Using C++/CLI for .NET development
Good article on Code Project on some of the advantages of using C++/CLI for .NET development. The interop performance numbers in particular are pretty remarkable.
Let's not be coy about it: if you're writing software that requires significant native-managed interop, you should be using C++/CLI. Period.
Comments
- Anonymous
July 31, 2005
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
August 01, 2005
Hi Bob,
I hope you don't think I'm suggesting that C++ developers must use .NET. If you don't see value in .NET for the kind of software you write, then I would encourage you to stick to native development.
.NET has some great benefits, but it also carries with it today some performance and working set trade offs. For some kinds of VC++ applications, the benefits of .NET are not worth the cost, and that's okay. It's our job to A) Make .NET so compelling that it's worth the trade-offs, B) Make .NET so efficient that the trade-offs are inconsequential, or C) some combination thereof.
Native Win32 development still works great today and it will continue to work well in Windows Vista (Longhorn). Yes, it's certainly possible that someday WinFX will supplant Win32 as the primary API for Windows, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. We're years away from even having that conversation.
The point of my blog entry was this: if you need to do both native and managed in one application, then C++/CLI is the best way to do that.
Your point about the VC6 IDE is well taken. We recognize that the VS 2002 and 2003 IDEs were not necessarily considered a step forward in all cases for VC++ developers. In fact, the IDE was a flat step backward in some circumstances. We're worked hard to fix that in VS 2005. If you do get around to trying VS 2005, please let me know how you think it stacks up to VC6. - Anonymous
August 03, 2005
Steve - Thanks for linking to my article, I was a little surprised when the view-count jumped up sharply a few days ago till someone pointed out that I got linked from here :-)
Bob - I was not comparing C++/CLI with Native C++ - the comparison/analysis was between C++/CLI and other CLI languages. The article assumes that the developer is using .NET either partially or totally! - Anonymous
August 05, 2005
Nishant,
Always a pleasure to link to good C++ articles! :)