All of my commercial experience is based on high level languages like .NET (VB and C#). I have academic experience with C and C++ (university).
I don’t full understand how Visual C++ fits into the .NET way. I have experience using Cygwin to compile c++ programs for Linux (at university).
Am I correct in stating that Visual C++ will compile into Intermediary language like C# and VB.NET? I assume that Visual C++ is used by developers that want to target Windows only and Cygwin is used by C++ developers who want to target multiple environments?
The reason I ask is because I am using a C++ component (written by another developer) as part of a .NET app.
I have read many Visual C++ articles online today but I have not yet found the answer I am looking for.
No. C++ is compiled directly to machine code, there is no intermediate step like .NET’s IL with a just-in-time compiler to translate it to machine code at runtime.
If you have a need to interop between C++ and .NET code then you’ll probably want to take a look at C++/CLI. A language that merely resembles C++ but is very good at bridging the gap between native C++ and the .NET runtime.