# Visual C++ Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-c-plus-plus/ 21 people recommended Visual C++ in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 15 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 12 months, in 18 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Praised as a fast, well-integrated C++ IDE and debugger, especially the VC6 era. Critics say it lags behind ISO C++ standards and sometimes hits compiler bugs. Summary written by Claude from 50 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 48 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Fast, capable debugger (5 comments in the sample): "MSVC in the 90s had edit and continue, where you could stop in a debugger…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258022)) "the debugger ran faster on hardware from the era than modern versions run on today's hardware" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46937417)) "My favourite of all time, with the debugger being one of the highlights." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508797)) - Tightly integrated, usable IDE (5 comments in the sample): "Right about VC6 was the sweet spot imo, C/C++ with lightning fast UI for docs and more. Tools got out of the way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47664898)) "way more tightly integrated, performant and usable than anything we have today" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258079)) "I maintain VC++ was a better experience than vscode; whoever is working on it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47031846)) - Long-lived, widely used for decades (4 comments in the sample): "I used VS6 professionally and for private business around 2000-2004, and it was still going strong then. VC++ was great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48321069)) "Visual C++ did not have many fans, but it had a lot of users." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46149863)) "What a great tool to have for the time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48321399)) - Best modules support among compilers (3 comments in the sample): "VC++ has the only actually usable header units implementation across C++ compilers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747022)) "which has the best modules support, but it is still trailing behind in C++23" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48131764)) "VC++ and clang with MSBuild, CMake/ninja already have good modules support" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115153)) ## What people warn about - Lags behind ISO C++ standards (4 comments in the sample): "VC++ now lagging behind ISO, after being the first to achieve C++20" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47296226)) "Microsoft outright strangled C by wasting many years refusing to support any standard beyond C89" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46518957)) "after C++20, they don't seem to be in a hurry to keep up with ISO either for C or C++" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865274)) - Occasional compiler bugs and ICEs (3 comments in the sample): "It has worked perfectly fine while using VC++, minus the usual ICE that still come up." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816065)) "ran into a compiler bug where it didn't know how to compile and asked me to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816022)) "it is just a compiler bug that got fixed once I reported it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46131094)) - Bloated, larger output binaries (2 comments in the sample): "c++ produced binaries are either having more dll dependencies, or are more bloated (in size" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744796)) "Visual C++ 6, for instance, would emit code that was 2/3rds register-to-register moves" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49323856)) ## Other c compilers people recommend - [Fil-C](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fil-c/): 110 recommend, 39 mixed, 43 criticize - [Tiny C Compiler (TCC)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tcc/): 26 recommend, 10 mixed, 5 criticize - [Claude's C Compiler](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-s-c-compiler/): 14 recommend, 20 mixed, 77 criticize - [DJGPP](https://hackerapproved.com/p/djgpp/): 13 recommend, 0 mixed, 2 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Visual C++", https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-c-plus-plus/ (21 recommend, 5 mixed, 15 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.