The future of C++ Programming with Visual Studio Codename Orcas

The MVP Summit also involved many good up-close sessions with the technical people from the Visuai Studio / Visual C++ team. This was Microsoft's way of getting feedback from people like me who are in close sync with the development community about pain points of the past, and features that newer versions of Visual Studio (Orcas, for now) will come up with.

One of the most important aspects about Orcas is the continued investment and commitment that Microsoft seems to display with respect to supporting and improving the C++ language features.

Here are some details related to enhancement towards programming in Managed C++ (the .NET version of traditional C++ language) -

• STL will come with a managed version for those that would like to use STL containers in Managed C++
  
• These STL containers will allow for easy conversions / interchange between STL Container types and .NET Types. For example - a std::map returned from C++ code can be received as an IDictionary object in C#.
• Marshalling support will be extended via new templates that allow for ease of managing unmanaged memory in MC++ applications.

Unmanaged C++ will eventually feature -

• A cooler version of MFC that will support VISTA like User Interface (yes, using MFC would not necessarily mean that you'd be stuck with Win 95 style controls!), and wrapper classes that supply more usable buttons et al.
  
• There would be support for Vista UAC - if you have build C++ applications that need UAC elevation in VISTA using current versions of Visual Studio, then you know how painful it is to create and embed that manifest, for the moment.
  
• Faster builds
• Refactoring features (like intelligent Find / Replace that you see when programming in C#)
• Squiggles for C++ code (akin to those squiggly-underlines you see when you type a syntactically incorrect line of code in C#).
• Issues like Modules and Concurrency issues for Multi-Core / -Processor platforms were considered important.

The discussions were all very involving and throughly interesting. The days featured exhaustive sessions and the evenings featured parties that were just as good!

Seattle... First impressions...

Rainy and Overcast - first things that came to my mind as I land in Seattle, Washington.

The flight to Seattle was particularly weird. My American Airlines aircraft was at times withering like a leaf in a storm and at moments seem to be surfing (imaginary) waves with the skills of an experienced surf-boarder. As AA served neither breakfast nor snacks (those could be purchased if they hadn't been oversold) and offered the passengers something to drink - but only once, the flight in a S80 (no, it is not a Volvo) was a real queasy experience.

However, every dark cloud has a silver lining (or so I believe) and the S80 gave me some splendid views of Canada...

View of Canada from my window seat

As I had nobody sitting next to me to talk to, I spent my time reading "The Deadline" - a book that gives a very good insight into Management Principles from a funnily cynical perspective.

Microsoft has arranged for excellent accommodations in this truly world class hotel - I have no regrets in choosing The Westin in downtown Seattle. Lunch is an Italian Risotto at a neigbouring restaurant with a couple of Excel MVPs (the waitress surprised us by asking where we are put up - a surprise that got later explained when she offered Bruchettos - allegedly sponsored by The Westin - who's complaining?)

In a few moments (hopefully) Guido will be ready for a power-walk in downtown Seattle, followed by a power-dinner. Marius and Brad cannot be traced, and other MVPs from Codeguru are scattered all over town.

The view from my desk as I compose this post is excellent... The Space Needle is right in front of me, and the bay is to the left...

Daytime view of the Space Needle from my room

This is the room with a view!