Microsoft releases "Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 "

Huh? Are you saying it works with VC 6.0 ?

With some tweaking (and loss of convenience), any compiler using standard IO streams can be used in VS6. So, I believe that this can too.

This is great news for hobbyist programmers, by the way - Microsoft''s compiler generally produces lightning-fast and very reliable code.

-Nik

Where did you hear about this? This is the first I''ve heard of this, and it seems to be extremely suprising/important information. The second a half decent front end is wrapped around this compiler, alternative/free C++ compilers are going to be rendered pointless.

I don''t understand the business logic behind this. I would''ve assumed it was an attempt to expand marketshare on Windows development, but Visual Studio/Microsoft''s compilers already have near complete market saturation. Is this an indirect attack on Linux/Mac/etc by providing completely superior development tools on Windows, for free?

Does anybody have any guesses or insight why they would do this????

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Original post by haro
Where did you hear about this? This is the first I've heard of this, and it seems to be extremely suprising/important information. The second a half decent front end is wrapped around this compiler, alternative/free C++ compilers are going to be rendered pointless.

I don't understand the business logic behind this. I would've assumed it was an attempt to expand marketshare on Windows development, but Visual Studio/Microsoft's compilers already have near complete market saturation. Is this an indirect attack on Linux/Mac/etc by providing completely superior development tools on Windows, for free?

Does anybody have any guesses or insight why they would do this????

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Well I read it on CodeProject and apparently it was first announced on a msdn blog.

I agree with you on the analysis. With a decent front end it would probably become the hobbyists preferable C++ compiler targetting (both native and .NET) Windows.

You would also need the dubgger tools: Microsoft Debugging Tools. The debugging tools are free as well.

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There's no place like 127.0.0.1


[edited by - rohde on April 18, 2004 9:25:56 AM]

[edited by - rohde on April 18, 2004 9:26:31 AM]

fyi, this is seriously old news. Since the release of the .NET SDK you have been able to download command line tools. It would appear that Microsoft has just separated them into their own package.

It will not only appeal to hobbyists, but to people like myself who primarily code for unix operating systems; we tend to enjoy the more indepth control offered by command line tools.

Now, if only they would ensure compliance with GCC parameters.....

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Original post by ChaoticCanuck
fyi, this is seriously old news. Since the release of the .NET SDK you have been able to download command line tools. It would appear that Microsoft has just separated them into their own package.

It will not only appeal to hobbyists, but to people like myself who primarily code for unix operating systems; we tend to enjoy the more indepth control offered by command line tools.

Now, if only they would ensure compliance with GCC parameters.....

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umm..no. IIRC the C++ compiler you got with the .NET SDK did NOT include CRT and STL etc., which rendered it useless unless you purely targetted .NET. So this is news indeed.

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There's no place like 127.0.0.1


[edited by - rohde on April 18, 2004 9:41:28 AM]

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Original post by ChaoticCanuck
fyi, this is seriously old news. Since the release of the .NET SDK you have been able to download command line tools.

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The .NET sdk does not include an optimizing C++ compiler, much less the 2003 version.

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Original post by ChaoticCanuck
Now, if only they would ensure compliance with GCC parameters.....

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"Compliance"? That would imply GCC is some kind of standards body.

I guess you still need to get the Platform SDK separately? Oh well, that''s free anyway, albeit a rather huge download.

Where do you get the platform SDK from, Arild?

Ok there has to be a catch..... Well i guess there is not.
Will I be able to use this compiler with Visual Studio.Net 2k3 standard. Is there a way i can replace the compiler on Visual Studio.NET with this toolkit.

NM, I found it on MS''s site.

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Original post by MDI
Where do you get the platform SDK from, Arild?

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here

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Original post by QzarBaron
Ok there has to be a catch..... Well i guess there is not.
Will I be able to use this compiler with Visual Studio.Net 2k3 standard. Is there a way i can replace the compiler on Visual Studio.NET with this toolkit.

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If you saw my post in the lounge I was quite shocked to discover that the compiler infact was "crap" in the standard edition after I got it.

This has just made my day (for the next few months).

*jumps for joy*

Yeah but that doesnt answer my question. Is there any way to replace the compiler on Visual Studio.NET standard with this.

Did you said microsoft and free in the same sentence?

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Original post by QzarBaron
Yeah but that doesnt answer my question. Is there any way to replace the compiler on Visual Studio.NET standard with this.

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I''d suspect you could just replace the cl.exe and link.exe in your VS.NET installation with the ones from the toolkit.

--
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Original post by someboddy
Did you said microsoft and free in the same sentence?

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Oh, give us a break. MS has always had lots of free stuff, especially for developers.

My guess is that that languages really aren''t where the money is at. People will still buy visual studio, because it is the whole package that really makes it, not the compiler.

I mean let''s face it almost all the language vendors are gone now except Borland.

I think this is a great thing, it was always my biggest complaint against Microsoft that it failed to provide free tools to program on it. But that was several years ago. Things have changed since than.

My last complaint is that 1) they should bring back the profiler (if it is in Visual .NET my copy did not come with it and I bought it) and 2) They should continue with the old Visual Basic as it was and provide both VB.NET and the old style (yes, people will pooh on VB, but VB6 was just very handy for generating EXEs for quicky programs that don''t need .NET).