C++ Compilers

[MarVelo]

Hey guys,

I'm gunna start to learn some C++ because I'm programing illiterate. I've got all my newb tutorials and whatnot but I need a good free compiler. Googling for one presents many many results but what do you all suggest?


Thanks

[MillsJROSS]

DevCpp

http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

-MillsJROSS

[dasjoe]

i personally use mingw, it's a bit of a hassle to set it up but it works nicely

really, just go through the docs and the wiki. start here: http://www.mingw.org/MinGWiki/index.php/GettingStarted

[DoorKnobHandle]

People hate it, but I use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 - I don't know whether it's for free though, I think 6.0 isn't, but an earlier version is or something. It works well and offers a variety of useful options.

[Radiant]

To my knowledge, no compiler by Microsoft is, or is ever going to be, free. Nevertheless, Visual C++ Studio 6.0 is an excellent package with a great debugger.

Failing that, I'd go for gnu's g++

[LGM]

Untrue, there is Visual C++ Express that is offered. I believe it's free.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/

[dasjoe]

Failing that, I'd go for gnu's g++

that's what MinGW is, actually.

[MillsJROSS]

I like how this is almost no better than googling it.

DevCpp is just an IDE for the mingGW, but I think it might make setting up the complier easier, or at least I didn't have any problems with it a while back.

-MillsJROSS

[Kweepa]

I highly recommend getting Microsoft's Visual C++ Express. It's the standard, it's free, it has a powerful IDE, and it doesn't seem to be crippled in any way.

[Radiant]

Untrue, there is Visual C++ Express that is offered. I believe it's free.

It is? Oh, in that case use that. Definitely. It was a very stable and effective application even back when Microsoft programs still had the reputation for many bugs and frequent crashing.

[MillsJROSS]

Regardless of whichever compiler you go with, here are some free C++ resource books. I wouldn't necessarily call them beginer books, but I never read them as a beginer, so I don't know.

http://www.janiry.com/bruce-eckel/

You should find a link to Thinking in C++, 2nd Edition, Volume 1 and Volume 2

It's a fairly nice free resource, which is generally very hard to find. I've found his writing is much easier to read than most of the books that try to baby you into learning subject material. Or rather, overwhelm you with so much text about fairly simple things. He does deal with some aspects of programming that aren't pure programming. I believe he dabbles in some of UML. This is an actual text book that he sells as a book, and has released freely on-line, as well. Hopefully, you'll make use of it.

-MillsJROSS

[monkey0506]

w00t! I love having as many C++ resources as I can. I have now have 4 books* in print and 2 on the computer! Thanks!

*Two of which were #ahem# borrowed indefinitely without permission** from my school. Which I no longer attend...>.>
**a.k.a., "stole"

[Joseph DiPerla]

http://www.cprogramming.com is another good resource. Both for C and C++.
http://www.planetsourcecode.com is excellent for finding source code in several Languages including C++.

[Ghost]

Although Visual C++ Express is free I dislike it, mostly because it's cumbersome and so feature-laden. But I have to agree that it is easy to use and quite stable. It IS free, and you even have the permission to sell your programms, which isn't allowed with the Author's version that's often bundled with books on C++.

Personally I prefer DevC++ and CodeBlocks. Both are free; DevC++ is a wrapper for mingw, CodeBlocks is a wrapper for Visual Studio. It's mostly a matter of style I think.

If you're going deeper into C++ AND are also interested in developing games I suggest you have a look at the Allegro library. A pain to set up (but available as a DevPak for DevC++)
but a very flexible library. AGS uses some parts of it, too