Seeking recommendation on free or cheap C++ compiler
in [C++]
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From: Jay on 10 Nov 2009 12:19 I am not a programmer, but have a technical background, and studied programming quite a few years back, including some classes in C and C+ +. I am seeking to get back up to speed in C++ on a hobby basis, so I'm trying to figure out which compiler to get now. A search on the web reveals lots of compilers, but it's hard to know which ones meet my needs. Hoping someone can help. My requirements: 1. Free or cheap. 2. Compiler for Windows. Currently running XP, may upgrade to Win7 at some point. 3. Definitely want an integrated GUI development environment, not command line. 4. Biggest problem I had back in the past was creating a GUI. I tried to learn MFC, it was a total bear. Ideally I'd like something that makes GUI creation with C++ as intuitive and easy as with Visual Basic, and failing that, something like Java (which I found challenging, but doable). I want to be able to focus on developing the background logic (I'm planning to do some simple neural network and other AI programming, for example), I don't want to be messing for hours trying to create a simple dialog box or other user interface. The development environment should make that part easy, and hide the MFC complexities (or whatever has replaced MFC these days). Thanks in advance for all replies. -- [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]
From: Martin B. on 11 Nov 2009 02:23 Jay wrote: > I am not a programmer, but have a technical background, and studied > programming quite a few years back, including some classes in C and C+ > +. I am seeking to get back up to speed in C++ on a hobby basis, so > I'm trying to figure out which compiler to get now. A search on the > web reveals lots of compilers, but it's hard to know which ones meet > my needs. Hoping someone can help. My requirements: > > 1. Free or cheap. > > 2. Compiler for Windows. Currently running XP, may upgrade to Win7 > at some point. > > 3. Definitely want an integrated GUI development environment, not > command line. > > 4. Biggest problem I had back in the past was creating a GUI. I > tried to learn MFC, it was a total bear. Ideally I'd like something > that makes GUI creation with C++ as intuitive and easy as with Visual > Basic, and failing that, something like Java (which I found > challenging, but doable). I want to be able to focus on developing > the background logic (I'm planning to do some simple neural network > and other AI programming, for example), I don't want to be messing for > hours trying to create a simple dialog box or other user interface. > The development environment should make that part easy, and hide the > MFC complexities (or whatever has replaced MFC these days). > > Thanks in advance for all replies. > Personally - if you're going Windows only - I'd use Visual Studio Express, which is free. (The express edition doesn't include MFC anyway). The GUI stuff would be tacked on here though, but you'd be free to choose. (GTK+, Qt, wxWidgets, ...) In my opinion VS offers the best IDE with the best integrated debugger. You might also consider going with Qt only. Nokia offers a pretty nice IDE (QtCreator) and after getting used to Qt it seems to be really simple to throw together some GUI. The coding part is also very nice, although it shows that this is still a 1.x product. Then there's Eclipse + CDT which I have tried and which isn't so bad but if you're Windows only I really can't see the point as VS seems better/easier/more stable in most aspects. If you want to try wxWidgets for GUI Code::Blocks might be worth a look as it seems to be geared towards that. br, Martin -- [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]
From: eca on 11 Nov 2009 02:24 On Nov 11, 6:19 am, Jay <greengrass...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > [...] My requirements: > > 1. Free or cheap. > > 2. Compiler for Windows. Currently running XP, may upgrade to Win7 > at some point. > > 3. Definitely want an integrated GUI development environment, not > command line. > > 4. Biggest problem I had back in the past was creating a GUI. You might want to try the following: IDEs: a) MS Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 express edition, includes one of the best IDE (IMHO) and MS C++ compiler. http://www.microsoft.com/express/vc/ b) Qt SDK. Includes a nice IDE, MingW g++ and Qt libraries. IMHO, ideal for a quick start. http://qt.nokia.com/products c) Netbeans with C++ plugin. This is the one I prefer for cross-platform development http://netbeans.org/ d) Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers, also cross-platform http://www.eclipse.org/ Compilers: Unless you choose Visual Studio express, which includes MS C++ compiler, g++ is the one. On Windows I would suggest CygWin or MingW flavours http://www.cygwin.com/ http://www.mingw.org/ GUI: I would suggest Qt by Nokia (formerly, Trolltech) open source edition. http://qt.nokia.com/ Many also like wxWidgets: http://www.wxwidgets.org/ My 2c. eca -- [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]
From: Phil Meier on 11 Nov 2009 02:20 { Do not quote the clc++m banner. -mod } On Nov 11, 6:19 am, Jay <greengrass...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > I am not a programmer, but have a technical background, and studied > programming quite a few years back, including some classes in C and C+ > +. I am seeking to get back up to speed in C++ on a hobby basis, so > I'm trying to figure out which compiler to get now. A search on the > web reveals lots of compilers, but it's hard to know which ones meet > my needs. Hoping someone can help. My requirements: > > 1. Free or cheap. > > 2. Compiler for Windows. Currently running XP, may upgrade to Win7 > at some point. > > 3. Definitely want an integrated GUI development environment, not > command line. > > 4. Biggest problem I had back in the past was creating a GUI. I > tried to learn MFC, it was a total bear. Ideally I'd like something > that makes GUI creation with C++ as intuitive and easy as with Visual > Basic, and failing that, something like Java (which I found > challenging, but doable). I want to be able to focus on developing > the background logic (I'm planning to do some simple neural network > and other AI programming, for example), I don't want to be messing for > hours trying to create a simple dialog box or other user interface. > The development environment should make that part easy, and hide the > MFC complexities (or whatever has replaced MFC these days). > > Thanks in advance for all replies. > > -- > [ Seehttp://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htmfor info about ] > [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ] You could use Visual Studio Express - use C++ for your algorithms and use C# for the GUI. BR Phil -- [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]
From: Michael Aaron Safyan on 11 Nov 2009 02:31 On Nov 10, 11:19 pm, Jay <greengrass...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > I am not a programmer, but have a technical background, and studied > programming quite a few years back, including some classes in C and C+ > +. I am seeking to get back up to speed in C++ on a hobby basis, so > I'm trying to figure out which compiler to get now. A search on the > web reveals lots of compilers, but it's hard to know which ones meet > my needs. Hoping someone can help. My requirements: > > 1. Free or cheap. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is free and the de-facto standard for compilers. (Alternative compilers such as LLVM and xlc++, as a general rule, provide a compatible front-end that can accept the same options as GCC. The Visual Studio compiler is the rare exception, not the rule). > > 2. Compiler for Windows. Currently running XP, may upgrade to Win7 > at some point. > Cygwin is a good way of installing GCC. The Win7 version is currently in beta. I am not sure of how stable it is. > 3. Definitely want an integrated GUI development environment, not > command line. Any compiler is going to be commandline. Sorry. What you are looking for is not a compiler, but an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) which provides you with an editor and will invoke the (commandline) compiler for you. Even though YOU like something visual, you should start becoming familiar with non-visual setup/configuration, because: 1.) A visual environment is very difficult to automate, whereas commandline invocations are easy to automate. 2.) Commandline invocations allow your program to be built quickly. 3.) Commandline invocations allow your program to be built automatically. 4.) As a corollary to #3, commandline invocations make it simple to perform CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION TESTING, by enabling the server on which your source code repository is hosted to attempt to build the project and use the results (fail or success) to determine whether it should accept source code changes. 5.) As a corollary to #4, commandline invocations make it possible to create automatic source code-based installers that can automatically fetch your source code archive, compile the source code on the target machine using the machine's compiler, and then install the resulting binary. I strongly recommend that you use CMake for building your project. The CMake build system, though it requires a textual specification, allows you to generate various different types of projects in a cross- platform manner based on your specification. The CMake build system can generate Makefiles (which are purely commandline) but can also generate Visual Studio .NET "Solution" project files, which allow you to edit the project visually. Failing CMake (I suspect you are quite averse to the textual route, even if it is better for you... and everyone else), I recommend that you use the QtCreator IDE, which comes with the Qt Framework. The QtCreator IDE is a cross-platform integrated development environment. Not only will it allow you to edit your code visually, but it will also allow you to drag-and-drop UI components. Along with the Qt Framework, it provides GUI functionality. (NOTE: You can use the Qt Framework with CMake... in fact, CMake includes several commands specifically for the use of the Qt Framework). > > 4. Biggest problem I had back in the past was creating a GUI. I > tried to learn MFC, it was a total bear. Ideally I'd like something > that makes GUI creation with C++ as intuitive and easy as with Visual > Basic, and failing that, something like Java (which I found > challenging, but doable). I want to be able to focus on developing > the background logic (I'm planning to do some simple neural network > and other AI programming, for example), I don't want to be messing for > hours trying to create a simple dialog box or other user interface. > The development environment should make that part easy, and hide the > MFC complexities (or whatever has replaced MFC these days). This one is a no-brainer. Use the Qt Framework. It is cross-platform (works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and it even has an embedded version for the Nokia S60 and other devices). The Qt Framework may be downloaded from: http://qt.nokia.com/products You might like to see my recommended C++ development environment setup guide: http://sites.google.com/site/michaelsafyan/coding/resources/how-to-guides/development-environment-setup/cpp The setup guide above gives directions for installing GCC, Qt, Make, CMake, Pkg-config, Log4Cxx, and UnitTest++. With these, it is possible to use the C++ Project Template on Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/cpp-project-template/ { Please do not quote irrelevant material as below. -mod } > > Thanks in advance for all replies. > > -- > [ Seehttp://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htmfor info about ] > [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ] -- [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]
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