Which free C++ compiler?

[lazyworm]

I say this sincerely; I would start with a different book. You're going to need one that takes you from a crawl, to standing, to walking, to running. If your book is assuming you've got a development environment, know how to use it and how to compile, you're jumping right it at the standing stage. I'd be worried its going to assume you know other things you don't, and that's no way to learn.

For example: if you're book's first example is not a "Hello World" program, you're starting with a book geared toward people with a programming background, and you're already at a disadvantage.

+1 Learn about the basic syntax, conditionals/loops and data structures first.

[Dreaded Claymore]

I say this sincerely; I would start with a different book. You're going to need one that takes you from a crawl, to standing, to walking, to running. If your book is assuming you've got a development environment, know how to use it and how to compile, you're jumping right it at the standing stage. I'd be worried its going to assume you know other things you don't, and that's no way to learn.

For example: if your book's first example is not a "Hello World" program, you're starting with a book geared toward people with a programming background, and you're already at a disadvantage.

The book's first example is a "Hello World" program.

[yellowsulphur]

The book's first example is a "Hello World" program.

That's normal as it's there to teach you the print statement, flash an led, or whatever and make sure your programming environment is set up correctly. Don't worry from this point on it will progress at a rapid pace. If your interested here is a link for the Eclipse IDE with the C compilers included for Win_64.

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/technology/epp/downloads/release/juno/R/eclipse-cpp-juno-win32-x86_64.zip

[Cowboy T]

First off, Microsoft Windows is not a good environment in which to learn C++ programming. Believe me, there's a BIIIIG difference between programming C++ and programming for MS Windows.

If you want to learn C++ programming, I'd suggest running a GNU/Linux or BSD distro. CentOS, Slackware, Debian, Ubuntu, Free/Net/OpenBSD, etc. are all good platforms. All of them include the full development environments for C, C++, PERL, Python, pretty much whatever you want. GCC is the standard C/C++ compiler for those who write serious Internet-facing apps, and just about everything in the world--even Microsoft Visual C++--is compatible with GCC Makefiles.

I will also give you this advice. Years ago, the University of Washington in Seattle received a large donation from Microsoft to convert their CompSci classes from cc (the traditional UNIX C compiler) to MS Visual C++ on MS Windows. The results were disastrous, and the UW didn't take long to go back to cc (actually GCC) on FreeBSD. After that, UW graduates started getting hired again. Something to think about.

[BigJ]

The book's first example is a "Hello World" program.

I just did a little review-reading on the book you chose and apparently it does come with a CD with source code on it. Are you positive an IDE isn't on that CD?

Also, I couldn't help but notice the relatively negative reviews of this book on Amazon. I especially didn't like hearing how as the subjects grow more complex, the chapters get shorter. That's not a good sign.

If you're open to the idea, again I suggest putting this book aside for now and starting with a better beginning programming choice. You're going to need to learn how to think like a programmer; the language you choose becomes almost trivial if you know how to program, first. You need to learn the "why" before (or at least with) the "how".

[Dreaded Claymore]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I do have an install of Ubuntu lingering on a secondary hard drive, it looks like that'll make the biggest difference.

And I'll keep my eye out for better material.

[sonnyt650]

If this book is going to be your guide, use what it uses.

+1 -- Microsoft's base tools are just as free as Eclipse but better integrated, and their books got me started in languages a couple of decades ago now. I'm not doing anything with C, C++, or C# for a while and have settled in on PHP in Apache for the past couple of years (Java is in between there too); but from those books it was the initial understanding of pointers, passing by reference versus value, and understanding the importance and use of the "Standard Template Library" data structures that has proven valuable.

[Ralgha]

2. Noodling around with Android development - which is C++

Android development is actually done in Java. You can use C++ via the NDK, but unless you are writing a program that does a lot of CPU intensive calculations (with little memory usage), it's a waste of time to do so and provides no real benefit (but a lot of downsides).

For programming in C++, you can't beat a POSIX environment in my opinion (unless you're programming for Windows of course). Any Linux distribution will work well. I used Anjuta (http://projects.gnome.org/anjuta/) when I was doing a lot of C++ programming and really liked it. I don't know how it is these days though, it's been years.

In Windows I use Eclipse, but I'm doing Android stuff so I'm using Java.

[mblat]

I think it depends how new you're to programming

If you're completely new to programming, command line actually is a lot
more simple, since you don't have to learn the new IDE (Integrated Development
Environment) Using an IDE usually requires you to create a project and
setup various dependent files within the IDE's framework before you can write
the first line of code. The learning curve would take time away
from learning how to program.

really? And I always thought that entire purpose of IDE make it easier to program and avoid learning curve on project management (make files)....

[ibanezfoo]

Whatever happened to Borland? Thats what I used in my C++ class back in the day. Nowdays if I ever need to code anything I just use gcc.

[AAShooter]

really? And I always thought that entire purpose of IDE make it easier to program and avoid learning curve on project management (make files)....

The problem is a lot of IDE's are like photoshop. They are very powerful but a bear to do simple things when starting out. You spend more time fighting your IDE than learning how to program. Both are good skills to master but doing it at the same time is a bit overwhelming.

[bwiese]

Someday you'll learn a real programming language like straight C...


;-)

[Cowboy T]

Someday you'll learn a real programming language like straight C...


;-)

Oh, please, everyone knows that REAL MEN program in assembly language! Wimpy-a** languages like C can have a powerful effect upon the weak-minded. :-)

[AAShooter]

Oh, please, everyone knows that REAL MEN program in assembly language! Wimpy-a** languages like C can have a powerful effect upon the weak-minded. :-)

Real men flip switches on a PDP!



And use one of these:

[orangeusa]

I was using NDK to access the hardware. But yes, Android is JIT compiled Java, which is pretty impressive to me.

If you do go the NDK route - tis a lot of trial and error.

Android development is actually done in Java. You can use C++ via the NDK, but unless you are writing a program that does a lot of CPU intensive calculations (with little memory usage), it's a waste of time to do so and provides no real benefit (but a lot of downsides).

For programming in C++, you can't beat a POSIX environment in my opinion (unless you're programming for Windows of course). Any Linux distribution will work well. I used Anjuta (http://projects.gnome.org/anjuta/) when I was doing a lot of C++ programming and really liked it. I don't know how it is these days though, it's been years.

In Windows I use Eclipse, but I'm doing Android stuff so I'm using Java.