Long live C++

In an interview at the April 2005 ACCU Conference, Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++ said that it is a misconception that C++ will be taken over by newer languages. I am sure the 3+ million C++ programmers around the world would concur with that.

I doubt you’ll find many people creating web apps in C++ but C++ will be around for a long time, especially in embedded systems and traditional application development. C#, Visual Basic.Net, C++ and Java will each occupy a unique place in the programming languages world, with different languages more suited for different kinds of applications and scenarios. It is absolutely our strong belief in a multi-language ecosystem that led us to provide the same, state of the art of tools for all languages in Visual Studio.

The Managed C++ extensions enable developers to leverage existing C++ classes in targeting the .NET framework, enabling you to write code that targets the CLR (Common Language Runtime).

Visual Studio 2005 takes C++ development to a new level. For example, developers will get the same drag-and-drop experience creation of user interface as other languages, the same automatic statement completion and the same intuitive graphical debugger. Visual C++ 2005 developers will be able to build high performance 32-bit native code applications, use web services to interact with popular sites such as Amazon.com and Ebay, add professional quality 3D/2D graphics, video and sound using the DirectX SDK, all while generating robust and extremely fast code using our world-class C/C++ compiler.

C++ is here to stay for a long time and we are committed to providing the best tools for C++ development.

Namaste!