C++ Improved in VS 2010

Visual Studio (VS) 2010, now generally available, includes several enhancements to the C++ language and associated tools that could help developers build applications more efficiently. The improvements provide access to new capabilities in Windows 7, assist developers targeting parallel computing hardware, optimize the integrated development environment (IDE) performance and build processes, and implement upcoming C++ standard specifications. Teams developing C++ code may benefit from the upgrade, but they need to consider the effort and time required to convert to the new environment of VS 2010.

Windows 7, Parallel Hardware, and More

C++ support in VS 2010 is improved in several major areas, including the following:

Windows 7 functionality support. Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), a set of class libraries for Visual C++ that gives C++ developers easier access to Windows APIs, is extended in VS 2010 to exploit capabilities of Windows 7, such as jump lists (application-specific submenus on the Start menu and taskbar), thumbnail preview (a small image of an application window when hovering over the taskbar), Windows 7-style tool ribbons, and multitouch support. The VS 2010 MFC also supports hardware-accelerated 2D graphics (Direct2D) and the Application Recovery and Restart manager (introduced in Windows Vista), which enables automatic background saves and recovery of saved files after crashes.