This topic has been updated for Visual Studio 2005 SP1.

For Visual C++ 2005, the Visual C++ language has been expanded to include support for developing components and applications that run on a virtual machine with garbage collection. These additions have been approved by the C++/CLI standards committee. Visual C++ 2005 supports targeting the .NET Framework CLR (Common Language Runtime), Microsoft's implementation of a garbage-collected virtual machine, but it can be used to target any platform that conforms to the CLI standard.

The Visual C++ syntax supported in Visual C++ 2005 for .NET Programming is now much more natural than that of the Managed Extensions for C++ introduced in Microsoft Visual C++ .NET 2003. Managed Extensions for C++ is still supported, but has been deprecated in favor of the new syntax. For more information, see New Language Features in Visual C++.

There are also numerous new features for native programming, including targeting 64-bit processor architectures, new library functions with improved security, and more. For the complete list of new features, follow the links below.

Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1

Visual C++ 2005

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