I'm pretty familiar with C++, so I considered learning .NET and all its derivatives (especially C#).
Along the way I bumped into C++/CLI, and I want to know if there is any specific use for that language? Is it just suppose to be a intermediate language for transforming from native C++ to C#?
Another question that popped to my head is why are there still so many programming languages in .NET framework? (VB, C++/CLI, C#...)
Yes, C++/CLI has a very specific target usage, the language (and its compiler, most of all) makes it very easy to write code that needs to interop with unmanaged code. It has built-in support for marshaling between managed and unmanaged types. It used to be called IJW (It Just Works), nowadays called C++ Interop. Other languages need to use the P/Invoke marshaller which can be inefficient and has limited capabilities compared to what C++/CLI can do.
If you need to interop with native C++, classes that have instance functions and need the new and delete keywords to create/destroy an instance of the class then you have no choice but use C++/CLI. Pinvoke cannot do that, only the C++ compiler knows how much memory to allocate and how to correctly thunk the this pointer for an instance function.
The .NET framework contains code that was written in C++/CLI, notably in System.Data and WPF's PresentationCore. If you don't have unmanaged interop needs or don't have to work with a legacy code base then there are few reasons to select C++/CLI. C# or VB.NET are the better choices. C++/CLI's feature set got frozen around 2005, it has no support for more recent additions like lambdas or Linq syntax. Nor does the IDE support many of the bells and whistles available in the C# and VB.NET IDEs. Notable is that VS2010 will initially ship without IntelliSense support for C++/CLI. A bit of a kiss-of-death there.
UPDATE: revived in VS2012, IntelliSense support is back. Not in the least thanks to C++/CX, a language extension that simplifies writing WinRT apps in C++. Its syntax is very similar to C++/CLI. The Windows Forms project templates were removed, the designer however still works. The new debugging engine in VS2012 doesn't support C++/CLI, you have to turn on the "Managed Compatibility Mode" option in Tools + Options, Debugging, General.
First C# is not a 'derivitive' of .NET. .NET is not a language, it is an application framework and class library based on the CLR, for which a number of languages exist.
That said, the most compelling reason to use .NET is that it is a well designed class library and a much easier way to develop for Windows than Win32 or MFC. However I personally decided that I'd rather learn a new language altogether than learn extensions to an old one, and because C# was designed from the ground up to work with .NET, I suggest that is the language of choice for .NET.
C++/CLI is useful is you want to use .NET with some legacy code, and I have used it for creating Windows Forms GUIs and gluing them to existing application code. Its other raison d'etre is that it is the only .NET language that supports mixed managed and native code in a single load module, so it is good for both performance and reuse of legacy code.
With respect to the number of languages, Microsoft want every Windows application to be based on .NET because it is better for the security and stability of their OS. The only way that will happen is by supporting multiple languages. Think of .NET as an application platform or OS API, and then the question makes less sense; there will be many languages for .NET for the same reason as there are many languages for any platform. Those reasons are many, including commercial advantage, application fit, politics, supporting existing developers, choice and no doubt more.
Microsoft has changed its stance on this a few times. It was originally intended as a full-fledged language, essentially something that they wanted all native developers to move to, abandoning native C++ as much as possible.
Then a few years ago, they realized that this simply wasn't what their customers wanted. Developers who are moving to .NET anyway generally jump to a language like C#, and the rest have reasons to keep their code in the native world, so they stay with C++.
So now, Microsoft intends for C++/CLI to be a "bridge" between native C++ code and managed code written in some .NET language. It's no longer a language they recommend you switching your entire codebase to.
It's indeed mainly intended as intermediate language to easily link .net code with native, unmanaged C++. Do yourself a favour, don't use it if you don't need to. C++/CLI syntax is a mess.
Regarding your second question ... I think today C# is the dominant language in .net, but not everyone likes its style and paradigms. .net's architecture makes adding new languages easy (see F#, which aims at functional programming).
I've used C++/CLI to create .NET API's for some unmanaged C++ libraries. Passing and marshalling of parameters takes some getting used to (depending on used types), but once you've got the hang of it, it's really a nice way to bridge the gap between the managed and unmanaged world.
I have not looked at C++/CLI but it harnesses the .NET world - think of it as a in-between C++ and C# where you have the best of both worlds. It could be useful in situations where you want to use C++ that can easily access .NET objects and it's core BCL. Have a look here at this article discussing the primers of C++/CLI. Unfortunately, I have not heard of a Managed C++ application as it has ruffled a lot of C++ friends on the syntax side of things and lost gathering of followers who went back to the unmanaged world of C++.
Hope this helps, Best regards, Tom.
This post is old but the most important message in my oppinion is missing: You use it for being able to see and manipulate the source code of C++ frameworks you use in C#. Examples: You don't use compiled OpenCV binaries, instead you got the OpenCV sourcecode in your solution and can add simple some Extensions, or deep check how some behavior exists. Or in finanicial math you could QuantLib Sources, and so on. This is much better than having already compield libraries that act as black boxes in a lot of ways. C++/Cli in .NET solves this.
Just so you know. Unless you specify the code to be compiled as unmanaged, when compiling with CLR support it will be compiled as managed code.
While CLI C++ is nice. I find it a pain to code in. There is just something about it that makes me not want to program in it. It isn't even the "^". It is like using a broken .net. I spent 40 minutes coding something fully managed in it that took me 10 minutes in C#. I mean, sometimes I just give up and use C# because it frustrates me when coding in it. I mean if you are going to use .net you might as well use C#(over CLI C++).
