C++ is a programming language that has been around for 37 years. It is currently the 7th most popular programming language on GitHub and is used to build everything from operating systems to embedded hardware, games and more.

C++ is a low-level language, providing blazingly fast performance with the ability to make very bad mistakes in your code. It runs on practically everything, from modern desktops to tiny microcontrollers.

Jim used to be a good C++ programmer. 20 years ago… Since then, the language has evolved, and so has the tooling. In this series Jim decides to re-learn C++ beyond his basic Arduino knowledge with the help of some friends from the Microsoft C++ team – Julia Reid and Sy Brand.

Episode 2 – C++ tooling
Every good programming language has great tools to help you get the most of it, and C++ is no exception. 25 years ago, Jim first used Microsoft Visual C++ 1.52 which came on a CD-ROM (if any of you remember those). Now C++ is supported by a range of developer tools.

In this episode Jim is once again joined by Sy Brand, along with Julia Reid, a program manager on the Microsoft C++ team. Sy is an expert on the cool new features in Visual Studio, and they will be helping guide Jim with getting started in Visual Studio on Windows. If you’ve joined Jim’s streams before, you may remember he is a Mac user, so Julia will be walking Jim through the options for macOS and Linux (and Windows) developers with the tools available in Visual Studio Code. She will also help Jim use other people’s code with vcpkg.

This show will cover:
Setting up Visual Studio for C++ development
Hello World in Visual Studio
Debugging your application
Setting up VS Code for C++ development on Mac and Linux
Hello World in VS Code
Debugging your application
Using other people’s code with vcpkg

Speaker:
Jim Bennett, Regional Cloud Advocate, Microsoft
Jim is a Regional Cloud Advocate focusing on building out and skilling communities in the Pacific North West, with a focus on the Microsoft Reactor in Redmond, Washington. He’s British, so sounds way smarter than he actually is, and is happy he moved to Redmond in time to be locked down at home and not see the office he came to work in, or the places he wanted to visit. In the past he’s lived in 4 continents working as a developer in the mobile, desktop, and scientific space. He's spoken at conferences and events all around the globe, organized meetup groups and communities, and written a book on mobile development.

Sy Brand, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Sy Brand is Microsoft’s C++ Developer Advocate. Their background is in compilers and debuggers for embedded accelerators, but they’re also interested in generic library design, metaprogramming, functional-style C++, undefined behavior, and making our communities more welcoming and inclusive.