title: "C and C++ in Visual Studio"

ms.technology: "cpp-ide"

Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) refers to the C++, C, and assembly language development tools and libraries available as part of Visual Studio on Windows. These tools and libraries let you create Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, native Windows desktop and server applications, cross-platform libraries and apps that run on Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS, as well as managed apps and libraries that use the .NET Framework. You can use MSVC to write anything from simple console apps to the most sophisticated and complex apps for Windows desktop, from device drivers and operating system components to cross-platform games for mobile devices, and from the smallest IoT devices to multi-server high performance computing in the Azure cloud.

[What's New for C++ in Visual Studio](what-s-new-for-visual-cpp-in-visual-studio.md)\

Find out what's new in Visual Studio.

[Microsoft C/C++ change history 2003 - 2015](../porting/visual-cpp-change-history-2003-2015.md)\

Learn about the breaking changes in previous versions.

[Install C++ support in Visual Studio](../build/vscpp-step-0-installation.md)\

Download Visual Studio and install the Microsoft C/C++ toolset.

[Supported platforms](supported-platforms-visual-cpp.md)\

Find out which platforms the Microsoft C/C++ compiler supports.

[Welcome back to C++](../cpp/welcome-back-to-cpp-modern-cpp.md)\

Learn more about modern C++ programming techniques based on C++11 and later that enable you to write fast, safe code and avoid many of the pitfalls of C-style programming.

[Visual Studio C++ samples](visual-cpp-samples.md)\

Information about the C++ code samples provided by Microsoft.

[Overview of C++ development in Visual Studio](overview-of-cpp-development.md)\

How to use the Visual Studio IDE to create projects, edit code, link to libraries, compile, debug, create unit tests, do static analysis, deploy, and more.

[Write unit tests for C/C++ in Visual Studio](/visualstudio/test/writing-unit-tests-for-c-cpp)\

Create unit tests using the Microsoft Unit Testing Framework for C++, Google Test, Boost.Test, or CTest.

[Desktop applications (C++)](../windows/desktop-applications-visual-cpp.md)\

Learn how to create traditional native C++ desktop applications for Windows.

[.NET programming with C++/CLI](../dotnet/dotnet-programming-with-cpp-cli-visual-cpp.md)\

Learn how to create DLLs that enable interoperability between native C++ and .NET programs written in languages such as C# or Visual Basic.

[Linux programming](../linux/index.yml)\

Use the Visual Studio IDE to code and deploy to a remote Linux machine for compilation with GCC.

[Text and strings](../text/text-and-strings-in-visual-cpp.md)\

Learn about working with different text and string formats and encodings for local and international development.

[C++ language reference](../cpp/cpp-language-reference.md)\

The reference guide to the Microsoft implementation of the C++ programming language.

[Compiler intrinsics and assembly language](../intrinsics/compiler-intrinsics-and-assembly-language.md)\

Guides to the compiler intrinsics supported or implemented by the Microsoft C/C++ compilers on each platform.

The following sections provide information about the different C and C++ libraries that are included in Visual Studio.

[.NET programming with C++/CLI](../dotnet/dotnet-programming-with-cpp-cli-visual-cpp.md)\

Programming for the common language runtime (CLR).

The cross-platform **vcpkg** command-line tool greatly simplifies the discovery and installation of over 900 C++ open source libraries. For more information, see [vcpkg](https://vcpkg.io/).

[Microsoft Docs Q&A](/answers/topics/c%2B%2B.html)\

Microsoft Docs hosts searchable forums for questions and answers. Add a `C++` tag to your post for community assistance on C++-related issues.