Before the rise of .NET, Java, and newer languages, C++ occupied a dominant position as the go-to choice for development of Windows applications. As the 21st century progressed, the use and popularity of these other languages grew, while C++ seemed to suffer somewhat without a vocal champion. As a result, this led to C++ becoming more of a specialist language, to the point where it is now commonly seen as the language for writing operating systems, device drivers, game engines, and similar applications where speed is of the essence.

In recent years, this decline has somewhat moderated due to a renewed push in C++ support by Microsoft, as well as renewed interest by developers who find that so-called "bare-metal" programming may provide better performance for applications running on portable devices. Without ignoring .NET or JavaScript, Microsoft has been improving C++ support. VS2013 demonstrates this as it includes several components of the C++11 language standard and some long...