The Value of Team System to C++/Native Win32 developers
Whoa - didn't realize I had let this blog get so moldy! Apologies.
Recently I've had a similar conversation with many folks in the Microsoft consulting and field sales organizations about the value of Team System to C++/Native Win32 developers, folks not developing on .Net today. As an ex VC++ team member, this is a subject close to my heart. The truth is there is a lot of value in the server product in terms of its source control, work item tracking and reporting. But beyond that, we've added a host of advanced development tools that support the C++/Native Win32 developers too. These are all in the Developer edition of the Team System family.
The Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers (whoa - gotta love that name from marketing - we talk about it as TeamDev) includes:
- A Code profiler that works well on native code, it is based on profiling technology that has been used to ship SQL server and Windows in the past.
- Code analysis tools for native C++ that have been widely adopted and are part of the "minimum shipping bar" for most native code coming out of Microsoft.
- Unit test tools that can be targeted at native code (with a little work), and that can collect coverage data on native dlls.
- Integration of applicaiton verifier, a runtime checker that checks for common Windows programming mistakes and some memory and security issues.
We think it is a compelling offering for folks developing with native code and C++.
Even if these tools are not compelling for you to step to the TeamDev box, Visual C++ 2005 is an absolutley excellent product for those folks still developing native code. The compiler and libraries have gone from strength to strength, and I can speak from personal experience that the editing/browsing and debugging features in this edition make it a natural upgrade for anyone using previous versions of C++ today. And I include VC++ 6.0 in that.
Hope this helps folks understand our unwavering commitment to great tools to make every one of your software projects successful.
J