Open Source projects need free tools like the Express SKUs. I'm glad folks realized that no-cost desktop software development is important. This will bring to the Visual Studio Express family significant new capabilities that we’ve made available in Visual Studio 2012 for building great desktop applications. Today, I’m happy to announce that we will add Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop to the Visual Studio 2012 family.

we heard from our community that developers want to have for Windows desktop development the same great experience and access to the latest Visual Studio 2012 features at the Express level. Shortly thereafter (with a lot of people pushing) Soma announced there would be a 'Windows Desktop' Express version for free. I wasn't the only one who thought this was a problem. However, I was very surprised (and disappointed) that there was no free way to make Console Apps, or Windows Forms apps, or anything for the Windows Desktop. However, smart linking does shave a conciderable amount.When the Visual Studio 2012 free versions were originally announced the first thing I noticed was that they had switched from a language-specific model (C# Express, VB Express, etc) to a target-specific model (Windows 8, Web). net, these are also included in your app. The same goes for the parts of the framework you use in. So your final binary will be larger (Read: 'Normal' size for a real app). So if you use a namespace or sourcefile (called a unit under Delphi), then it's compiled and included in your final binary. In C++ or Delphi you have the same system, but without the middle MSIL layer.

There is also a speed benefit involved making your app run at native speed (because now it IS native). net framework if you havent used these features to begin with? And when you ship updates to your app, it's not exactly hard work to run it through the mkbundle processor before building your installer. net framework like some people state, because how can you lose future features of the.

There is a lot of misconceptions about this around the internet. This will compile your C# app into a real, no dependency executable. To force the compiler to generate a real, standalone executable (which means you use C# like any other language) you use the program mkbundle (shipped with Mono). If I understand you correctly, yes you can, but not under Visual Studio (from what I know).

Visual studio c++ 2012