Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express Editor's Review

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express is a tool that lets you build native Windows or .NET Framework managed Windows applications. Part of the Windows Visual Studio 2010 Express suite of tools, it's a powerful programming language and Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that can give you a lot of control when building applications for Windows.

This release of Visual C++ 2010 Express has some important new features. Its IDE is now based on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Visual C++ 2010 Express now offers support for .NET Framework 4, the new .NET framework. New language features have been added, including six new compiler features.

Usability has been improved, with an updated interface that's better-looking and easy to navigate. The text editor has been updated with a new font. Error detection has been overhauled -- you'll see a red underline if there's a mistake. The existing box selection functionality has been expanded; as well as being able to draw a box around a section of code to copy or delete it, you can now add a section of text to every line by typing it once, and copy-paste text between two boxes. The "Navigate To" feature lets you jump to a particular symbol or string. There's a Highlighting References feature than highlights every instance of a particular symbol if you click on one instance.

All the new features come at a cost, however. Visual C++ 2010 Express is rather more resource-hungry than previous versions. This means that it can be noticeably slower to run.

Pro's: Expanded functionality and an improved interface make this a powerful developer tool. Free.

Con's: Requires more memory and processor power than older versions.

Conclusion: Visual C++ 2010 Express is a valuable free tool for developing applications for Windows and the web.