Visual Studio 2015 Support

[van_der_merwe__ben]

Hi Lionel,

Microsoft just release Visual Studio 2015, and we plan to upgrade. Any idea when Intel will start supporting integration with this version?

Thank you.

[TimP]

Read the announcements of the current 2015 update 4 and 2016 beta compilers, if the reduced msvc performance and additional hours of installation time interest you.

[van_der_merwe__ben]

I do not have the latest Intel compilers (though we are licensed) as we have many users and upgrading them all and validating changes and performance impact is a big task.

So could you kindly please post a link to the performance and other concerns? (I shall log in and try and get at the information)

[van_der_merwe__ben]

I am looking at this https://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/managed/96/20/Release_Notes_F_2015_W_EN_update4.pdf and I do not see anything specific in there?

[van_der_merwe__ben]

I do not see any specific mention of Visual Studio 2016 support, or performance issues.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Intel Parallel Studio XE 2016, to be released in August, has full support for VS2015. There is supposedly limited support in Parallel Studio XE 2015 Update 4 but I haven't tried that yet (should be tomorrow after the VS2015 install finishes, and yes, it does take hours.)

I am unfamiliar with performance issues, but I can tell you that Microsoft broke C++ compiled code compatibility in the 2015 release and this has some effects on Fortran as well. We've done some mitigation in our 2016 product, but I do know that you can't do static linking of IMSL against the VS2015 libraries.  Linking to the DLL libraries is much less of an issue.

[TimP]

It was confirmed by intel on both this and c++ forum that the sole purpose of 2015 update 4 was to add vs2015 support I saw no problems with Intel compilers under vs2015 but vs2015 itself spent 8 hours installing. Not many people will care about the conditions where vs2012 c++ caught up with Intel c++ and those where vs2015 has lost performance, and it's not topical here.

[szoisch]

I downloaded the trial version of Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2015 cluster update 4 for Fortran to try it the first time. At the download it was mentioned that it needs Visual Studio Free Community to run it, so I installed the 2015 version of it, as it is the one available from now on. 

I first installed Visual Studio and then Parallel Studio. During the installation Parallel Studio configured Visual Studio, but I am 'Missing Fortran-specific parts of the Visual Studio interface, such as project templates or project properties'. The hints for troubleshooting (https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/troubleshooting-fortran-integration-issues-with-visual-studio) ;do not yet include Visual Studio 2015. I read that the combination of programs is generally supported. Is there a way how to fix the issue?

[Steven_L_Intel1]

I haven't tested with 2015 Community Edition, but have with 2015 Professional. It should work. I updated the article to include VS2015.

[van_der_merwe__ben]

Hi, If it helps, our understanding has been for many years that for the Intel Fortran integration into Visual Studio, you need the non free MSDN version, it does not work in the free version, Microsoft does not support it. I remember trying a previous free version of Visual Studio, it was mostly .NET focused, and it did not even support native C++ (though they did address that after a flood of complaints). Sadly Microsoft has always used their tools to "promote" agendas. I wish they would rather just give people great working development tools that meet their needs. Supposedly the free versions have been becoming more functional.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

That was true of the "Express" editions of Visual Studio, but at least with VS2013 Community Edition, it worked. It's possible that Microsoft turned this off in VS2015 Community - we will have to test that.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

It just occurred to me - we've seen that VS2015 doesn't install C++ support by default. Make sure that C++ is selected under Programming Languages.

[TimP]

I didn't need any additional options with vs2015 on win8.1 x64.  I think the x64 components maybe optional only on 32 bit Windows.

[van_der_merwe__ben]

We use both 32 and 64 bit compiles. As long as you install on 64 bit Windows, which just about everyone has these days, you are fine. I seem to recall Intel will by default try and install the 64 bit pieces as well, and warn you if Visual Studio is lacking them for some reason. Nice of Intel!

[Steven_L_Intel1]

I am not referring to x64 options, but rather "Visual C++ Common Tools".

[szoisch]

Dear Steve, thank you very much for your response. This solved my problem. I have a Windows 7 system. When installing Visual Studio Community 2015, I needed to explicitely check the box for installing C++. After updating also Parallel Studio XE, Visual Studio does what it should. Best, Stefan