Import in VC++:#import is for type libraries or .tlbs (COM stuff).
The content of the type library is converted into C++ classes, mostly describing the COM interfaces for you automatically, and then it is included into your file.
The #import directive was introduced by Microsoft as an extension to the C++ language. You can read about it at this MSDN article.
The #import directive is also used with .NET / CLI stuff.
Import in gcc:
The import in gcc is different from the import in VC++. It is a simple way to include a header at most once only. (In VC++ and GCC you can do this via #pragma once as well)
The #import directive was officially undeprecated by the gcc team in version 3.4 and works fine 99% of the time in all previous versions of gcc which support
Include:#include is for mostly header files, but to prepend the content to your current file. #include is part of the C++ standard. You can read about it at this MSDN article.
import was also one of the keywords associated with n2073, Modules in C++, proposed to the language committee by Daveed Vandevoorde in September 2006. I'm not enough of a language geek to know if that proposal was definitively shelved or if it's awaiting an implementation (proof of concept) from the author or someone else...
In terms of compiling speed when multiple modules are called from different parts of the code, import statement seems to be quicker than the old #include preprocesor directive.