitizer (ASan) for the Linux Workload in Visual Studio 2019

ErikaMay 8, 2019May 8, 201905/8/19

In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 we have integrated AddressSanitizer (ASan) into Visual Studio for Linux projects. ASan is a runtime memory error detector for C/C++ that catches the following errors:

Use after free (dangling pointer reference)
Heap buffer overflow
Stack buffer overflow
Use after return
Use after scope
Initialization order bugs

You can enable ASan for MSBuild-based Linux projects and CMake projects that target a remote Linux system or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Step Back – Going Back in C++ Time

Andy SterlandSeptember 26, 2018Sep 26, 201809/26/18

Step Back for C++
In the most recent, 15.9, update to Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise Edition, we’ve added “Step Back” for C++ developers targeting Windows 10 Anniversary Update (1607) and later. With this feature, you can now return to a previous state while debugging without having to restart the entire process.

C++ Core Checks in Visual Studio 2017 15.7 Preview 2

Sunny ChatterjeeMarch 22, 2018Mar 22, 201803/22/18

This post was written by Sergiy Oryekhov.
The C++ Core Guidelines Check extension received several new rules in Visual Studio 2017 15.7 Preview 2. The primary focus in this iteration was on the checks that would make it easier to adopt utilities from the Guidelines Support Library.

C++ Code Analysis Improvements for Visual Studio 2017 15.7 Preview 1

Kyle ReedMarch 13, 2018Mar 13, 201803/13/18

点这里看中文版
We’re making it easier to configure and use the C++ code analysis features with a set of changes targeting 15.7. In the first 15.7 preview we’ve cleaned up the UI, fixed our documentation links and, most importantly, simplified the way analysis extensions are configured. 

Arithmetic overflow checks in C++ Core Check

Sunny ChatterjeeFebruary 23, 2018Feb 23, 201802/23/18

点这里看中文版
We’ve improved the C++ Code Analysis toolset with every major compiler update in Visual Studio 2017. Version 15.6, now in Preview, includes a set of arithmetic overflow checks. This article discusses those checks and why you’ll want to enable them in your code.

Image Watch is now available for Visual Studio 2017

Marian Luparu [MSFT]December 14, 2017Dec 14, 201712/14/17

点这里看中文版
Image Watch is a Visual Studio extension that provides a watch window for viewing in-memory bitmaps when debugging native C++ code. It comes with built-in support for OpenCV image types (e.g. cv::Mat, cv::Mat_<> , etc.).
We know that, for many of you,

Side-by-side Minor Version MSVC Toolsets in Visual Studio 2019

Will BuikAugust 13, 2019Aug 13, 201908/13/19

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 ships with the first side-by-side minor versions of the v142 MSVC toolset. We first shipped minor side-by-side versions of MSVC toolsets with Visual Studio 2017, but a few things have changed in 2019. This post covers what’s new;

Using Visual Studio for Cross Platform C++ Development Targeting Windows and Linux

Marc GoodnerNovember 26, 2018Nov 26, 201811/26/18

A great strength of C++ is the ability to target multiple platforms without sacrificing performance. If you are using the same codebase for multiple targets, then CMake is the most common solution for building your software. You can use Visual Studio for your C++ cross platform development when using CMake without needing to create or generate Visual Studio projects.

STL Features and Fixes in VS 2017 15.8

Billy.OnealSeptember 18, 2018Sep 18, 201809/18/18

15.7 was our first feature complete C++17 library (except floating-point <charconv>), and in 15.8 we have addressed large numbers of outstanding bugs. As usual, we’ve maintained a detailed list of the STL fixes that are available. Visual Studio 2017 15.8 is available at https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/.

Using C++17 Parallel Algorithms for Better Performance

Billy.OnealSeptember 11, 2018Sep 11, 201809/11/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team here at Microsoft and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library,

Shared PCH usage sample in Visual Studio

EricMitteletteJuly 5, 2018Jul 5, 201807/5/18

This post was written by Olga Arkhipova and Xiang Fan
Oftentimes, multiple projects in a Visual Studio solution use the same (or very similar) precompiled headers. As pch files are often big and building them takes a significant amount of time,

Configuring C++ IntelliSense and Browsing

Oleg KharitonovMarch 27, 2018Mar 27, 201803/27/18

Whether you are creating a new (or modifying an existing) C++ project using a Wizard, or importing an project into Visual Studio from another IDE, it’s important to configure the project correctly for the IntelliSense and Browsing features to provide accurate information. 

Continuous Integration for C++ with Visual Studio Team Services

BryanDiLauraFebruary 17, 2017Feb 17, 201702/17/17

Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) is an easy way to help your team manage code and stay connected when developing. VSTS supports continuous integration using a shared code repository that everyone on the team uses to check in code changes. Every time any code is checked in,

Targeting the Windows Subsystem for Linux from Visual Studio

Marc GoodnerFebruary 8, 2017Feb 8, 201702/8/17

Update Jan. 8, 2020: Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 and later has native support for WSL. This eliminates the need to establish an SSH connection and is the recommended workflow for building and debugging on WSL.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) was first introduced at Build in 2016 and was delivered as an early beta in Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Visual C++ docs: the future is… soon!

EricMitteletteNovember 8, 2016Nov 8, 201611/8/16

We on the Visual C++ documentation team are pleased to announce some changes to the API reference content in the following Visual C++ libraries: STL, MFC, ATL, AMP, and ConcRT.
Since the beginning of MSDN online, the Visual C++ libraries have documented each class member,

Smarter Member List Filtering for C++ 

Nick UhlenhuthJuly 29, 2019Jul 29, 201907/29/19

We are always looking for ways to make you more productive while coding in Visual Studio. In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2, we have created a smarter, more relevant Member List. Specifically, we now apply method filtering based on type qualifiers.

New Code Analysis Checks in Visual Studio 2019: use-after-move and coroutine

Sunny ChatterjeeJanuary 28, 2019Jan 28, 201901/28/19

Visual Studio 2019 Preview 2 is an exciting release for the C++ code analysis team. In this release, we shipped a new set of experimental rules that help you catch bugs in your codebase, namely: use-after-move and coroutine checks. This article provides an overview of the new rules and how you can enable them in your project.

MSVC Preprocessor Progress towards Conformance

Ulzii Luvsanbat [MSFT]July 6, 2018Jul 6, 201807/6/18

Why re-write the preprocessor?

Recently, we published a blog post on C++ conformance completion. As mentioned in the blog post, the preprocessor in MSVC is currently getting an overhaul. We are doing this to improve its language conformance, address some of the longstanding bugs that were difficult to fix due to its design and improve its usability and diagnostics.

New, experimental code analysis features in Visual Studio 2017 15.8 Preview 3

eli fesslerJune 26, 2018Jun 26, 201806/26/18

The Visual C++ team has been working to refresh our code analysis experience inside Visual Studio. We’re aiming to make these tools both more useful and natural to use and hope that they’ll benefit you no matter your workflow, style, or project type.

Broken Warnings Theory

Yuriy SolodkyyDecember 13, 2017Dec 13, 201712/13/17

Перевод статьи на русском
The “broken warnings theory” is a fictional theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of coding practices and bug-checking techniques in 3rd party libraries on new bugs and design anti-patterns. The theory states that maintaining and monitoring warning levels to prevent small problems such as “signed/unsigned mismatch”,

Precompiled Header (PCH) issues and recommendations

Ulzii Luvsanbat [MSFT]July 13, 2017Jul 13, 201707/13/17

This post written by Mark Hall, Xiang Fan, Yuriy Solodkyy, Bat-Ulzii Luvsanbat, and Andrew Pardoe.
Precompiled headers can reduce your compilation times significantly. They’ve worked reliably for millions of developers since they were introduced 25 years ago to speed up builds of MFC apps.

Clang 3.8 in the May release of Clang with Microsoft CodeGen

Yuriy SolodkyyJune 3, 2016Jun 3, 201606/3/16

This blog post written by Dave Bartolomeo, Yuriy Solodkyy, and Andrew Pardoe
We have just released our fifth out-of-band update of Clang/C2 toolset. As always, this release has been driven by your feedback. While we’ve heard a lot of feature requests the one’s we’ve heard most frequently are that you want Clang 3.8 and you want x64-hosted compilers.

Clang/C2: We need your advice!

Andrew PardoeApril 6, 2016Apr 6, 201604/6/16

The Visual C++ team has shipped three releases of Clang with Microsoft CodeGen (Clang/C2). We’ve got a solid pre-production compiler that passes all of our STL tests and compiles a bunch of code into native Windows binaries. We’ve about to move to the 3.8 release of clang.

Clang with Microsoft CodeGen (January 2016) released

Andrew PardoeJanuary 20, 2016Jan 20, 201601/20/16

We have just released an out-of-band update of Clang/C2 toolset that brings in some of the community fixes as well as bugs found from testing. This is one of many rapid releases to come in the future, and issues reported from customers will be addressed progressively.

Visual Studio 2015 Update 1: New Experimental Feature – MPX

Yuriy SolodkyyJanuary 20, 2016Jan 20, 201601/20/16

Introduction
This post is about Intel® Memory Protection Extensions (Intel® MPX) support in Microsoft Visual Studio* 2015; content provided by Gautham Beeraka, George Kuan, and Juan Rodriguez from Intel Corporation.
  
Overview
Update 1 for Visual Studio 2015 was announced on November 30, 2015.

Introducing C++ Build Insights

Kevin CadieuxNovember 5, 2019Nov 5, 201911/5/19

C++ builds should always be faster. In Visual Studio 2019 16.2, we’ve shown our commitment to this ideal by speeding up the linker significantly. Today, we are thrilled to announce a new collection of tools that will give you the power to make improvements of your own.

Improved Linker Fundamentals in Visual Studio 2019

Russell HadleyJuly 25, 2019Jul 25, 201907/25/19

On the C++ team we’ve heard loud and clear from users that build times are a pain point. We’ve continued our focus on improving the step, linking, that dominates F5 build times. Fast F5 build times, or iteration build times, are a key contributor to developer productivity and we felt that there was a large opportunity so we narrowed in on changes that we felt could move the needle 2x or more.

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension: March 2019 Update

Tara RajApril 4, 2019Apr 4, 201904/4/19

The March 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension is now available. This release includes many new features and bug fixes, including IntelliSense caching, Build and Debug Active File, and configuration squiggles. For a full list of this release’s improvements,

Linker Throughput Improvement in Visual Studio 2019

YongKang ZhuMarch 20, 2019Mar 20, 201903/20/19

In Visual Studio 2019 Preview 2 we made the compiler back-end to prune away debug information that is unrelated to code or data emitted into binary and changed certain hash implementations in the PDB engine, to improve linker throughput, which resulted in more than 2x reduction on link time for some large AAA game title.

Visual Studio 2017 Throughput Improvements and Advice

Terry MahaffeyJanuary 4, 2018Jan 4, 201801/4/18

点这里看中文版
As C++ programs get larger and larger and the optimizer becomes more complex the compiler’s build time, or throughput, increasingly comes into focus. It’s something that needs to be continually addressed as new patterns emerge and take hold (such as “unity”

Faster C++ build cycle in VS 2017 with /Debug:fastlink

Ankit AsthanaOctober 5, 2016Oct 5, 201610/5/16

Continuing with our goal of further improving developer productivity with Visual Studio 2017 there have been major investments made for also improving incremental developer builds. The developer incremental build is one where a developer changes a single or multiple source files and builds.

Faster C++ solution load with VS 2017

Ankit AsthanaOctober 5, 2016Oct 5, 201610/5/16

The Visual C++ product has had projects ever since its inception.  Visual C++ had its own IDE up through Visual Studio 6.  Starting in Visual Studio .NET, C++ moved to a new IDE shared by Visual Basic, C#, C++, and other tools. 

GSL 3.0.0 Release

Jordan MaplesApril 16, 2020Apr 16, 202004/16/20

GSL 3.0.0 Release
Version 3.0.0 of Microsoft’s implementation of the C++ Core Guidelines Support Library (GSL) is now available for you to download on the releases page. Microsoft’s implementation of gsl::span has played a pivotal role in the standardization of span for C++20.

The Performance Benefits of Final Classes

Sy BrandMarch 2, 2020Mar 2, 202003/2/20

The final specifier in C++ marks a class or virtual member function as one which cannot be derived from or overriden. For example, consider the following code: 
 struct base { 
  virtual void f() const = 0; 
}; 
 
struct derived final : base { 
  void f() const override {} 
};

C++20’s Conditionally Explicit Constructors

Sy BrandOctober 1, 2019Oct 1, 201910/1/19

explicit(bool) is a C++20 feature for simplifying the implementation of generic types and improving compile-time performance.
In C++ it is common to write and use types which wrap objects of other types. std::pair and std::optional are two examples, but there are plenty of others in the standard library,

Simplify Your Code With Rocket Science: C++20’s Spaceship Operator

Cameron DaCamaraJune 27, 2019Jun 27, 201906/27/19

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team here at Microsoft and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library,

Clear, Functional C++ Documentation with Sphinx + Breathe + Doxygen + CMake

Sy BrandJune 3, 2019Jun 3, 201906/3/19

Writing good documentation is hard. Tools can’t solve this problem in themselves, but they can ease the pain. This post will show you how to use Sphinx to generate attractive, functional documentation for C++ libraries, supplied with information from Doxygen. We’ll also integrate this process into a CMake build system so that we have a unified workflow.

Q&A: Fine-grained friendship

Herb SutterNovember 20, 2018Nov 20, 201811/20/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team here at Microsoft answers questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: Visual C++, the standard language and library, the C++ standards committee,

Exploring Clang Tooling Part 3: Rewriting Code with clang-tidy

Stephen KellyNovember 6, 2018Nov 6, 201811/6/18

In the previous post in this series, we used clang-query to examine the Abstract Syntax Tree of a simple source code file. Using clang-query, we can prototype an AST Matcher which we can use in a clang-tidy check to refactor code in bulk.

Exploring Clang Tooling Part 2: Examining the Clang AST with clang-query

Stephen KellyOctober 23, 2018Oct 23, 201810/23/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library, the C++ standards committee,

Exploring Clang Tooling Part 1: Extending Clang-Tidy

Stephen KellyOctober 19, 2018Oct 19, 201810/19/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library, the C++ standards committee,

Standard Library Algorithms: Changes and Additions in C++17

Visual CPP TeamOctober 16, 2018Oct 16, 201810/16/18

Today we have a guest post from Marc Gregoire, Software Architect at Nikon Metrology and Microsoft MVP since 2007.
 
The C++14 standard already contains a wealth of different kinds of algorithms. C++17 adds a couple more algorithms and updates some existing ones.

Linux Development with C++ in Visual Studio 2019: WSL, ASan for Linux, Separation of Build and Debug

ErikaMay 10, 2019May 10, 201905/10/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 we announced several new features specific to the Linux Workload: native support for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL),

ARM GCC Cross Compilation in Visual Studio

Marc GoodnerOctober 23, 2017Oct 23, 201710/23/17

点这里看中文版
⏱ Updated on January 10, 2018 to cover addition of debugging support in Visual Studio 2017 15.6
In Visual Studio 2017 15.5 we are introduced support for cross compilation targeting ARM microcontrollers. The 15.6 Preview 2 release adds debugging support.

Visual C++ for Linux 1.0.5 Updates

Marc GoodnerSeptember 13, 2016Sep 13, 201609/13/16

The Visual C++ for Linux announcement post has been updated with the content below. If you are already familiar with this extension this post covers what is new since our last update.
We recently posted new bits for our 1.0.5 release of the Visual C++ for Linux extension for Visual Studio 2015.

Visual C++ for Linux Updates

Marc GoodnerJune 7, 2016Jun 7, 201606/7/16

Updated 6/14/2016: We updated the original announcement post with the content below if you want a single page that covers everything about this extension. The below remains the same and just covers the updates from the original release.
We’re happy to provide an update on the VC++ for Linux extension which has a new release today.

New templates for debugging CMake projects on remote systems and WSL in Visual Studio 2019

ErikaApril 3, 2020Apr 3, 202004/3/20

We heard your feedback that it can be difficult to configure debugging sessions on remote Linux systems or the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.6 Preview 2 we introduced a new debugging template to simplify debugging with gdb.

Qt to support Visual Studio Linux projects

ErikaFebruary 20, 2020Feb 20, 202002/20/20

Qt is a popular cross-platform framework for application development and user interface design. Its various libraries and toolsets can be used to create, test, and deploy applications that target multiple platforms and operating systems including Linux, Windows, macOS and embedded/microcontroller systems.

CMake, Linux targeting, and IntelliSense improvements in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 2

ErikaJanuary 24, 2020Jan 24, 202001/24/20

Visual Studio’s native support for CMake allows you to target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 2 introduces several new features specific to cross-platform development, including:

File copy optimizations for CMake projects targeting a remote Linux system
Native WSL support when separating your build system from your remote deploy system
The ability to easily add,

Improvements to Accuracy and Performance of Linux IntelliSense

ErikaJanuary 10, 2020Jan 10, 202001/10/20

This blog post was written by Paul Maybee, a Principal Software Engineer on the C++ Cross-Platform Team. 
Accurate C++ IntelliSense requires access to the C++ headers that are referenced by C++ source files. For Linux scenarios the headers referenced by a Linux MSBuild or CMake project are copied to Windows by Visual Studio from the Linux device (or VM,

Debugging Linux CMake Projects with gdbserver

ErikaDecember 18, 2019Dec 18, 201912/18/19

Update 2/20/20: We have addressed a bug which allows you to debug simple CMake projects using one level of CMakeLists.txt files with gdbserver in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 3. The example launch configuration has been updated below.
Gdbserver is a program that allows you to remotely debug applications running on Linux.

Build C++ Applications in a Linux Docker Container with Visual Studio

ErikaDecember 13, 2019Dec 13, 201912/13/19

Docker containers provide a consistent development environment for building, testing, and deployment. The virtualized OS, file system, environment settings, libraries, and other dependencies are all encapsulated and shipped as one image that can be shared between developers and machines. This is especially useful for C++ cross-platform developers because you can target a container that runs a different operating system than the one on your development machine.

EA and Visual Studio’s Linux Support

ErikaNovember 7, 2019Nov 7, 201911/7/19

EA is using Visual Studio’s cross-platform support to cross-compile on Windows and debug on Linux. The following post is written by Ben May, a Senior Software Engineer of Engineering Workflows at EA. Thanks Ben and EA for your partnership, and for helping us make Visual Studio the best IDE for C++ cross-platform development.

Usability Improvements for CMake in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4: Launch Target Selection and Overview Pages

ErikaOctober 15, 2019Oct 15, 201910/15/19

We hear your feedback, and in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4 Preview 2 we have addressed one of our top Developer Community issues related to CMake development in Visual Studio by revamping the selection of CMake launch targets. We have also added Overview Pages for CMake to help you get started with CMake and cross-platform development.

C++ Cross-Platform Development with Visual Studio 2019 version 16.3: vcpkg, CMake configuration, remote headers, and WSL

ErikaAugust 16, 2019Aug 16, 201908/16/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. Visual Studio’s native support for CMake lets you open any folder containing C++ code and a CMakeLists.txt file directly in Visual Studio to edit,

Linux Development with C++ in Visual Studio 2019: WSL, ASan for Linux, Separation of Build and Debug

ErikaMay 10, 2019May 10, 201905/10/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 we announced several new features specific to the Linux Workload: native support for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL),

Binary Compatibility and Pain-free Upgrade: Why Moving to Visual Studio 2017 is almost “too easy”

Marian Luparu [MSFT]March 7, 2017Mar 7, 201703/7/17

Visual Studio 2017 is a major leap forward in terms of C++ functionality compared with VS 2015. We hope the new release will delight you in your day-to-day job as soon as you can upgrade.
This blog post focuses on the steps needed to upgrade from Visual Studio 2015 to 2017.

Stuck on an older toolset version? Move to Visual Studio 2017 without upgrading your toolset

Marian Luparu [MSFT]February 24, 2016Feb 24, 201602/24/16

⏱ Updated on March 11, 2019 with the latest functionality in Visual Studio 2017
Are you currently developing your C++ projects in an older version of Visual Studio? If your reasons for avoiding the all-new features in VS 2017 are covered next,

Android NDK R15C support goes in-box in Visual Studio 2017 Version 15.6 Preview

Rong LuDecember 13, 2017Dec 13, 201712/13/17

Visual Studio has provided in-box support for building C++ Android and iOS apps or libraries since VS 2015, enabling cross-platform C++ mobile development with full editing and debugging capabilities all in one single IDE.
Just recently, we updated the tools to make it easier for you to work with newer versions of the Android platform.

AVX-512 Auto-Vectorization in MSVC

Rui ZhangFebruary 27, 2020Feb 27, 202002/27/20

In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.3 we added AVX-512 support to the auto-vectorizer of the MSVC compiler. This post will show some examples and help you enable it in your projects.
What is the auto vectorizer?
The compiler’s auto vectorizer analyzes loops in the user’s source code and generates vectorized code for a vectorization target where feasible and beneficial.

CMake, Linux targeting, and IntelliSense improvements in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 2

ErikaJanuary 24, 2020Jan 24, 202001/24/20

Visual Studio’s native support for CMake allows you to target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 2 introduces several new features specific to cross-platform development, including:

File copy optimizations for CMake projects targeting a remote Linux system
Native WSL support when separating your build system from your remote deploy system
The ability to easily add,

Improvements to Accuracy and Performance of Linux IntelliSense

ErikaJanuary 10, 2020Jan 10, 202001/10/20

This blog post was written by Paul Maybee, a Principal Software Engineer on the C++ Cross-Platform Team. 
Accurate C++ IntelliSense requires access to the C++ headers that are referenced by C++ source files. For Linux scenarios the headers referenced by a Linux MSBuild or CMake project are copied to Windows by Visual Studio from the Linux device (or VM,

Debugging Linux CMake Projects with gdbserver

ErikaDecember 18, 2019Dec 18, 201912/18/19

Update 2/20/20: We have addressed a bug which allows you to debug simple CMake projects using one level of CMakeLists.txt files with gdbserver in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 Preview 3. The example launch configuration has been updated below.
Gdbserver is a program that allows you to remotely debug applications running on Linux.

Usability Improvements for CMake in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4: Launch Target Selection and Overview Pages

ErikaOctober 15, 2019Oct 15, 201910/15/19

We hear your feedback, and in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.4 Preview 2 we have addressed one of our top Developer Community issues related to CMake development in Visual Studio by revamping the selection of CMake launch targets. We have also added Overview Pages for CMake to help you get started with CMake and cross-platform development.

C++ Cross-Platform Development with Visual Studio 2019 version 16.3: vcpkg, CMake configuration, remote headers, and WSL

ErikaAugust 16, 2019Aug 16, 201908/16/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. Visual Studio’s native support for CMake lets you open any folder containing C++ code and a CMakeLists.txt file directly in Visual Studio to edit,

Smarter Member List Filtering for C++ 

Nick UhlenhuthJuly 29, 2019Jul 29, 201907/29/19

We are always looking for ways to make you more productive while coding in Visual Studio. In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2, we have created a smarter, more relevant Member List. Specifically, we now apply method filtering based on type qualifiers.

Visual Studio Code C/C++ Extension: July 2019 Update

Tara RajJuly 24, 2019Jul 24, 201907/24/19

The July 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension is now available. This release includes many new features, including semantic colorization and improvements to the IntelliSense Configuration Settings Editor UI and IntelliSense cache. For a full list of this release’s improvements,

Linux Development with C++ in Visual Studio 2019: WSL, ASan for Linux, Separation of Build and Debug

ErikaMay 10, 2019May 10, 201905/10/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 we announced several new features specific to the Linux Workload: native support for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL),

AddressSanitizer (ASan) for the Linux Workload in Visual Studio 2019

ErikaMay 8, 2019May 8, 201905/8/19

In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 3 we have integrated AddressSanitizer (ASan) into Visual Studio for Linux projects. ASan is a runtime memory error detector for C/C++ that catches the following errors:

Use after free (dangling pointer reference)
Heap buffer overflow
Stack buffer overflow
Use after return
Use after scope
Initialization order bugs

You can enable ASan for MSBuild-based Linux projects and CMake projects that target a remote Linux system or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Configuring C++ IntelliSense and Browsing

Oleg KharitonovMarch 27, 2018Mar 27, 201803/27/18

Whether you are creating a new (or modifying an existing) C++ project using a Wizard, or importing an project into Visual Studio from another IDE, it’s important to configure the project correctly for the IntelliSense and Browsing features to provide accurate information. 

C++ Tutorial: Hello World

Eric BattalioJune 16, 2017Jun 16, 201706/16/17

Welcome to the C++ Tutorial.
In this first C++ tutorial, you will learn how to write (and run!) your first C++ program, “Hello, World!”. Along the way you will learn a little C++ history, see how to configure a C++ console application in Visual Studio 2017,

Bring your C++ code to Visual Studio

Marian Luparu [MSFT]April 14, 2017Apr 14, 201704/14/17

C++ has been around for a long time and throughout its history many tools have been built to make life easier for C++ developers. This has led to a diverse C++ ecosystem in terms of the editing tools, build systems, coding conventions,

Migrate your existing Windows C++ projects to MSBuild

Marian Luparu [MSFT]April 14, 2017Apr 14, 201704/14/17

If your project targets one of the Windows platforms only (Desktop or UWP), you should consider using MSBuild as your C++ build system. If you consider expanding beyond these platforms though, consider using CMake to specify your build. To learn more,

Bring your existing Android Eclipse projects to Visual Studio

Marian Luparu [MSFT]April 14, 2017Apr 14, 201704/14/17

You can use Visual Studio to develop your C++ projects targeting Android. To learn more about this support read the Visual C++ for Cross-Platform Mobile development section on MSDN.
If you’re currently using Eclipse and considering moving to Visual Studio, you can do that via our Eclipse Android Project Import Wizard.

Bring your existing C++ Linux projects to Visual Studio

Marian Luparu [MSFT]April 14, 2017Apr 14, 201704/14/17

Visual Studio supports targeting Linux out of the box – you can edit, remote build and remote debug to a Linux machine (whether that’s a remote machine, a VM running locally or in the cloud, or WSL in Windows 10).
This article covers the high-level steps to bring your existing Linux projects to Visual Studio.

Bring your existing Qt projects to Visual Studio

Marian Luparu [MSFT]April 14, 2017Apr 14, 201704/14/17

Qt framework is an ever growing cross-platform C++ framework, ideal for building desktop, mobile, and even embedded solutions. While you can use CMake to target Qt (if you do, you should read more about the Visual Studio support for CMake), Qt also provides its own Qt-optimized build system called qmake.

CMake support in Visual Studio

Marian Luparu [MSFT]October 5, 2016Oct 5, 201610/5/16

⏱ Updated on October 5, 2017 with the latest functionality included with Visual Studio 2017 15.4
Visual Studio 2017 introduces built-in support for handling CMake projects. This makes it a lot simpler to develop C++ projects built with CMake without the need to generate VS projects and solutions from the command line.

Bring your C++ codebase to Visual Studio with “Open Folder”

Marian Luparu [MSFT]October 5, 2016Oct 5, 201610/5/16

⏱ Updated on March 06, 2017 with the latest functionality in Visual Studio 2017 RTW

Welcome to Visual Studio 2017! Starting with this release, Visual Studio supports opening folders containing source code without the need to create any solutions or projects.

Set Environment Variables for Debug, Launch, and Tools with CMake and Open Folder

Will BuikNovember 18, 2019Nov 18, 201911/18/19

There are many reasons why you may want to customize environment variables. Many build systems use environment variables to drive behavior; debug targets sometimes need to have PATH customized to ensure their dependencies are found; etc. Visual Studio has a mechanism to customize environment variables for debugging and building CMake projects and C++ Open Folder.

Clang/LLVM Support in Visual Studio

Will BuikApril 24, 2019Apr 24, 201904/24/19

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1 Preview 2 comes with support for Clang/LLVM out-of-the-box. Visual Studio has had great tooling for MSVC and GCC for quite a while now. The latest preview brings Clang into the fold.
Visual Studio 2019 includes out of the box support for editing,

Visual Studio CMake Support – Clang/LLVM, CMake 3.14, Vcpkg, and Performance Improvements

Will BuikApril 24, 2019Apr 24, 201904/24/19

We’ve introduced a bunch of improvements to our CMake support in the latest preview of Visual Studio 2019 Update 1. The latest release includes Clang/LLVM support, CMake 3.14, better vcpkg integration, and many more enhancements. If you are not familiar with Visual Studio’s CMake support, check out how to get started.

Introducing the New CMake Project Settings UI

ErikaJanuary 24, 2019Jan 24, 201901/24/19

Visual Studio 2019 Preview 2 introduces a new CMake Project Settings Editor to help you more easily configure your CMake projects in Visual Studio. The editor provides an alternative to modifying the CMakeSettings.json file directly and allows you to create and manage your CMake configurations.

IntelliSense Enhancements for C++ Open Folder and CMake

Will BuikJanuary 10, 2018Jan 10, 201801/10/18

Today’s preview of Visual Studio 2017 version 15.6 Preview 2 includes two IntelliSense improvements to streamline code editing for C++ Open Folder and CMake. We added a new type of IntelliSense squiggle to C++ Open Folder and CMake to streamline cross-platform development. 

Customizing your Environment with Visual C++ and Open Folder

Will BuikNovember 2, 2017Nov 2, 201711/2/17

点这里看中文版
Ever since we shipped support for opening a folder of C++ code, the community has been asking for more control over their build and editing environments.  To achieve this, we have added new ways to customize your environment with CppProperties.json in the latest version of Visual Studio 2017.

ARM GCC Cross Compilation in Visual Studio

Marc GoodnerOctober 23, 2017Oct 23, 201710/23/17

点这里看中文版
⏱ Updated on January 10, 2018 to cover addition of debugging support in Visual Studio 2017 15.6
In Visual Studio 2017 15.5 we are introduced support for cross compilation targeting ARM microcontrollers. The 15.6 Preview 2 release adds debugging support.

Remote tasks in Visual Studio

Marc GoodnerOctober 23, 2017Oct 23, 201710/23/17

We have introduced a new capability to run remote tasks in Visual Studio 2017 15.5 Preview 2.  This capability allows you to run any command on a remote system that is defined in Visual Studio’s Connection Manager. Remote tasks also provide the capability to copy files to the remote system.

CMake support in Visual Studio – CMake 3.9, Linux targeting, feedback

Will BuikSeptember 14, 2017Sep 14, 201709/14/17

点这里看中文版
Visual Studio 2017 15.4 Preview 2 is now available and includes enhancements to Visual Studio’s CMake tools.  The latest preview upgrades CMake to version 3.9, includes better support for independent CMakeLists, and supports targeting Linux directly.
Please check out the preview and try out the latest CMake features. 

Using MinGW and Cygwin with Visual C++ and Open Folder

Will BuikJuly 19, 2017Jul 19, 201707/19/17

Building cross-platform C and C++ code is easier than ever with Visual Studio 15.3 Preview 4.  The latest preview improves support for alternative compilers and build environments such as MinGW and Cygwin.  MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows), in case you are not familiar with it,

JCC Erratum Mitigation in MSVC

Gautham Beeraka (Intel Americas Inc)February 4, 2020Feb 4, 202002/4/20

The content of this blog was provided by Gautham Beeraka from Intel Corporation.
Intel recently announced Jump Conditional Code (JCC) Erratum which can occur in some of its processors. The MSVC team has been working with Intel to provide a software fix in the compiler to mitigate the performance impact of the microcode update that prevents the erratum.

MSVC Backend Updates in Visual Studio 2019 Versions 16.3 and 16.4

Kevin CadieuxJanuary 28, 2020Jan 28, 202001/28/20

Versions 16.3 and 16.4 of Visual Studio 2019 brought many new improvements in code generation quality, build throughput, and security. If you still haven’t downloaded your copy, here is a brief overview of what you’ve been missing out on.

Demonstration of C++ Build Insights,

Game performance improvements in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2

Natalia GlagolevaAugust 8, 2019Aug 8, 201908/8/19

This spring Gratian Lup described in his blog post the improvements for C++ game development in Visual Studio 2019. From Visual Studio 2019 version 16.0 to Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2 we’ve made some more improvements. On the Infiltrator Demo we’ve got 2–3% performance wins for the most CPU-intensive parts of the game.

Improving the Performance of Standard Library Functions

Kirsten LeeJuly 30, 2019Jul 30, 201907/30/19

In Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2 we improved the codegen of several standard library functions. Guided by your feedback on Developer Community (Inlining std::lldiv and Improved codegen for std::fmin, std::fmax, std::round, std::trunc) we focused on the variants of standard division (std::div,

Improved Linker Fundamentals in Visual Studio 2019

Russell HadleyJuly 25, 2019Jul 25, 201907/25/19

On the C++ team we’ve heard loud and clear from users that build times are a pain point. We’ve continued our focus on improving the step, linking, that dominates F5 build times. Fast F5 build times, or iteration build times, are a key contributor to developer productivity and we felt that there was a large opportunity so we narrowed in on changes that we felt could move the needle 2x or more.

Inlining Decisions in Visual Studio

Terry MahaffeyJuly 24, 2019Jul 24, 201907/24/19

Introduction
My name is Terry Mahaffey and I work on the code generation team in MSVC. Lately I’ve been doing some work on our inliner and I wanted to give a brief introduction to it before later diving into some of the changes we’ll be shipping.

Accelerating Compute-Intensive Workloads with Intel® AVX-512

Intel CorporationApril 19, 2019Apr 19, 201904/19/19

This guest post was authored by Junfeng Dong, John Morgan, and Li Tian from Intel Corporation.
Introduction
Last year we introduced Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel® AVX-512) support in Microsoft* Visual Studio* 2017 through this VC++ blog post. In this follow-on post,

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension: March 2019 Update

Tara RajApril 4, 2019Apr 4, 201904/4/19

The March 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension is now available. This release includes many new features and bug fixes, including IntelliSense caching, Build and Debug Active File, and configuration squiggles. For a full list of this release’s improvements,

SIMD Extension to C++ OpenMP in Visual Studio

Hongtao YuMarch 27, 2019Mar 27, 201903/27/19

In the era of ubiquitous AI applications there is an emerging demand of the compiler accelerating computation-intensive machine-learning code for existing hardware. Such code usually does mathematical computation like matrix transformation and manipulation and it is usually in the form of loops.

Game performance and compilation time improvements in Visual Studio 2019

Gratian LupMarch 19, 2019Mar 19, 201903/19/19

The C++ compiler in Visual Studio 2019 includes several new optimizations and improvements geared towards increasing the performance of games and making game developers more productive by reducing the compilation time of large projects. Although the focus of this blog post is on the game industry,

Spring 2018 Visual C++ Migration Survey

EricMitteletteJune 7, 2018Jun 7, 201806/7/18

The Spring 2018 Visual C++ Migration Survey is now open.
Please take a few minutes to share your experiences, positive or not so positive. If you have not migrated your solutions and project to Visual Studio 2017, please let us know why. 

vcpkg 3 Months Anniversary, Survey

EricMitteletteJanuary 11, 2017Jan 11, 201701/11/17

vcpkg, a tool to acquire and build C++ open source libraries on Windows, was published 3 months ago. We started with 20 libraries and now the C++ community has added 121 new C++ libraries. We really appreciate your feedback and we created a survey to collect it.

C++ code analysis: tell us what you think!

Andrew PardoeSeptember 27, 2016Sep 27, 201609/27/16

We’d love to hear more about what you would like to see in C++ code analysis. We’re running a short survey–just 20 questions–to help us understand how to make C++ code analysis and Visual C++ better.
Please take a couple of minutes to fill out our C++ Code Analysis survey and let us know your thoughts.

C++ Unit Testing Survey (Summer 2016)

Augustin PopaJuly 14, 2016Jul 14, 201607/14/16

Hi everyone! The Visual Studio C++ team is conducting a survey to learn more about your C++ unit testing experiences. We’ll use the feedback to make improvements to Visual Studio in the future. The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete.

Visual C++ for Linux Updates

Marc GoodnerJune 7, 2016Jun 7, 201606/7/16

Updated 6/14/2016: We updated the original announcement post with the content below if you want a single page that covers everything about this extension. The below remains the same and just covers the updates from the original release.
We’re happy to provide an update on the VC++ for Linux extension which has a new release today.

C-Runtime Deployment: Why choose AppLocal?

Visual CPP TeamApril 18, 2016Apr 18, 201604/18/16

There are three main ways to depend on and deploy the Visual C++ libraries and the Universal CRT:

You can depend on the Visual C++ libraries and Universal CRT DLLs and deploy those DLLs centrally using the redistributables (the VCRedist, MSMs,

Do You Develop Games?

Eric BattalioFebruary 12, 2016Feb 12, 201602/12/16

Or have you worked on a game recently?
If so, please share some details about your experience. The Microsoft Visual Studio team would like to learn more about your current game development experience. The survey should take less than ~10 minutes.

Cppp 2019 Trip Report

Sy BrandJune 25, 2019Jun 25, 201906/25/19

Summary
CPPP is a new C++ conference in Paris, France. Its first iteration ran for a single day with three parallel tracks, drawing in 160 attendees.
The conference great on all fronts: the speakers & talks were varied and high-quality, the venue was right next to the Eiffel Tower and had plenty of space,

Binary Compatibility and Pain-free Upgrade: Why Moving to Visual Studio 2017 is almost “too easy”

Marian Luparu [MSFT]March 7, 2017Mar 7, 201703/7/17

Visual Studio 2017 is a major leap forward in terms of C++ functionality compared with VS 2015. We hope the new release will delight you in your day-to-day job as soon as you can upgrade.
This blog post focuses on the steps needed to upgrade from Visual Studio 2015 to 2017.

Visual C++ 2015 and 2017 Migration Documentation Update

EricMitteletteSeptember 19, 2016Sep 19, 201609/19/16

Upgrading to the latest C++ compiler and toolset is sometimes not so easy and can be time consuming. You are likely to encounter some compiler and linker errors and warnings in code that previously compiled cleanly. There are several possible sources for these errors,

Stuck on an older toolset version? Move to Visual Studio 2017 without upgrading your toolset

Marian Luparu [MSFT]February 24, 2016Feb 24, 201602/24/16

⏱ Updated on March 11, 2019 with the latest functionality in Visual Studio 2017
Are you currently developing your C++ projects in an older version of Visual Studio? If your reasons for avoiding the all-new features in VS 2017 are covered next,

C++ Cross-Platform Development with Visual Studio 2019 version 16.3: vcpkg, CMake configuration, remote headers, and WSL

ErikaAugust 16, 2019Aug 16, 201908/16/19

In Visual Studio 2019 you can target both Windows and Linux from the comfort of a single IDE. Visual Studio’s native support for CMake lets you open any folder containing C++ code and a CMakeLists.txt file directly in Visual Studio to edit,

Visual Studio CMake Support – Clang/LLVM, CMake 3.14, Vcpkg, and Performance Improvements

Will BuikApril 24, 2019Apr 24, 201904/24/19

We’ve introduced a bunch of improvements to our CMake support in the latest preview of Visual Studio 2019 Update 1. The latest release includes Clang/LLVM support, CMake 3.14, better vcpkg integration, and many more enhancements. If you are not familiar with Visual Studio’s CMake support, check out how to get started.

Using multi-stage containers for C++ development

Marc GoodnerDecember 13, 2018Dec 13, 201812/13/18

Updated January 10, 2020: Corrected link to article source that was broken by refactoring in the repo.
Containers are a great tool for configuring reproducible build environments. It’s fairly easy to find Dockerfiles that provide various C++ environments. Unfortunately, it is hard to find guidance on how to use newer techniques like multi-stage builds.

Use the official Boost.Hana with MSVC 2017 Update 8 compiler

Ulzii Luvsanbat [MSFT]August 30, 2018Aug 30, 201808/30/18

We would like to share a progress update to our previous announcement regarding enabling Boost.Hana with MSVC compiler. Just as a quick background, Louis Dionne, the Boost.Hana author, and us have jointly agreed to provide a version of Boost.Hana in vcpkg to promote usage of the library among more C++ users from the Visual C++ community.

Use Boost.Hana via vcpkg with the latest MSVC compiler

Ulzii Luvsanbat [MSFT]June 4, 2018Jun 4, 201806/4/18

Overview
As we continue to work towards improving the conformance of the MSVC compiler for the C++ community, we would like to enable more C++ libraries, and today we are bringing Boost.Hana to Visual C++.  Building on our recent C++ conformance progress,

Announcing a single C++ library manager for Linux, macOS and Windows: Vcpkg

EricMitteletteApril 24, 2018Apr 24, 201804/24/18

At Microsoft, the core of our vision is “Any Developer, Any App, Any Platform” and we are committed to bringing you the most productive development tools and services to build your apps across all platforms. With this in mind, we are thrilled to announce today the availability of vcpkg on Linux and MacOS.

Vcpkg: introducing installation options with Feature Packages

EricMitteletteFebruary 6, 2018Feb 6, 201802/6/18

We are happy to announce a new feature for vcpkg in version 0.0.103: Feature Packages.
Vcpkg is a package manager to help acquiring and building open source libraries on Windows; vcpkg currently offers over 600 C++ libraries available for VS2017 and VS2015.

Vcpkg: Introducing the upgrade command

EricMitteletteJanuary 16, 2018Jan 16, 201801/16/18

If you’re just getting started and want to learn more about vcpkg, check out our initial post.
We recently added a new option to vcpkg (i.e. vcpkg contact –survey) to provide a direct way to share your feedback with the Vcpkg team.

Vcpkg: Using multiple enlistments to handle multiple versions of a library

EricMitteletteOctober 23, 2017Oct 23, 201710/23/17

Vcpkg allows you to acquire and build 3rd party libraries on Windows. Once cloned, the vcpkg directory (enlistment) provides a stable set of libraries that are all compatible and based on the latest published version of these libraries. Occasionally, you may need different versions of the same library.

Vcpkg: introducing export command

EricMitteletteMay 3, 2017May 3, 201705/3/17

Vcpkg helps you acquire and build open source libraries on Windows. Since September 2016, the community added more than 200 libraries in the vcpkg catalog and has been contributing actively to the code itself. Vcpkg now supports Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2017 and can target dynamic or static libraries and platforms like x64,

Visual Studio Code CMake Tools Extension: Multi-root workspaces and file-based API

ErikaFebruary 7, 2020Feb 7, 202002/7/20

The February 2020 update of the Visual Studio Code CMake Tools extension is now available. This release includes two of the extension’s top feature requests: file-based API support and multi-root workspaces. For a full list of this release’s improvements check out the release notes on GitHub.

CMake Tools Extension for Visual Studio Code

ErikaNovember 21, 2019Nov 21, 201911/21/19

Microsoft is now the primary maintainer of the CMake Tools extension for Visual Studio Code. The extension was created and previously maintained by vector-of-bool, who has moved on to other things. Thank you vector-of-bool for all of your hard work getting this extension to where it is today!

Visual Studio Code C++ extension: Nov 2019 update

Marian Luparu [MSFT]November 4, 2019Nov 4, 201911/4/19

Find All References, Rename Symbol refactoring, support for localization, new navigation breadcrumb controls, and improvements to the Outline view are only a few of the improvements in the November 2019 update of Visual Studio Code C++ extension.

Visual Studio Code C/C++ Extension: July 2019 Update

Tara RajJuly 24, 2019Jul 24, 201907/24/19

The July 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension is now available. This release includes many new features, including semantic colorization and improvements to the IntelliSense Configuration Settings Editor UI and IntelliSense cache. For a full list of this release’s improvements,

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension: May 2019 Update

Tara RajMay 3, 2019May 3, 201905/3/19

The May 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension is now available to C/C++ extension Insiders. This release includes many new features, including Visual Studio Code Remote Development extensions with C/C++, an IntelliSense Configurations settings UI, and IntelliSense improvements.

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension: March 2019 Update

Tara RajApril 4, 2019Apr 4, 201904/4/19

The March 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension is now available. This release includes many new features and bug fixes, including IntelliSense caching, Build and Debug Active File, and configuration squiggles. For a full list of this release’s improvements,

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension: January 2019 Update

Tara RajJanuary 31, 2019Jan 31, 201901/31/19

[Updated on 11/4/2019] – Removed mentions of “Improved Member Function Completion” which is no longer supported based on user feedback.
The January 2019 update of the Visual Studio Code C++ extension is now available. This release includes many new features and bug fixes including documentation comments support,

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension August 2018 Update

Rong LuAugust 23, 2018Aug 23, 201808/23/18

Late last week we shipped the August 2018 update  to the C/C++ extension for Visual Studio Code. This update included support for “Just My Code” symbol search, a gcc-x64 option in the intelliSenseMode setting, and many bug fixes. You can find the full list of changes in the release notes.

C++ development with Docker containers in Visual Studio Code

Rong LuAugust 14, 2018Aug 14, 201808/14/18

Containers allow developers to package up an application with all the parts it needs, such as libraries and other dependencies, and ship it all out as one image. This is especially useful for C++ cross-platform development – with containers you can choose to target a platform that runs on a completely different operating system than your developer machine.

Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension July 2018 Update and IntelliSense auto-configuration for CMake

Rong LuJuly 25, 2018Jul 25, 201807/25/18

Last week we shipped the July 2018 update to the C/C++ extension for Visual Studio Code. In this update we added support for a new experimental API that allows build system extensions to pass IntelliSense configuration information to our extension for powering up full IntelliSense experience.

GSL 3.0.0 Release

Jordan MaplesApril 16, 2020Apr 16, 202004/16/20

GSL 3.0.0 Release
Version 3.0.0 of Microsoft’s implementation of the C++ Core Guidelines Support Library (GSL) is now available for you to download on the releases page. Microsoft’s implementation of gsl::span has played a pivotal role in the standardization of span for C++20.

Visual Studio Code C++ extension: Nov 2019 update

Marian Luparu [MSFT]November 4, 2019Nov 4, 201911/4/19

Find All References, Rename Symbol refactoring, support for localization, new navigation breadcrumb controls, and improvements to the Outline view are only a few of the improvements in the November 2019 update of Visual Studio Code C++ extension.

Improved C++ IntelliCode now Ships with Visual Studio 2019

Nick UhlenhuthApril 24, 2019Apr 24, 201904/24/19

IntelliCode support for C++ previously shipped as an extension, but it is now an in-box component that installs with the “Desktop Development with C++” workload in Visual Studio 2019 16.1 Preview 2. Make sure that IntelliCode is active for C++ by enabling the “C++ base model” under Tools >

std::optional: How, when, and why

Casey CarterSeptember 4, 2018Sep 4, 201809/4/18

This post is part of a regular series of posts where the C++ product team here at Microsoft and other guests answer questions we have received from customers. The questions can be about anything C++ related: MSVC toolset, the standard language and library,

C++ Core Checks in Visual Studio 2017 15.7 Preview 2

Sunny ChatterjeeMarch 22, 2018Mar 22, 201803/22/18

This post was written by Sergiy Oryekhov.
The C++ Core Guidelines Check extension received several new rules in Visual Studio 2017 15.7 Preview 2. The primary focus in this iteration was on the checks that would make it easier to adopt utilities from the Guidelines Support Library.

C++ Code Analysis Improvements for Visual Studio 2017 15.7 Preview 1

Kyle ReedMarch 13, 2018Mar 13, 201803/13/18

点这里看中文版
We’re making it easier to configure and use the C++ code analysis features with a set of changes targeting 15.7. In the first 15.7 preview we’ve cleaned up the UI, fixed our documentation links and, most importantly, simplified the way analysis extensions are configured. 

Arithmetic overflow checks in C++ Core Check

Sunny ChatterjeeFebruary 23, 2018Feb 23, 201802/23/18

点这里看中文版
We’ve improved the C++ Code Analysis toolset with every major compiler update in Visual Studio 2017. Version 15.6, now in Preview, includes a set of arithmetic overflow checks. This article discusses those checks and why you’ll want to enable them in your code.

Diagnostic Improvements in Visual Studio 2017 15.3.0

Yuriy SolodkyyJuly 21, 2017Jul 21, 201707/21/17

This post as well as described diagnostics significantly benefited from the feedback by Mark, Xiang, Stephan, Marian, Gabriel, Ulzii, Steve and Andrew.
Visual Studio 2017 15.3.0 release comes with a number of improvements to the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler’s diagnostics. Most of these improvements are in response to the diagnostics improvements survey we shared with you at the beginning of the 15.3 development cycle.

Building your C++ application with Visual Studio Code

Ankit AsthanaOctober 24, 2016Oct 24, 201610/24/16

Over the last few months, we have heard a lot of requests with respect to adding capability to Visual Studio Code to allow developers to build their C/C++ application. The task extensibility in Visual Studio Code exists to automate tasks like building,