Microsoft has rolled out Visual Studio 2019 v16.10, a significant update to its popular integrated development environment (IDE), with a major emphasis on full support for the C++ 20 standard. Released on May 25, this update ensures that developers can take advantage of the latest features introduced in C++ 20, including new utilities for working with calendars, time zones, and text formatting through the <format> header. With this release, Microsoft’s C++ compiler and standard library are now fully compliant with C++ 20, allowing developers to build applications with the most current features available in the language.
In addition to the C++ 20 support, Visual Studio 2019 v16.10 introduces a preview of version 16.11, which focuses on enhancing the developer experience with a new Hot Reload feature. This capability allows developers to apply code changes to running applications without needing to restart them, significantly speeding up the development and debugging process. This improvement aims to make real-time editing and testing more efficient, helping developers save time during the iterative development cycle.
For those still working with earlier versions of C++ (C++ 11 or C++ 14), Visual Studio 2019 v16.10 provides a useful feature for adopting C++ 20 coroutines. By using the /await:strict switch, developers can enable C++ 20-style coroutines in older projects without having to fully migrate to C++ 20. This flexibility is ideal for teams that want to gradually adopt new language features without making sweeping changes to their existing codebases.
Further enhancing the development experience, this update also improves CMake integration. Developers who use CMake as their build tool can now specify configurations more easily using the new CMakePresets feature, which replaces the older CMakeSettings.json method. This change simplifies the management of build configurations and helps streamline the process of setting up and maintaining different build environments in complex projects. With these improvements, Visual Studio 2019 continues to evolve as a robust platform for modern C++ development.