The most significant arrival was . Before 2013, Windows developers writing template-heavy code had to rely on ugly preprocessor macros or strict limits on argument counts. Variadic templates unlocked the ability to write true generic code, paving the way for sophisticated type-safe libraries. It was the moment the C++ type system on Windows became as flexible as its Unix counterparts.

While the language nerds celebrated template improvements, a different revolution was brewing in the graphics sector. Visual C++ 2013 released alongside a massive update to the Windows SDK, bringing with it the revitalization of .

We cannot discuss 2013 without addressing the controversial elephant in the room: The Windows Runtime (WinRT). This was the era of Windows 8, Microsoft’s ambitious (and ultimately flawed) push for touch-first, tablet-centric computing.

There is a haunting quality to firing up Visual Studio 2013 today. It was the last major version of the IDE that felt natively "Windows 7."