Introduce VC

Visual C++ (also known as MSVC or VC) is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) product for the C and C++ programming languages engineered by Microsoft. It has tools for developing and debugging C++ code, especially that written for the Microsoft Windows API, the DirectX API, and the Microsoft .NET Framework.

History
        Visual C++ 6.0 which includes MFC 6.0 (released in 1998) was (and still is) widely used tool for large and small projects
        Visual C++ .NET 2002 which includes MFC 7.0 (known also as Visual C++ 7.0) was released in 2002 with support for link time code generation, debugging runtime checks, and included managed extension to the C++ language. It also included a new user interface (shared with Visual Basic and Visual C#), which is a primary reason why Visual C++ 6.0 is still in wide use.
        Visual C++ .NET 2003 which includes MFC 7.1 (known also as Visual C++ 7.1) was released in 2003 and was a major upgrade to Visual C++ .NET 2002.
         Visual C++ .NET 2005 which will include MFC 8.0(known also as Visual C++ 8.0) will be released in Nov 2005 and will be a major upgrade to Visual C++ .NET 2003.

        The .NET Framework created by Microsoft is a software development platform focused on rapid application development (RAD), platform independence and network transparency. .NET is Microsoft's strategic initiative for server and desktop development for the next decade. According to Microsoft, .NET includes many technologies that are designed to facilitate rapid development of Internet and intranet applications.

       .NET has brought new functionalities and tools to the application programming interface (API). These innovations allow programmers to develop applications for both Windows and the web as well as components and services (web services). .NET provides a new reflective, object-oriented API. .NET is designed to be sufficiently generic that many different high-level languages can be compiled.

        The .NET framework is a competing product to Sun's Java and J2EE technology and it shares many concepts with it.

         There is a collection of development tools specifically developed for use with the .NET platform. The principal example is Visual Studio .NET, an integrated development environment from Microsoft.

          From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.