Re: [GD-Windows] Visual C++ .Net

[Rich <leg...@xm...>]

In article <E0B4F5A89A36D5118FD700105A120D3904BEF1@EXCHANGE>,
    Nathan Rausch <Nat...@te...>  writes:

> As far as Microsoft is concerned, 95 is dead and buried. 98 and NT4 are just
> around the corner as well.

Personally I can't wait for NT4 to die ;-)

> As far as VS.net goes, what does it have to offer us who don't use
> ATL/Wizards/Whamadoodles9.5 or whatever else they decided to stick on?

(As an aside, ATL's smart COM pointer class is quite handy even if you
never use anything else from ATL.)

> Things like partial template specialization, better template support in
> general, and better conformance to the C++ standard are really what interest
> me the most. Microsoft's site is pretty barren in this area. I'd be sold if
> it could compile Blitz++ ;)

Yes, I think Blitz is one of the things specifically they say they are
targetting for support.  The template support is much improved.  MS
just hired Stanley Lippman (of "C++ Primer" fame, among others) as the
main architect guy for VC++.  There is an interview with him on the
Visual C++ home page.
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/default.asp>

I quote from that interview:

    "Microsoft is however working to ensure that Visual C++ will
    compile the most popular libraries such as Boost, Blitz, Loki and
    a fully compliant version of STL. The emphasis is on a level of
    compliance that allows popular libraries to be compiled, not 100%
    compliance."

I recommend reading the whole interview for the proper context of that
last statement.
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