New Features in Visual Studio 2012

Introduction

Microsoft has released new efficiency features in Visual Studio 2012. These features are very useful and efficient for the development of various apps. A few of those efficiency features are listed below:

• JavaScript Features

• Visual Basic Features

• Visual C++ Features

• Visual C# Features

JavaScript Features

• Improved IntelliSense
  
  You can now code even faster using improved IntelliSense. IntelliSense information is present for the new elements supported in triple slash(///) comments. There are new elements included in JavaScript named <var> and <signature> for XML documentation. One more improvement is that when your cursor goes to the comment tags, it extends and shows the existing statements.
  
  
   
• Presence of Go To Definition
  
  In a JavaScript file of Visual Studio 2012, you can use Go To Definition to locate the function and see the definition. You can select the function and right-click or simply press the F12 Key.
  
  
   
• Breakpoint
  
  When multiple statements are include in a single line, now you can set a breakpoint to break on a single statement.
   
• Use of ECMAScript5 and HTML5 DOM

Visual Basic Features

• Caller Information
  
  Now, you can obtain the source code file path, source code line and member name of the caller to a method using the this Caller Information feature.
  
  
   
• Simplicity of For Each loop
  
  In a For Each loop now you can use iterators to return each item in a collection one at a time.
  
  
   
• Better Understanding of Code
  
  Using the Call Hierarchy feature now you can view all calls to and from a select method, property and constructor. Simply select the method, right-click and click "View Call Hierarchy" or press Ctrl + K + T.
  
  
   

Visual C++ Features

• Use of C++11 Standards
  
  In Visual Studio 2012, you can take advantage of the C++11 language standard's new powerful features, like range-based for loops, standard threads and so on.
   
• Windows Store apps and Games
  
  The developer now can use Visual C++ using XAML to develop the apps of Windows Store and games.
   
• Improved Compiler
  
  The improvement to the compiler helps you to code quickly to compile or execute apps on a single or multiple processors.
   
• Robustness of Code
  
  Using the new features like unit test framework, architecture explorer or code coverage you can make your code robust.
   
• Use of multiple CPUs
  
  The new feature named Parallel Patterns Library (PPL) help you to enable your application to run faster in which many cores exist.
   

Visual C# Features

• Intuitive Use of asynchronous code
  
  The developer can call the asynchronous methods and no need to define continuations or to spilt your code across multiple methods using the Asynchronous Feature.
   
• Caller Information
  
  Now, you can obtain the source code file path, source code line and member name of the caller to a method using the This Caller Information feature.
  
  
  

Summary

I have introduced many new features that are more efficient for the development of various applications. I'll continue writing about new features in Visual Studio 2012 because I don't know what extras I'll find from the treasures of Visual Studio.