No, this is not a future version of Microsoft C++ managed extensions! This is a new world wide (ISO) public standard with many improvements. It's developed by the public community, and led by Bjarne Stroustrup, the guy who originally made up the C++ language, clearly intending to release the new standard in 2009.
Bjame S has written a great article on the new standard called “A Brief Look at C++0x”,from which I quote some interesting statements,
C++ is a general-purpose programming language with a bias towards systems programming that:
- is a better C
- supports data abstraction
- supports object-oriented programming
- supports generic programming
also
The high level aims for the language part of C++0x are to:
- Make C++ a better language for systems programming and library building
Rather than providing specialized facilities for a particular sub-community (e.g., numeric computation or Windows-style application development)
- Make C++ easier to teach and learn
Through increased uniformity, stronger guarantees, and facilities supportive of novices
I think this is great news to hear. Bjame focusing on ease, generic programming, and libraries enables it to get back as a most popular programming language, enabling giants like Microsoft to write more integrated extensions in a desirable manner.