Recommend a Freeware C++ Compiler

Factual Questions
1

Thanks.

2

It’d be nice to know what kind of platform you’re on.

3

What platform?

I use GNU on Solaris and LINUX, professionally.
http://gcc.gnu.org/
4.0.0 just came out, I haven’t gone to that version yet.

4

Windows XP Home Edition (probably soon to be upgraded to Windows XP Professional).

5

Download Cygwin and make sure G++ and friends are amongst your packages.

Alternatively, Bloodshed Dev C++ is a freeware Windows IDE.

6

Eclipse is an IDE that uses Cygwin/G++ (which is GNU). I haven’t used it much, but looks pretty good. You have to download a plug-in for C++ though, I think it only does Java in it’s unplugged state.

7

Microsoft Visual C++ Express

8

DJCPP is the Windows gcc clone.

9

Borland has a free C++ compilier for windows.

This is the command line compilier no fancy IDE for you unless you pay.

http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_cbuilder.html#
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,21205,00.html

10

Let’s clarify that:
Microsoft Visual C++ Express Beta 2 is free. The release version is expected to cost $49. Finally, Microsoft is releasing tools for hobbyists, just as I prepare to dump the last vestiges of Windows on my systems and go full-on Debian. :mad:

11

So, MS is giving away unfinished software as opposed to selling it now?

Color me surprised.

Anyway, gcc is probably a lot more stable than one of MS’s beta releases.

First, you mean DJGPP, and second, it’s a port, not a clone. (A port is getting the code to work on a new system, a clone is a full-fledged rewrite.)

12

I would recommend gcc running under cygwin (if Windows.) It’s easy to get set up and lots of people use it.
I tried DJCPP once ages ago and it seemed okayish so long as you didn’t intend to make anything beyond console apps. Real GCC has struck me as being more stable.

13

Beta 2 will work until May 2006, and I believe the command-line compiler itself is part of the free SDK, so you can keep using it even if you don’t want to pay for the IDE.

I haven’t tried Beta 2, but Beta 1 was pretty stable in my experience. And if you use VC++, you can use Windows Forms, which you might find more pleasant for developing GUI apps than whatever you’d use with GCC (GTK or plain Win32 API, I guess).