bluntly, if i have my way, then people are going to ask, "how come microsoft put extension x into the next version of vs.net, when they haven't even finished conforming to c++98 yet?", and i hope they ask that because if they do then i've done my job. no worries, full c++98 compliance with "export" and the kitchen sink is coming on apace, and will get done, no question. but if i have my way we'll do that whole unified wish-list of c++98 and pre-c++0x standard features in the order that best serves the community, because that community priority is what i'm being paid to push inside the company.
as 'community program manager' will you be involved directly with the community? in what way? will you be providing more of a direct link for the community and microsoft itself? can i pass all the 'how do i do x in c++' questions i get from readers on to you? please?
yes, lots, yes, no oh please no, and not even if you say pretty please, respectively. ahem. seriously, though some questions are okay, but at least get people to read the c++ faq (www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite) and my website (www.gotw.ca) first to see if there's already a well-known answer.
it's my job to know what the community wants. that's why i'm going to continue speaking and listening to attendees at conferences, in my private independent consulting, on the public newsgroups, in email conversations with readers of my columns and books, over coffees and dinners at standards meetings with the top gurus and with the other vendors, and everything else i'm already doing.
c++ developers are still not getting as much love from microsoft as vb.net or c# developers. is this something you hope to change? how?
that may have been more true until recently. i've seen some changes already in the past six months, and i'm looking forward to seeing more. there's no question that microsoft is investing in c++, internally and externally. look for further microsoft community participation by contributing to platform-neutral community libraries and in other ways.
what do you see as c++'s role in a .net world?
c++ is still by far the most powerful language in the .net universe, and the one that more commercial windows apps are written in. that's not likely to change anytime soon.
what do you see as the future of c++ overall?
c++ continues to be relevant, dominant, and in widespread and still-growing use. the c++ standard and standardization process also continues to be relevant - committee membership and participation has increased since the first standard was published in 1998, and lately we've had more countries represented at our iso meetings than ever before. usually the opposite happens when a standard is completed and the committee goes into maintenance mode for a while - companies stop sending people, because they all have their own work to do after all. but not here: even while we were in maintenance mode for several years, iso/ansi membership has pretty much never been stronger, and all the vendors, including microsoft, are there together actively working on the next-generation c++0x standard whose work is now getting underway.
managed extensions for c++ have received a lukewarm reception from many developers. what do you feel microsoft can do to make mc++ more approachable for the typical c++ developer?
for one thing, mc++ has to support more of standard c++. there is (how can i say this politely) room for more overlap. there, i think that was subtle enough. the team is hard at work on these kinds of issues. i think that .net is good for c++.
do you really believe that .net is good for c++? why?
i do. i'm hopeful that it can contribute something valuable, perhaps even beyond windows-based platforms.
