Question

I wrote a managed C++ application a few years ago. It was just a personal project and I chose managed c++ just because I found it interesting. I remember it felt like it just took a lot more time than doing c# and there wasn’t anything to gain from it in my case at least.

When is C++/CLI a good choice in reality?
What is it’s benefits?

Answer 1

The only reason for using C++/CLI is so you can use a native library in a managed application. Even Microsoft says it shouldn’t be used on its own:

The second major consideration for using C++/CLI is to remember that
this is only intended to be a bridge between the managed and native
worlds and not intended to be a technology you use to write the bulk
of your application. It is certainly possible to do so, but you’ll
find that developer productivity is much lower than in a pure C++ or
pure C#/Visual Basic environment and that your application runs much
slower to boot. So when you use C++/CLI, compile only the files you
need with the /clr switch, and use a combination of pure managed or
pure native assemblies to build the core functionality of your
application.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd315414.aspx#id0070020