Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Visual C++

GoingNative 16: Garrett Serack - Inside NuGet for C++

Charles — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:51:16 GMT

NuGet support for C++ projects in Visual Studio has arrived in NuGet version 2.5! This has been an elusive feature for VC++ developers so we are thrilled it's here. It's been around for about a month now so we figured we'd go talk to one of the developers who helped make it happen, Microsoft's Garrett Serack.

Huge thanks to Garrett and the awesome NuGet team for bringing NuGet goodness to C++!

Download NuGet 2.5
Download the tools to build C++ packages

[00:00] GoingNative();// Charles and Ale construct the show. Sorry about missing last month! Milan update. NuGet.
[02:25] Charles interviews Garrett Serack about NuGet for C++
[39:04] ~GoingNative(); // Please send any and all feedback about NuGet for C++ to us!

More information:

NuGet Team blog post on NuGet for C++
VC++ Team blog post on NuGet for C++
Building Native Libraries for NuGet with CoApp's Powershell Tools (video)
Consuming Native NuGet Packages in Visual Studio (video)

We really want to hear from you, so please tweet feedback to @C9GoingNative (follow us!) and send your requests, ideas, complaints, praises, hate mail, and love letters to C9GoingNative@hotmail.com. We will read and respond to all messages! That's how we roll, brothers and sisters. If you are a Facebook user (who isn't these days?), then please join our C9::GoingNative Facebook group.

GoingNative 15: VC++ turns 20, Ale turns 40, C9 turns 9

Charles — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:01:29 GMT

Visual C++ turned 20 this month! It certainly has come a long way. How did it begin? What were the goals way back when? Fortunately for us, one of the original team members VC++ team members, Jan Gray, set up a reunion of former and current employees who worked on the first visual IDE for C++ from Microsoft. During one of the related gatherings, Jan and fellow original VC++ alum, Rico Mariani, joined us for a casual chat about the early days of VC++. This conversation is full of goodness and a few surprises. Congratulations to the VC++ team and to all who shaped and continue to shape the product, from VC++ 1.0 to VC++11 - and that includes you, too!

It's no coincidence that as VC++ turned 20, Ale turned 40, and Channel 9 turned 9. Or is it? What's the hidden meaning in the sequence 20 40 9? Certainly something special! Happy birthday to all!!! And a big thank you to all of you who use Visual C++.

[00:00] GoingNative(); //We filmed this episode on Ale's 40th, VC++'s 20th, and C9's 9th birthday!!
[02:26] Rico Mariani and Jan Gray reminisce about the very early days of VC++
[46:11] ~GoingNative();

Microsoft DevRadio: Developing Your Windows 8 Apps using Visual C++

Jerry Nixon, DevRadio, ChrisCaldwell — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:00:39 GMT

Abstract:
Jerry Nixon welcomes Eric Battalio, Ayman Shoukry and Raman Sharma from the Visual C++ team as they discuss how you can develop Windows 8 apps using C++. Tune in as they provide best practices and reasons why you would want to use this language.

Next Steps:
Step #1 – Download the Tools for Windows 8 App Development
Step #2 – Download Visual Studio Express for Windows 8
Step #3 – Start building your own Apps for Windows 8

Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, Zune, or RSS

If you're interested in learning more about the products or solutions discussed in this episode, click on any of the below links for free, in-depth information:

Websites:

Blogs & Articles:

Videos:

Virtual Labs:

Windows 8 Release Preview Virtual Labs

GoingNative 12: C++ at Build 2012, Inside Profile Guided Optimization

Charles — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:40:26 GMT

Profile Guided Optimization, or PGO, is an approach to optimization where the compiler uses profile information to make better optimization decisions for the program. Profiling is the process of gathering information of how the program is used during runtime. In a nutshell, PGO is optimizations based on user scenarios whereas static optimizations rely on the source file structure. VC++ has supported this approach to measurement-based code optimization since VC2005. In this episode of GoingNative, we are going to dig into VC++'s implementation of PGO with some of the folks who make it: Program Manager Amit Mohindra and Development Lead Ten Tzen. Tune in.

Table of contents

[00:00] GoingNative();\\ Charles and Ale discuss C++ at Build 2012 and introduce Profile Guided Optimization.

[04:09] Charles interviews VC++ back end compiler team members Ten Tzen (lead developer) and Amit Mohindra (PM) about VC++'s implementation of PGO. Whiteboarding included. This is a long interview, so make some time.

[01:04:15] ~GoingNative(); // Charles and Ale reflect on PGO, Charles answers Herb Sutter's question (that Herb asked Charles during his Build 2012 C++ session (in his intro remarks). Hi Herb!

We really want to hear from you, so please tweet feedback to @C9GoingNative (follow us!) and send your requests, ideas, complaints, praises, hate mail, and love letters to C9GoingNative at hotmail com. We will read and respond to all messages! That's how we roll, brothers and sisters. If you are a Facebook user, then please join our C9::GoingNative Facebook group.

Go native!

GoingNative 10: Welcome Ale Contenti, VC11 and Beyond with Steve Teixeira and Tarek Madkour

Charles — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 18:57:23 GMT

Visual Studio 2012 RTM'd recently and MSDN subscribers are now writing code in the latest iteration of VS! C++ developers will be pleased with the improvements in VC11. From the compiler to libraries to IDE features, VC++ in VS 2012 represents the best version of VC++ to date, chalk full of new features and modern capabilities.

Now that VC11 has shipped, what's next? What are some of the things the VC team are working on? What's the plan for shipping new features faster?

[00:00] GoingNative(); // VC++ Dev Manager Ale Contenti joins the cast!

[07:09] Charles interviews VC++ leaders Steve Teixeira and Tarek Madkour about VC11 RTM and beyond. Congratulations to the VC team for shipping a stellar release!!

[38:04] ~GoingNative(); // Ale and Charles talk about the industry's movement towards more cohesive standard modern libraries. See you next month! Go native! Ciao Ale!

Jim Radigan: Inside Auto-Vectorization, 1 of n

Charles — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:17:10 GMT

The VC++ 2012 auto-vectorizer tries to make loops in your code run faster by automatically vectorizing your code using the SSE instructions available in all current mainline Intel and AMD chips. In Visual C++ 2012, auto-vectorization is on by default and requires only that you write your code—that is, there are no compiler switches, #pragmas, or hints. It just works. Of course, it's one thing to say that, but how does it work, exactly? When does it vectorize and when doesn't it? Why?

Auto-vectorization is a powerful compiler feature. In VS 12 it represents outstanding engineering by a few folks on the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler team. The engineering leader of this team is Jim Radigan. Fortunately for us, Jim has agreed to do a series of C9 lectures digging into the nuts and bolts of automatic vectorization in general and specifically as it relates to the latest version of VC++. Thank you, Jim!

In the first part of this n-part series, Jim introduces the series, describes improvements to the VC++ 2012 compilers, shares, introduces auto-vectorization, demos a few apps that benefit from compiler-optimized performance via auto-vectorization, and begins to describe how/when user code is vectorized (typical and atypical patterns alike - more to come as the lectures progress, of course). Over the course of this series, Jim will present both the practical and theoretical foundations of auto-vectorization.

(You can learn more about auto-vectorization in VC++ by reading the blog posts by Jim Hogg, another member of the VC++ compiler team working on this technology.)

Tune in. Ask questions. Learn.

Stephan T. Lavavej: Core C++, 1 of n

Charles — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:21:32 GMT

In part 1, STL focuses on Name Lookup, which is a surprisingly complex process.

Remember Herb Sutter's great GotW post (#30, to be precise) on Name Lookup? Here's the problem from that post, to refresh your memory (Thanks to Herb for providing information like this on GotW!):

In the following code, which functions are called? Why? Analyze the implications?

namespace A {
      struct X;
      struct Y;
      void f( int );
      void g( X );
}

namespace B {
       void f( int i ) {
            f( i );   // which f()?
        }
        void g( A::X x ) {
             g( x );   // which g()?
        }
        void h( A::Y y ) {
             h( y );   // which h()?
        }
 }

We recommend you watch this entire episode before playing around with Herb's sample above (and don't read the GotW answer, either! That's cheating. Learn from STL. He's an outstanding teacher, as you know.)

Please supply feedback on this thread, especially as it relates to what you'd like STL to focus on in subsequent episodes. For part 2, STL will focus on Template Argument Deduction.

Tune in. Enjoy. Learn.

GoingNative 1: VC++ vNext, CRT, C++ and Beyond

Charles — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:30:00 GMT

We're back with the second installment of C9::GoingNative and we have a great show for you! Thanks for being patient and for all the excellent feedback and support for GN! We are listening to you and will continue to adjust the show based on your feedback (note the background—less motion, but not completely void of animation). Early on, we received a request to spend some time on the CRT. Here, we do just that. Mahmoud Saleh is the STL of the CRT (now, in this case STL refers to both Stephan T. Lavavej—our hero—and of course it also means Standard Template Library, the code Stephan maintains and improves. Mahmoud maintains and improves the CRT (C Run-Time Libraries)).

Diego demos some nifty new VC++ IDE features arriving in vNext. You can learn more about these new features in a recently published article by Sumit Kumar, program manager in the Visual C++ team. Much thanks to the VC++ team for pushing the IDE forward.

Charles and a few fellow C++ and Beyond attendees share perspectives on this great event for C++ developers. And looking forward, you'll see some great C++ and Beyond content on C9 over the coming months and well, yesterday: Watch the C++ and Beyond C9 interview with Herb, Scott, and Andrei.
.
Table of Contents(click time code links to navigate player accordingly)

[00:00] GoingNative();
[01:58] Diego demos some VC++ vNext features
[10:20] Charles and Diego briefly chat about Diego's demo
[12:37] Meet Mahmoud Saleh and learn all about the CRT
[37:06] Diego and Charles: CRT debriefing, C++ and Beyond
[41:29] gn.~GoingNative();

We really want to hear from you, so please tweet feedback to @C9GoingNative (follow us!) and send your requests, ideas, complaints, praises, hate mail, and love letters to C9GoingNative at hotmail com. We will read and respond to all messages! That's how we roll, brothers and sisters. If you are a Facebook user, then please join our C9::GoingNative Facebook group.

Go native!

Craig Symonds and Mohsen Agsen: C++ Renaissance

Charles — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:04:16 GMT

When you think about all the code executing in the world at any given time, there's a good chance you're thinking about a lot of code written in C/C++ (aka native code). As Mohsen Agsen mentions so astutely in this impromptu and candid conversation, C++ can be thought of as the dark matter of the developer universe: there is so much of it all around us, hiding in the computational shadows, powering so much of what we take for granted, technologically.

C++ is currently undergoing a renaissance. This means that, by definition, the language, compilers and compositional tooling are evolving and coalescing into a state that maximizes native developer efficiency, productivity, and creativity across hardware and software domains (PCs, mobile devices, embedded systems, operating systems, user applications, services, etc). C++ is a powerful "systems" programming language, but it's more than that. It's object oriented, but it's more than that. At Microsoft, most of our flagship products are written in C++ (and C, like the Windows kernel...). As somebody with a keen interest in programming languages and software engineering, generally, I wanted to get some answers to broad questions concerning the language that consistently ranks near the top of the most widely used general purpose programming languages in the world. Who better to talk to than some key technical leaders driving Microsoft's Visual C++ business?

Mohsen Agsen is a Microsoft Technical Fellow and veteran C++ developer who runs the VC++ engineering team. Craig Symonds is the Director of Program Management for VC++ and a long time Microsoft dev tools veteran. Both Mohsen and Craig have been at the company for many years and have a ton of industry experience. I paid them a visit to see what’s on their minds these days regarding the native developer community, C++, Visual Studio, and more. As you will learn, Microsoft and Visual Studio, specifically, are re-doubling efforts to take part in the native code renaissance. Accordingly, you may see advances in our native tooling that the team thinks of as “C++ first” -> VC++ will extend its capabilities on a faster pace than it has ever done so in the past, at times surpassing the other VS languages/runtimes, in specific scenarios. This is exciting and a long time coming, but of course it's more passion than promise at this point. There is no specific news here, just perspectives and insights among some very bright people driving Microsoft's C++ efforts. I really enjoyed the conversation with Craig and Mohsen and hope to chat with them again in the near future.

Links into specific conversation points (video skimming):

Introductions
State of the union for C++ from Microsoft's perspective
C++ as both a low level and high level programming language
C++ as object oriented, but OO is a capability, not a requirement
Garbage collection in C++. Why not?
C++ portability
Visual Studio C++ integration and parity with the other languages/runtimes in VS and C++ first

Here’s to the C++ Renaissance.

Tune in. Enjoy.