Relationships between VS ans MSVC version

Question

I can't make up a puzzle. I meet names like Visual C++15 (here for example: https://www.sfml-dev.org/download/sfml/2.5.1/). But other sources say that the last version to the moment is 14.31 (wikipedia stays with them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B). It's also gets challenging for me at the moment to check out the version myself. So there are three questions:

• What is Visual C++15 (is it compiler version or something like language dialectic specification) and if it's not a compiler version, so what is it?
• Is there any relationship between VS version and version (or a model) of it's built-in C++ compiler?
• Which version of VS should I use to successfully use SFML?

Thanks!

Answer 1

1. The Visual C++15, that you mention here, is in fact Visual Studio version 15(aka Visual Studio 2017). It isn't a compiler version but in fact a version of the IDE.

2. There is no relation with VS versions directly with C++ standards. But it's more like, some versions of C++ can only be supported on the latest VS versions. for e.g.. C++20 is only supported on Visual studio 2022. C++11/C++14/C++17 is supported in Visual studio 2019 and higher.

3. For SMFL, it just says any C++ compiler but I would honestly suggest Visual Studio 2017 or higher.