Can VS 2012 and VS 2010 Co-exist

[Reverend Jim]

I was thinking about installing Visual Studio 2012. Does anyone know if I can have both 2012 and VS 2010 installed at the same time without screwing up either or both?

[mike_2000_17]

I know that VS 2008 and 2010 can co-exist pretty well. But that's all I can really tell you, I haven't used or installed 2012 yet (and I recently had to do some work with VS 2010, which was extremely frustrating, as usual with VS products, so I'll need a cool down period before I can consider using VS 2012).

[Ancient Dragon]

I've been using 2012 for a couple weeks now. It isn't much different that 2010, except you can't get just VC++ 2012 like you could vc++ 2010. Instead, you get the whole Visual Studio suite of compilers. I had VS2012 RT and VC++ 2010 installed at the same time and had no problems. Another difference: vc++ 2010 has support for CLR/C++ Windows Forms, VC++ 2012 does not. M$ dropped it for some unknown reason. vc++ 2012 will still compile the windows forms code, but you just can't start a new project with the wizzard.

work with VS 2010, which was extremely frustrating,

Yes, there's a bit of a learning curve if your accustom to gcc compiler.

[mike_2000_17]

Yes, there's a bit of a learning curve if your accustom to gcc compiler.

I'll be the first to admit that my acquaintance with VS products is shallow at best, and that is part responsible for why most of my experiences with it have been a nightmare. That said, I have very little incentive to walk up that learning curve. The two main sales-points of VC++ are the powerful debugger and Intellisense. A debugger is not something I need, it's been years past since I last used one. And Intellisense is pathetic at best. As soon as your project has 20-30 LOCs or more, Intellisense crumbles like an old man trying out for an Olympic hurdle race. So, I'm left with a terrible compiler (for C++), an insufferable build-system and an extremely heavy-weight text editor (and even bad at that). To me, it doesn't feel like climbing up a learning curve but rather falling down a rabbit hole. End of rant.

[Ancient Dragon]

No one said you have to use intellisense. I don't use it, or very seldom use it. Intellsense was broken on VC++ 2010 but I think the bugs were worked out in 2012. As for the debugger, I use it often. If you don't have to do any debugging then you are one of the most brillient coders on the planet :)

[deceptikon]

No one said you have to use intellisense. I don't use it, or very seldom use it.

I don't use it for C or C++, but for C# and VB.NET it's mighty handy (and actually works).

As for the debugger, I use it often.

The debugger is the single biggest reason why I prefer Visual Studio. Replacing the default compiler with Comeau corrects the glaring problem of Microsoft trying to play God with standards conformance, and the only significant con you're left with, in my opinion, is VS being resource hog in general. ;)

[JorgeM]

I have both VS 2010 (Premium) and VS 2012 (Professional) installed on the same system. No problems that I have encountered.

[sujayg]

Yes they can coexist in the same system. The recent VS ides are resource hogs, I personally feel that Visual C++ 6 was the best , MS ever produced.

[deceptikon]

I personally feel that Visual C++ 6 was the best , MS ever produced.

If you ignore the bugs and absolutely horried support for standard C++. To date, the only compiler I've had to hack (mostly standard library files) to make it usable is Visual C++ 6. Hardly the best Microsoft ever produced. ;)