Which free C++ compiler?

[stilly]

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


;-)

Not in California. There will soon be no more Straight C, only BI-Curious C...

[ibanezfoo]

Oh boy. Alright, i guess it's time to describe the difference between an IDE and a simple text editor. IDE is an integrated development environment, means that it will generally do most if not all of the following things in one software package: Debugging, compiling and build automation. A text editor is just that, a text editor. It is nearly impossible to write any substantive code in notepad plain and simple. You cannot debug from notepad, you cannot handle build requirements in notepad and writing anything longer than 10 lines of code in notepad sucks not to mention highly error prone. Vi suffers from many of the same ailments though many people try and build plugins just to get debugging to barely work. Vi does not offer build automation, so you have to handle all of your third party libraries by hand. So while I understand that Boeing is a huge software powerhouse, using vi for anything more than scripting is a mistake and cuts down on productivity. Let me guess, they use excel to track bugs and dropbox for code versioning?

Again, i'll reiterate my original post. You have to use the right tool for the right job, A nice full-featured fast IDE for software development, vi/emacs/sublime for small jobs, scripting or configuring and notepad for jotting down notes.

While I enjoy discussing the finer points of software development tools, i'm not interested in the "but... but... but... Boeing dude!" arguments. So I will leave you with this:

For the guitar playing programming magician who knows how to set breakpoints in notepad: http://xkcd.com/378/ you win and are super leet.

For the OP, my recommendation is Visual Studio, express is free and will get you up and running very quickly. There is no MFC, WinAPI or C# business unless you want it.

Clearly I am outmatched by your superior uber 31337 madd k0ding skillz dogg. Well done. I'm impressed. No really. Visual Studio. Its what only best of the best use. Got it.



I love xkcd by the way. Good one.

You do know I'm just messing with you because you basically came in and said if you don't use an IDE you aren't a real programmer, right? I dropped the Boeing line because my friend who works there expected to be using some kind of IDE and calls me and told me he was shocked because they are only allowed to use vi. He is the best programmer I know that can code anything and can learn a new language in less than a week. He uses vi, and writes code for satellites. He used to write code for my current company and before that he used to write code for industrial robotics. I would consider that a real programmer writing real code in the real world regardless of whether he uses Visual Studio or not.

I've been around this computer stuff a long long time. I know where you are coming from, we are all like that. We have to out-nerd each other. Anything we do is the "only" way to do it and anyone who does something different isn't "really" doing what they think they are doing.... I'm guilty of it too. Its the way our kind works.

At any rate, I HATE coding. I do what I can to get other people who are more proficient do it. I will check code for errors, or make changes/add features... but thats about it. WAY to tedious for me. Networking is my specialty.

[JarenC81]

Clearly I am outmatched by your superior uber 31337 madd k0ding skillz dogg. Well done. I'm impressed. No really. Visual Studio. Its what only best of the best use. Got it.



I love xkcd by the way. Good one.

You do know I'm just messing with you because you basically came in and said if you don't use an IDE you aren't a real programmer, right? I dropped the Boeing line because my friend who works there expected to be using some kind of IDE and calls me and told me he was shocked because they are only allowed to use vi. He is the best programmer I know that can code anything and can learn a new language in less than a week. He uses vi, and writes code for satellites. He used to write code for my current company and before that he used to write code for industrial robotics. I would consider that a real programmer writing real code in the real world regardless of whether he uses Visual Studio or not.

I've been around this computer stuff a long long time. I know where you are coming from, we are all like that. We have to out-nerd each other. Anything we do is the "only" way to do it and anyone who does something different isn't "really" doing what they think they are doing.... I'm guilty of it too. Its the way our kind works.

At any rate, I HATE coding. I do what I can to get other people who are more proficient do it. I will check code for errors, or make changes/add features... but thats about it. WAY to tedious for me. Networking is my specialty.

Man, I went back through my posts again and still can't find any mention of me saying that if you don't use Visual Studio you aren't a real programmer. The closest thing I said is if you are using notepad, you aren't doing anything serious and some rant about right tool for the right job.