Developing for Windows desktop allows you to reach the highest number of users on any non-mobile development platform. Popular desktop applications like Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and Google Chrome all are built using the same Win32 APIs that serve as the foundation for Windows desktop development. With C++ and Visual Studio, you use Windows SDKs to target many versions of Windows ranging from Windows XP to Windows 10, which is well over a billion devices. You will need to install these tools or use those already installed on your computer.For up-to-date documentation see Overview of Windows Programming in C++.įor an overview of the Visual Studio capabilities described in this article, see Develop C and C++ applications.The Windows desktop platform has long been the most popular platform among C++ application developers.

VS Code does not include a C/C++ or Fortran compiler or debugger. Support for other languages is supported via extensions. There is basic support for html, css, javascript and typescript out of the baox. VS Code is first and foremost an editor, and relies on command-line tools to do much of the development workflow.

Visual Code Studio can be downloaded from the website. For project compilation, consisting of multiple files, the C/C++ Makefile Project extension can be used (and can be adapted for Fortran). The Code Runner extension allows execution of single files. C/C++ support for Visual Studio Code is provided by a Microsoft C/C++ extension to enable cross-platform C and C++ development on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and embedded Git. Visual Studio Code is a free source-code editor made by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS.

Visual studio code c++ development