

Visual C++ 2015 Brings Modern C++ to the Windows API - cek
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dn879357.aspx

======
masterofmisc
Its nice to see that C++ has evolved to the point where COM code can be
represented with nice easy-to-follow vanilla C++ without making you want to
throw up!! (and theres no stupid ^ (hat) symbol in sight)

It looks like Kenny Kerr has a site specifically for this here:
[http://moderncpp.com/](http://moderncpp.com/) and a video explaining things
here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvh3MePAzKs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvh3MePAzKs)

~~~
pjmlp
> and theres no stupid ^ (hat) symbol in sight

Easily avoidable with CComPtr.

The major complaint of many Windows C++ developers is that WRL could have been
made more developer friendly instead of spending resources on C++/CX.

Maybe Windows 10 will make it so, and C++/CX will join ranks with Managed C++
(.NET 1.x) and C++/CLI (does anyone use it?).

~~~
FubarCoder
We use C++/CLI, because it's the easiest way to use .NET components together
with legacy MFC code.

------
CyberDildonics
Will 2015 be the year Microsoft fully supports C++11?

~~~
pjmlp
Will 2015 be the year other commercial C++ vendors (Intel, Borland, Green
Hills, CodePlay HP, IBM, Oracle,...) catch up Microsoft?

~~~
cokernel_hacker
No, that was probably 2014.

Intel ships a compiler based on Clang:
[http://llvm.org/devmtg/2014-04/PDFs/Posters/ClangIntel.pdf](http://llvm.org/devmtg/2014-04/PDFs/Posters/ClangIntel.pdf)

This means they get clang's ridiculously conforming implementation with icc's
performance.

~~~
pjmlp
Unless Intel's documentation is out of date, they still haven't full C++11
support.

[https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/c0x-features-
suppo...](https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/c0x-features-supported-by-
intel-c-compiler)

~~~
cokernel_hacker
Those docs refer to Intel Composer XE 2013. The PDF I linked to is with
regards to Intel Composer XE 2015.

~~~
pjmlp
Have you bothered to read the "Version 15.0" column at all?

------
cube00
For a minute there I was worried the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) were
making a come back.

------
wslh
I remember using the obscure comet library to abstract COM in C++ (
[https://github.com/alamaison/comet](https://github.com/alamaison/comet) )
because the COM support in C++ required more knowledge.

------
foxhill
glad to see MS are still involved with languages they don't own, but i would
have been much happier if they supported C99..

~~~
yuhong
They also finally began revising the C compiler with VS2013 to include partial
support for that.

~~~
pjmlp
Only for what is required by the C++ standard, plus some key open source
projects.

------
tragomaskhalos
I remember a white paper outlining MS's initial attempts (c. 2000?) to add
additional syntax to C++ in order to save developers from much of the quagmire
that was COM programming in C++, before abandoning the whole thing in favour
of .NET. So nice to see that the language can now suppport that effort
natively.

~~~
pjmlp
It was called Ext-VOS.

[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dsyme/archive/2012/07/05/more-c-
net-...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dsyme/archive/2012/07/05/more-c-net-generics-
history-the-msr-white-paper-from-mid-1999.aspx)

WinRT is basically Ext-VOS reborn with .NET metadata.

------
namelezz
Does anyone know the upgrading price? I am trying to compare against Clion
from JetBrain.

~~~
Encosia
2015 Community Edition (which is basically VS Pro) will be free for non-
enterprise use.

~~~
namelezz
Awesome! Thank you for the info. Did not know about the Community Edition when
I bought my VS 2012.

~~~
Stratoscope
The Community Edition wasn't available when you bought your VS2012, nor when I
bought my VS2013+MSDN subscription. It's something new from about a month ago.

------
moomin
Am I right in thinking the wonderful features VC++ 2015 introduces that render
most of C++/CX irrelevant were in fact supported by GCC and CLang several
years before C++/CX was even released?

~~~
plorkyeran
2.9 was the first version of Clang with C++11 stuff (outside of the features
which everyone happened to support as extensions to C++03), released several
months before C++/CX in April 2011. It's easy to forget these days with how
impressive their progress has been, but it wasn't that long ago that Clang was
the neat project that people hoped would turn into a usable compiler. The
C++14 bits used weren't even _proposed_ yet when C++/CX was released, so
C++/CX may have been needed even if VC++ was fully caught up with the
standards.

