While Visual C++ Professional is a better choice for those needing to build optimized production code, Standard Edition 2003 rates 5 stars for the price.
This product is targeted at students. Hence the low price and lack of an optimizing compiler.
That said, here are some reasons a professional developer on a tight budget might still want to buy this product:
- Can be used for many projects where compiler optimization is not critical or even relevant: prototyping, debugging, Managed C++, tools, many production apps, etc.
- If you need high-performance compiled code (and can't afford the Pro version) you can download the optimizing compiler free from Microsoft. That compiler compares well overall with anything else available on Windows or Linux.
- Simply the best C++ development environment available at any price. (Class View is far superior to 6.0. GUI-development tools are also far better, once you get used to them.)
- .NET is superior to MFC for GUI development. However, Managed C++ is not the best tool for taking advantage of it.
- .NET is superior to MFC/ATL (COM) for development of distributed applications. (Easier to develop, deploy, manage, etc.)
- One of the most standards-compliant compilers around (unlike 6.0). This is necessary if you want to use a some modern techniques like template metaprogramming.
- Excellent documentation for C++ and STL. (unlike 6.0, but also available online)
- Excellent documentation for Windows API and many other windows-related technologies. (also available online)
- MFC, ATL, and .NET libraries not available with "free" software.
If you are on a shoe-string budget, this product is well worth the price. You will be more productive than you can be with "free" tools, and you will get a better product overall than Visual C++ 6.
That said, 2005 is due out soon. Managed C++ is supposed to be much improved. In addition, a third-tier product will be introduced called Visual C++ Express, presumably at an even cheaper price than Standard.
Developers can use Visual C++ .NET 2003 to build a wide variety of solutions, including Microsoft Windows-based and Microsoft .NET-connected applications. C++ is one of the world's most popular systems-level languages, and Visual C++ .NET 2003 gives developers a world-class tool with which to build best-in-class software.
Use Managed Extensions to C++ and compiler support for optimized Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) code generation. Incorporate Microsoft .NET Framework features including garbage collection, Windows Forms, and threading. Call unmanaged code using high-performance C++ interoperability technology. Write and compile purely unmanaged x86 code. Speed up your application or reduce its size with optimization options for a range of processors, including Whole Program Optimization, and support for Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) and Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2) instruction sets.
