0

I'm getting started with C and usually use eclipse for other development. But it turned out that the eclipse CDT plugin doesn't come with the compiler and therefore installing a compiler separately is required (since I'm on windows vista).

What C/C++ IDEs do you use that you know already come with the compiler. I've been told Microsoft Visual C++ Express Edition. What else? I think I saw something like c/c++ dev on a friend's machine while he was launching it, does that come with the compiler? I'm open to all suggestions though.

geek
  • 111
  • 1
  • 1
  • 6
  • 2
    At the cost of being flamed I highly recommend you abandon Eclipse and try out Visual Studio, with Visual Assist X. No other IDEs can even remotely compete. – Andreas Bonini Dec 22 '09 at 03:23
  • @Andreas, You mean for all development or just for C/C++? I also would be happy to hear your opinion why. Thanks. – geek Dec 22 '09 at 03:26
  • geek, what do you mean with "all development"? It's really good with C/C++, C# and possibly Visual Basic (never tried that one), but that's it. And for the why.. Thanks to its intellisense features, refactoring, integration and many many more features than I can list here you will save a lot of time with it. – Andreas Bonini Dec 22 '09 at 03:29
  • 1
    This questions is effectively "What IDE should I use for c++ on windows?" and has been done to death. One example: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/89275/best-c-ide-or-editor-for-windows – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Dec 22 '09 at 04:19
  • 1
    And use http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=c%2B%2B+ide+windows for as many more as you want. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Dec 22 '09 at 04:20

9 Answers9

8

Qt Creator that comes with the Qt installer will install MinGW for you on windows. It is pretty decent and one of the most lightweight, cross platform C++ IDEs that I actually like.

If you plan on just writing some things in C then it will probably be overkill and get in the way.

Matt
  • 1,222
  • 1
  • 9
  • 18
  • 1
    It's worth noting that if any UI work is to be done, this is a better option that VC++ Express, because the latter doesn't come with any native UI library or designers (you get WinForms, but that's C++/CLI, not pure native C++). Qt Creator, on the other hand, comes with visual Qt designer and other goodies for nice UI RAD. – Pavel Minaev Dec 22 '09 at 04:53
3

C/C++ development on Windows is typically done using Visual Studio. Its feature set is the most complete and offers the best integration.

If you want to try it out for free, have a look at Visual C++ 2008 Express. You can even release commercial software using only the Express edition.

Ben S
  • 68,394
  • 30
  • 171
  • 212
3

Codeblocks is an okay IDE and uses MinGW GCC.Its an allright IDE, easy to install and start working.

anijhaw
  • 8,954
  • 7
  • 35
  • 36
3

When I work on Linux, i use emacs and invoke gcc from emacs.

user233509
  • 51
  • 2
2

Why not just download a compiler? MinGW is good for development on Windows.

Anon.
  • 58,739
  • 8
  • 81
  • 86
2

I already said it in the comment but I'll repeat it here for better visibility: try out Visual Studio with the Visual Assist X add-in (not porn related) and you'll thank me :)

You can get Visual Assist X from http://www.wholetomato.com/. A full featured 1 month trial is available.

Andreas Bonini
  • 44,018
  • 30
  • 122
  • 156
  • 1
    Just to note, Visual Assist & other add-ins don't work with the Express versions of Visual Studio. This is a feature limitation from Microsoft. – Joe Internet Dec 22 '09 at 04:42
1

Visual Studio is pretty much the gold standard for C++ programming on Windows.

Bloodshed Dev C++ is OK and does come with a compiler, but I haven't found any reasons to use it over Visual Studio.

Graphics Noob
  • 9,790
  • 11
  • 46
  • 44
  • dev-cpp is an abomination and is only useful if you think bugs and missing features are a major selling point. – jalf Dec 22 '09 at 05:16
1

C/C++ IDEs that come with/without the compiler

I use wxDev-C++ IDE and the installer have option to install compiler (mingw) or not

YOU
  • 120,166
  • 34
  • 186
  • 219
  • getting -1 means, I did something wrong in my answer? If so, please let me know it, I will not bother to delete my answer, if it is not appropriate. – YOU Dec 22 '09 at 05:38
1

If you were to use the Bloodshed Dev C++ IDE, I'd just go with the wxDev-C++ IDE that S.Mark mentioned. AFAIK, Bloodshed is abandoned.

Dustin
  • 1,956
  • 14
  • 14