Essential Guide to Managed Extensions for C++

by Siva Challa

Managed Extensions for C++ (MC++) are extensions added to the Visual C++ compiler from Microsoft to enable access to the functionality provided by the .NET framework. Two key members of the Visual C++ .NET compiler development team at Microsoft show how to combine the power of native C++ code with the flexibility of managed code when writing managed applications for the .NET platform.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893115283
• ISBN13: 9781893115286
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Book

Clear, well written and well organized. Seems thorough. Written by members of the compiler team at Microsoft who know what they're talking about. This is far superior to the MS Press book on the same subject.

Found this book very helpful

I've been doing a reasonable amount of MC++ recently and I started with this book. I've found it concise and to the point. As a previous reviewer said, "the authors go straight to the point assuming you are not a dummy". The book is in two parts, the first covers the fundamentals of writing applications/components in MC++. The second part covers interoperability. I found myself referencing both parts frequently...

Want to do some MC++? ... Start Here

This book is what you are looking for if you are considering MC++.Personally I use MC++ to create wrappers around processor-optimized libraries available for C/C++. Then I use them from C# and VB.NET.Some reviewers say the book doesn't add much to the MSDN docs. However, this book is a lot more readable and I think it's worth it.One more thing, the book is written by developers for developers. I really enjoyed that, the authors go straight to the point assuming you are not a dummy.

Required Reading for C++ programmers

"Essential Guide to Managed Extensions for C++" is required reading for any C++ programmer who wants to learn about writing C++ for .Net. What this book covers is virtually everything that a C++ programmer will need to write code using Managed Extensions for C++ (MC++). The first section is an excellent tutorial of the various features of MC++. This sections starts with a brief overview of the .Net framework. It continues with an introduction to MC++ with a very good low-level description of how managed classes differ from native classes. The remainder of this section contains the best explanation of managed extensions that you are likely to find. Topics are discussed in terms that make sense for C++ programmers. For example, delegates are discussed in terms of function pointers which they replace. The code samples are designed to give a clear explanation of the topic being discussed. The second part covers interoperability issues between managed and native code. For performance reasons C++ developers will sometimes need to mix code types so the explanation of how to avoid performance degradation when mixing managed and native code will be very useful. This section also includes descriptions of how to mix COM and .NET components and how to write wrapper classes for native code. For the C++ developer worried that C# is "the" .NET language, the authors show that MC++ is an important part of the .NET world and provide the information that C++ programmers need to develop for .NET.

Must-have for Managed C++ programmers

If you are a programmer using C++ to develop .NET Framework applications, or developing .NET Framework applications that must interoperate with legacy code (Win32, C++, COM), this book is a must-have.Managed C++ gives programmers the low-level tools necessary to provide a finer-grained control over how .NET assemblies are built (vs. languages such as C#.NET or VB.NET. The only other method that provides even more control is to write directly in MSIL and use the MSIL compiler to generate assemblies.).Essential Guide provides the following things that make it a must-have:1. It provides a concise reference of the managed extensions and examples on how they are used to create .NET applications. It's much faster to look up concepts and see the examples in this book than it is to search through the .NET Framework SDK for the same information, and the explanations are much better.2. It provides detailed explanations and examples on how Managed C++ (MC++) is different from Standard (Unmanaged) C++ (UMC++). There are some significant differences when writing MC++ code, and issues faced when mixing MC++ with UMC++ code.3. It provides the best descriptions and examples of .NET Interoperability that I've found to date.4. It gives guidelines on when and where to use MC++ and when and where to stick to UMC++.5. The examples are very good. Each one can be built and run as a complete application. Each one tries to cover only the concept that is being introduced and discussed.6. It provides a much lower-level explanation of how the CLR works, particularly in the area of interoperability, than the typical .NET programming guide.What does Essential Guide not do?1. It doesn't attempt to teach readers about .NET. Even though the first half of the book is under a section called Basics, it really assumes the reader is already familiar with the concepts and constructs of .NET. "Basics" is understood to mean how the basic structure of the .NET Framework maps to C++.2. It doesn't attempt to teach readers about the Base and Framework Class Libraries (BCL and FCL). Only the classes and interfaces required to explain the MC++ concepts are discussed. (Some of the C# programming books would be a good place to learn about the class libraries.)3. It does not cover Visual Studio at all - actually it's mentioned once on page 7 as a good way to debug multi-language applications.4. It does not cover any C++ language changes that occurred from VC6, other than as side references if a new language feature is relevant to the discussion.