What is the importance of visual C plus plus?

Answer 1

C++ is simply a specification of the language while VC++ is a specific implementation of the language that should follow the specification but doesn't. The differences are relatively minor, but can cause problems porting code between compilers. Implementations that follow the specification are generally considered better as they are more compliant with each other. However, if all you want to do is write Windows programs, VC++ is as good a choice as any.

Answer 2

Visual C++ has no importance as such. Microsoft obviously see it as important since they have not only invested a lot of time and effort into the product, it is used to create all their flagship products -- including Visual C++ itself. But programmers see it as just another commercial product competing for their custom, and are usually put off by its high-price and lack of standards-compliance (no version of Visual C++ has ever fully supported any C++ standard).

Moreover, Visual C++ is targeted specifically at Windows programmers and is therefore of little import to Unix programmers. However, Windows programmers aren't limited to Visual C++, with Embarcadero C++Builder being a popular (and cheaper) commercial choice. However, the open-source gcc is probably the most popular IDE in use today, not least for its cross-platform support, but also because it is standards-compliant and code can therefore be more easily ported to other platforms. The licensing also makes it more cost-effective.

Answer 3

In many ways Visual C++ detracts from the language. VC++ has never once been fully standard's compliant since initial release. However, it enhances the language insofar as it provides all the tools, libraries and components required to write Windows programs. The downside is that, due to Microsoft-specific enhancements, the code is not portable between compilers, even on the same platform. If you wish to switch to the Embarcadero compiler or gcc, for instance, you'll have to spend some time modifying the code to suit. You can still write cross-platform code, of course, but you'll have to rely on compiler directives to filter out the Microsoft-specifics and the non-standard language features, not to mention platform-dependencies which you would have to do anyway.

Answer 4

Visual C / C++ is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) by Microsoft for its Windows based systems. It makes the process of developing code easier by automatically showing you class and module hierarchy, vastly easing the debugging phase, by fully supporting multiple module projects and incremental builds, and by giving you fully integrated online, context sensitive help.

It is not the only IDE available, but it is one of the most popular and, in its express editions, it is free. Of course, so are some of the others, such as Eclipse.

It is not truly needed. You can also develop and debug from the command line, if you wish. You can obtain the Platform Software Development Kit also from Microsoft, also free and, of course, from other sources, such as GNU. (Although there are a lot of pieces with GNU.)

Answer 5

Visual C++ provides all the headers and libraries required to write Windows programs, but is not standards-compliant with ISO/ANSI C++.