New keywords and new type of pointers in Visual C++ 2005. What is managed C++?

Question

Possible duplicates
What is gcnew?
What does the caret mean in C++/CLI?
Difference between managed c++ and c++

I am a advanced C++ programmer with g++. But currently I am working on Visual C++ 2005 doing Windows Forms Application programming . But I am finding it hard with its new terminology. For e.g. instead of new it has gcnew and

String ^ kind of thing. Can someone explain what is ^, similar to pointer?

Can I make Visual C++ work in the same way as normal C++ like g++ compiler? I also heard something about managed C++. What is that?

Answer 1

The gcnew and ^ values are managed C++ which is a different language to c++. You can use VS2005 as a normal C++ compiler by not using a project type from the CLR section of the new project window.

Answer 2

gcnew and ^ are from new Visual C++ syntax. The new syntax is not part of the ISO/ANSI C++ standard, but is a set of extensions to C++ standardized under the Ecma C++/CLI Standard. You can to not use them if you do not want to. Here you could read more about Visual C++ extensions.

Answer 3

Managed C++ is used for .Net development in the Common Language Runtime (CLR) of Microsoft. This special C++ syntax was created to allow C++ developper to come in the .Net community without learning a new language like C#.

You can use Visual C++ in the same way as g++ by creating a non-CLR project.

Answer 4

Windows Forms are .Net specific, so you need to use C++/CLI (That's "managed C++") if you want to do those.

However, I'm not sure you really want windows forms? You just want some kind of windowy GUI, right? If that's the case you can go with something like MFC or just native O/S calls, to create your GUI, or you could use a wrapper API like Qt

[EDIT] Just to clarify a bit :)

I also heard something about managed C++. What is that?

C++/CLI is the .Net implementation of C++. Here you can use both regular C++ and managed code. C++/CLI was Microsofts attempt to ease the learning curve for C++ developers to get into the managed framework, however, it's not used a lot these days, wo you'll probably have a hard time finding (m)any good tutorials. Visual C++ is just the name of the IDE, it has nothing to do with which kind of C++ you use. You can use Visual C++ just as you use g++, but if you wan't anything over a console app, you'll need to wire some GUI logic into your application. As said in my original answer, this can be done a number of ways.

If you are sure you want to use .Net, I recommend spending a day with C#, as it's really easy to learn if you got C++ experience, but judging from your question I don't think this is what you want :)

Answer 5

Note that Windows Forms are not the only way to make GUIs under Windows. You can use the regular Win32 API instead, if you want pure C (which you can wrap with C++ if you like).

If you do choose Windows Forms, then you have the option of using C#, VB.NET, or C++/CLI (Managed C++). You need not use C++/CLI, as seems to be your presumption.