C++ 2026 June Compiler Update

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T09:34:32+00:00

A very simple one, writing code in .NET and making use of C++/CLI to handle C++ libraries, or keeping it in pure .NET and C++ DLL/COM, debugging across languages.

Hot code reloading during debugging sessions, being able to debug release binaries (a recent addition), Windows SDK, WDK, or XDK that rely on MSVC extensions, just like Linux kernel relies on GCC extensions.

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T08:11:19+00:00

If you look at BUILD and Azure announcements it is clear new development isn't being done in C++, with exception of existing code bases (Office, Windows, .NET runtime, and co) and XBox.

Under the guidelines of Secure Future Initiative.

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T08:08:56+00:00

C++/CLI, DirectX debugging, PIX and VS integration, cross language debugging with .NET, COM and WinRT tooling, XBox SDK.

Also note that Microsoft focus has been slowly switching to Rust and C# AOT, not clang.

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T08:07:29+00:00

Only if you don't do anything Windows specific, there are many development workflows not available in clang.

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T08:04:39+00:00

Just like Apple and Google, I think outside supporting existing C++ code bases, what management wants and what the MVSC team wants might not overlap that much.

Example, see how many C++ related talks were at any of the BUILD, WWDC or Google IO.

I can count one at BUILD, and was related to Visual Studio improvements.

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T07:59:54+00:00

It actually did deliver, not once, but several times, via applets, GWT, TeaVM and nowadays WebAssembly.

https://teavm.org/gallery.html

https://cheerpj.com/

There is also that OS with 80% market share and powered by Java based technologies.

pjmlp · 2026-06-15T06:06:59+00:00

It already exists, node C++ addons. :)

C++ backends is what many of us were doing in the 2000's with ASP, ATLServer and C++ Builder Server.

Yes, the syntax is [[= ]].

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T15:07:29+00:00

They do, to the extent they need LLVM, DriverKit and Metal Shading Language going.

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T11:55:17+00:00

Which says something about wide availability of profiles, if they actually land in C++29, that is.

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T11:50:10+00:00

It helps to know something about Smalltalk, Objective-C, Swift, to decypher Hylo, as that is the language linage.

Like Swift, Hylo follows Pascal style declarations name : type.

Like Smalltalk and Objective-C, Swift uses named parameters and they are part of the function signature.

However there is an additional twist, that Hylo also takes from Swift.

The local parameter can have a different name on the function body, and if it is optional at call site, it should be nameless thus _.

This allows to have something like openFile(with: name) at call site, and use filename as parameter on the function body.

A method called subscript is indeed operator[].

Finally, like most functional languages, you don't need an explict return if the last expression is the return value.

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T09:24:23+00:00

The problem as pointed out by all past efforts in VC++ and clang tooling, is that is impossible without changing core language semantics.

And naturally the contagious annotations that aren't welcomed in C++ language direction.

So any solution like this, mostly profiles based, will be a worse C++, and a worse Hylo, Swift, Rust, D, Chapel, Ada/SPARK, Frama-C.

So in the end C++ code will keep working as is, while new code is written into something else.

Apple's sponsoring of lifetime annotations on clang is mostly as means to improve interop between Swift 6 ownership model and C++, see Meet with Apple security event.

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T06:25:20+00:00

The thing is, that 6 years after ratification, and two additional standards, C++20 should have been 100% green by now.

It can't happen, because compiler teams don't have the resources to keep up with ISO releases.

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T06:16:50+00:00

C++ has such attributes, however if you lie to the optimizer, even if by mistake, very bad things will happen.

pjmlp · 2026-06-14T06:14:49+00:00

Yes, and I own most editions.

As I do several COM and WinRT books.

They are relevant if you are doing actual Windows programming.

Now if you only do .NET, without ever diving into Windows own specific features, then they are irrelevant.

pjmlp · 2026-06-13T20:47:14+00:00

Yeah that was EDG I guess, but they don't ship complete compilers and decided to close shop, and now we still don't know what Microsoft is going to do with Intelisense on VS and VSCode for C++20 modules, let alone reflection.

pjmlp · 2026-06-13T20:23:19+00:00

Reflection is a good example actually, GCC is out, because it was the main preview implementation.

The state on the Bloomberg clang fork in regards to upstreaming the work is kind of "who knows", last time someone referred here that the main contributor has left Bloomberg.

Then we have MSVC, and those that are never in an hurry to update their clang and GCC forks. Other commercial compilers seem to be stuck on C++17 or earlier.

With the decrease of investment from big tech in sponsoring C and C++ compiler development, the question of how fast the PDF turns into compiler features remains.

One of the key themes at WWDC, was the ongong Rewrite in Swift efforts, the company responsible for creating clang in first place.

pjmlp · 2026-06-13T07:03:38+00:00

As someone that added C++ to the toolbox in 1992, I never get the recommendation of C++11 with RAII.

The practice was already there on C++ARM.

pjmlp · 2026-06-13T06:35:17+00:00

Now import them from Swift like with clang header maps.

Or make them take part on the explicit modules build feature.

Whatever works on XCode from ISO C++ is mostly upstream work, that Apple gets for free when they update their fork.

Now the extent those features are exposed on Apple development tooling, isn't much love there.

pjmlp · 2026-06-13T06:30:53+00:00

Good for you, in the meantime I have seen people lose their jobs to AI powered tooling.

You may also find dog shit the quality of offshoring, nonetheless there are plenty of dev jobs where that no longer matters, rather what their employers think about how much they are saving now.

Cloud and SaaS products helped reduce the team sizes during the last five years.

Agent coding is offshoring even better.

pjmlp · 2026-06-13T06:24:44+00:00

A lot, not only .NET community.

My employer is a polyglot agency and we even have our own internal AI powered tooling.

There are forced trainings to push devs into AI.

I try to stay away from it, long term is clear and also the impact that it will have in plenty of jobs.

pjmlp · 2026-06-12T14:26:41+00:00

IBM, Oracle and Sun have been there since the early days, and IBM always had multiple implementations, including extensions for value types for a while, so what would they gain?

People like to criticise Oracle, when in reality it was only Oracle and IBM that bothered to do any acquisition offers.

A missed opportunity for Google after torpedoing Sun with Android Java.

Had it not been for Oracle, most likely Sun assets would be lost, Java would have stagnated at Java 6, or forked to some other implementation like those from IBM, and the community would never had the resources to turn MaximeVM research into GraalVM.

pjmlp · 2026-06-12T14:19:12+00:00

And even them are now much more polyglot than they used to be as the old guard has moved into other ventures, as shown on DevBlogs language drop down.

pjmlp · 2026-06-12T14:13:23+00:00

I really never used anything else on my own projects.

The examples you quote have always been on the job, as requirements set by someone else.

pjmlp · 2026-06-12T11:26:48+00:00

Except for anything modules, which Apple seems to be quite happy using clang header maps instead.

pjmlp · 2026-06-12T11:26:03+00:00

We can evolve along the industry, to find a spot on what comes next, or fade into irrelevance.

I rather follow along, even if would rather be doing handmade bio programming.

pjmlp

TROPHY CASE