I'm trying to figure out what version of Visual Studio to use for updating some marshalling benchmarks. In the past I posted about a build problem while building a Boost test and someone pointed out that the version of the compiler I was using is a pre-release version --
Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 17.00.50214.1.

This version sounds like a pre-release version also:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35515

I'm not sure if the VS 2012 version here
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-express-windows-desktop

is a pre-release version or not. Is there a way to tell? Tia.

The first link is for updated VS2012 C++ compiler. It was released after VS2012. Read about it here: http://blogs.msdn.co...uture-of-c.aspx

The second link is for normal VS2012.

The first link is for updated VS2012 C++ compiler. It was released after VS2012. Read about it here: http://blogs.msdn.co...uture-of-c.aspx

The second link is for normal VS2012.

I'm thinking about using the "normal" version. I have an older version of VS11 already. Would it be good to remove the older version before downloading and installing the newer version?

If you have an older version of VS11, all you need to do is update it. Just download the updated compiler and install it.

I installed the new version:
Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 17.00.50727.1

How do you tell if this is a pre-release version or not?