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VC++ and Win8 Metro apps: May 18, livestream and on-demand

2012-05-17 by Herb Sutter

Reblogged from Sutter’s Mill:

Want to know how to write cool tablet apps using Visual C++?

On May 18, Microsoft is hosting a one-day free technical event for developers who want to write Metro apps for Windows 8 using Visual C++. I’m giving the opening talk, and the rest of the day is full of useful technical information on everything from XAML and DirectX to networking and VC++ compiler flags.

Read more… 361 more words

Day-before reminder: If you are interested in tablet apps using VC++, check out the livestream starting at 9am U.S. Pacific time tomorrow, or come back later to watch the talks on demand.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

VC++ and Win8 Metro apps: May 18, livestream and on-demand

2012-05-07 by Herb Sutter

Want to know how to write cool tablet apps using Visual C++?

On May 18, Microsoft is hosting a one-day free technical event for developers who want to write Metro apps for Windows 8 using Visual C++. I’m giving the opening talk, and the rest of the day is full of useful technical information on everything from XAML and DirectX to networking and VC++ compiler flags.

Please note: This event is Windows-specific, and talks will use both portable ISO C++ as well as Visual C++-specific libraries and compiler extensions; for brevity these are being referred to as "C++" to highlight to a Microsoft-specific audience that that this day is about Visual C++, not about Visual C# or Visual Basic or JavaScript.

From the page:

Join the Microsoft Visual C++ and Windows teams in Redmond on May 18, 2012 for a free, all-day event focused on building Windows 8 Metro style apps with C++. 

These Windows-specific talks will use both portable ISO C++ and Visual C++-specific compiler extensions; for brevity below we’ll refer to both as "C++" (i.e., this day is about Visual C++, not Visual C# or JavaScript).

We will have pragmatic advice for every developer writing Metro style apps and games with XAML and/or DirectX and C++.

Register now!

Agenda:

  • Visual C++ for Windows 8, Keynote by Herb Sutter
  • Building Windows 8 apps with XAML and C++
  • Building Windows 8 games with DirectX and C++
  • Introduction to the Windows Runtime Library  (WRL)
  • Writing Connected apps: Writing networking code with C++
  • Combining XAML & DirectX in a Metro style apps
  • Writing WinRT components to be consumed from any language
  • VC11 compiler flags for getting the most out of C++

All sessions will be recorded and available for on demand viewing on C9.

I wish I’d blogged about it right away when it was announced a week or so ago, because registration filled immediately before I could blog it (I think on the first day), and then when the room was expanded it filled again right away again before I could blog about it. Then I procrastinated for a few days. You can still register here for the waitlist to see it in person, but I have good news…

All sessions will be broadcast livestream and then available for viewing on demand. If you’re halfway around the world, or just halfway across the country, it’s hard to fly somewhere for a one-day event anyway; thanks to livestream and on-demand, the Internet is our friend. I look forward to seeing and e-seeing many of you there.

Posted in C++, Microsoft, Software Development, Talks & Events | 3 Comments »

Looking for compiler engineers

2012-05-04 by Herb Sutter

Are you a compiler engineer or know one, and looking for interesting work on a top-notch team?

We’re hiring. (That particular link says two openings, but there are more.)

Posted in C++, Microsoft | 3 Comments »

Reader Q&A: What about VC++ and C99?

2012-05-03 by Herb Sutter

imageI occasionally get asked about whether, or how well, Visual C++ supports C99.

The short answer is that Visual C++’s focus is to support ISO C code that is supported by ISO C90 or ISO C++ (98 or 11). For the longer answer, I’m combining my UserVoice answers below, plus an additional comment about restrict in particular.

Our focus in Visual C++ is on making a world-class C++ compiler, and we’re heads-down on C++11 conformance. For C programmers, the good news is twofold:

1. Our primary goal is to support "most of C99/C11 that is a subset of ISO C++98/C++11."

  • VC++ 2010 already fully supports the C subset of C++98, including things like <stdint.h> and declarations in the middle of a block.[*] The C subset of C++98 is approximately C95 (with very few incompatibilities with C95; i.e., there are very few cases where legal C95 code has a different meaning or is invalid in C++98) plus a few C99 features like declaring variables in the middle of blocks).
  • VC++11 now in beta already adds partial support for the C11 subset of C++11 (e.g., it supports the new C11 atomic_int types for concurrency and parallelism).
  • Soon after VC++11 ships we have announced we will do out-of-band releases for additional C++11 conformance which will naturally also include more C11 features that are in the C subset of C++11. We intend to implement all of the C++11 standard, which includes much of C99 — roughly, it includes the C99 preprocessor and library extensions but not the language extensions like restrict.

So we already support large subsets of C99 and some-and-soon-more of C11. Our immediate and long-term goal is to fully support the C subsets of ISO C++.

2. We also for historical reasons ship a C90 compiler which accepts (only) C90 and not C++.

For the (hopefully rare) cases where legal C90 code has a different meaning in C++98 and this matters to C developers, for backward compatibility with older C90 code we also continue to ship a C compiler that implements Standard C90 exactly (using /TC or naming files as something.c).

Granted, however, there is also bad news for C programmers:

3. We do not plan to support ISO C features that are not part of either C90 or ISO C++.

I understand C programmers may be disappointed or angry with this answer and I’m sorry to have to say no here. It’s true, and very quotable, that "focus means saying no," but that doesn’t make it easy to say — it is hard to say no to you, and I’m sorry to say it. But we have to choose a focus, and our focus is to implement (the standard) and innovate (with extensions like everyone but which we also contribute for potential standardization) in C++.

Recommendations

We recommend that C developers use the C++ compiler to compile C code (using /TP if the file is named something.c). This is the best choice for using Visual C++ to compile C code.

Alternatively, we recommend that C developers use the C90 compiler (using /TC or naming files as something.c) if you need to write C90 conforming code that exercises some of the rarer cases that in C++98 are illegal or have changed meaning. This is a fallback primarily intended to support historical C code.

If you really need either of the following:

  • features in C95/C99/C11 that are not part of ISO C++; or
  • features in C that are in the C++ subset but without also enabling the writing of C++ code;

then we recommend that you consider using a different compiler such as Intel or gcc (short-term) and/or pressure your standards committee representatives to have ISO C++ include more of the C standard (longer-term).

 

[*] Visual C++ also partly supports some C99 language features under a slightly different syntax and possibly with slightly different semantics. Notably, we support __restrict – we did (and could again) consider allowing the standard C99 spelling restrict here for this feature, but please understand that this is not as simple as it looks. Not only the VC++ team, but also the ISO C++ standards committee, considered adding restrict to VC++ and ISO C++, respectively. Although it was specifically suggested for ISO C++11, it was rejected, in part because it’s not always obvious how it extends to C++ code because C++ is a larger language with more options and we would want to make sure the feature works correctly across the entire language.

Posted in C++, Reader Q&A | 49 Comments »

C++ Libraries: Casablanca

2012-04-30 by Herb Sutter

imageAt GoingNative in February, I emphasized the need for more modern and portable C++ libraries, including for things like RESTful web/cloud services, HTTP, JSON, and more. The goal is to find or develop modern C++ libraries that leverage C++11 features, and then submit the best for standardization.

Microsoft wants to do its part, and here’s a step in that direction.

Today I’m pleased to see Soma’s post about “C++, Cloud Services, and You” announcing the DevLabs release of Casablanca, a set of C++ libraries for Visual C++ users that start to bring the same modern conveniences already enjoyed by .NET and Node.js and Erlang users also to C++ developers on our local and cloud platforms, including modern C++ libraries for REST, HTTP, and JSON. From Soma’s announcement, adding my own emphasis and minor code edits:

Historically, we’ve lacked such simple tools for developers using C++.  While there are multiple relevant native networking APIs (e.g. WinINet, WinHTTP, IXMLHttpRequest2, HTTP Server API), these are not optimized from a productivity perspective for consuming and implementing RESTful cloud services using modern C++.  They don’t compose particularly well with code based on the standard C++ libraries, and they don’t take advantage of modern C++ language features and practices in their programming models.

This is where “Casablanca” comes in.  “Casablanca” is a set of libraries for C++ developers, taking advantage of some recent standard language features already available through Visual Studio.

“Casablanca” aims to make it significantly easier for C++ coders to consume and implement RESTful services.  It builds on lessons from .NET, from Node.js, from Erlang, and from other influencers to create a modern model that is meant to be easy to program while still being scalable, composable, and flexible.

As an example, here’s a snippet that uses the client HTTP library to search Bing for my name and output the results to the console:

    http_client bing( L"http://www.bing.com/search" );

    bing.request( methods::GET, L"?q=S.Somasegar" )
        .then( []( http_response response ) {
            cout << "HTML SOURCE:" << endl << response.to_string() << endl; })
        .wait();

and here’s a simple web listener hosted in a console application:

    listener::create( argv[1], []( http_request req ) {
            req.reply( status_codes::OK, "Namaste!" ); })
        .listen( []{ fgetc( stdin ); } )
        .wait();

For those of you looking to build Azure services in C++, “Casablanca” comes with a Visual Studio wizard to set up everything up correctly.  You can target both Web and Worker roles, and you can access Azure storage using the built-in C++ library bindings. […] Taking C++ to the cloud with “Casablanca” is another exciting step in that journey.

Today’s Casablanca release is as a DevLabs project, to get usability feedback and to eventually support these features in the full Visual C++ product. If you’re interested in using C++ to consume and implement cloud services, and sharing what kind of support you want and whether you think Casablanca is on the right track, please let us know in the forums.

Looking beyond Visual C++, one piece of Casablanca is already being proposed for standardization, namely the “future.then” nonblocking continuations that are required to be able to write highly responsive composable libraries – you really want all async libraries to talk about their work using the same type, and std::future already gives half of what we need (blocking synchronization) and just needs the non-blocking part too. Also being proposed as an optional layer on top of “future.then” is an “await” style of language support to make the async operations as easy to express and use in C++ as in any of the best languages in the world.

Note that there are other C++ libraries too for several of these facilities. Repeating what I said at GoingNative, we (Microsoft) don’t care whose libraries get standardized – whether ones we contribute or someone else’s. We care most that there be standard C++ libraries for these modern uses, starting with the most basic “future.then” support, and to encourage all companies and groups who have libraries in these important spaces to contribute them and take the best and make them available to C++ developers on all platforms. This is a small step in that process.

Posted in C++, Concurrency, Microsoft, Software Development | 12 Comments »

World’s youngest C++ programmer?

2012-04-30 by Herb Sutter

I’m seeing many younger programmers picking up C++. The average age at C++ events over the past year has been declining rapidly as the audience sizes grow with more and younger people in addition to the C++ veterans.

But this one just beats all [Facebook link added]:

A six-year-old child from Bangladesh is hoping to be officially recognised as the world’s youngest computer programmer.

Wasik Farhan-Roopkotha showed an aptitude for computing at an early age and started typing in Microsoft Word at just three years old, BBC News reports.

The precocious youngster was programming game emulators from the age of four and his achievements have already received extensive media coverage in his home country.

He has also gained knowledge of C++, the programming language developed by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup, without any formal training.

This kid seems pretty exceptional. Welcome, Wasik! I don’t expect the programs to be very complicated, and I’ll leave aside questions of balancing computer time with real-world time and exercise, but this is still quite an achievement.

How young were you when you wrote your first program? I discovered computers for the first time at age 11 when I switched to a new school that had a PET 2001, and wrote my first BASIC programs when was 11 or 12, first on paper and then a little on the PET when I could get access to it. I still fondly remember when I finally got my own Atari 800 when I was 13… thanks again for the loan for that, mum and dad! the first loan I ever took, and paid off in a year with paper-route money. Having that computer was definitely worth a year of predawn paper delivery in the rain, sleet, and snow.

Posted in C++, Opinion & Editorial, Software Development | 15 Comments »

C++ and Beyond Panel: Modern C++ = Clean, Safe, and Faster Than Ever

2012-04-30 by Herb Sutter

I just posted the following panel announcement to the C++ and Beyond site. The three-day event (plus evening-before reception) with me, Scott Meyers, and Andrei Alexandrescu will be held on August 5-8, and early-bird registration is open until May 31.

 

image_thumb[1]C++11 is kind of like “C++ Dreamliner.” It’s built with world-class modern materials. It took a couple more years to finish than originally expected. But now it’s starting to roll out worldwide and flying more safely and efficiently than ever. (European readers may equally consider it “C++ 380.”)

As I write and teach about C++11, I emphasize that:

Modern C++ is clean, safe, and fast – modern C++ code is as readable and as type- and memory-safe as code written in any other modern language [*], and it has always been the king of ‘fast’ and is now faster than ever with new features like move semantics.

Bjarne Stroustrup made me add, at the end of the “clean and safe” part:

“[*] When used in a modern style.” – Bjarne Stroustrup

Bjarne and I claim this to be true. Others have disputed various parts of this statement – whether C++11 really has a usable safe subset, whether C++ is really necessarily faster than code in other languages, and other questions. What’s the truth?

These answers matter. Type safety and memory safety are important not only for writing reliable code that will fail or be abused less often, but also for improving developer productivity so that developers can spend less time on overhead “taxes” like checking for unsafe casts or buffer overruns. And the claim that C++ really is the king of “fast” has been consistently challenged for most of its history.

In this panel, Scott, Andrei, and I will weigh in with discussion – and data – on these important and current questions.

Posted in C++, Software Development, Talks & Events | 4 Comments »

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