the thing here is that i just bought a new computer that runs windows vista, i hate it, i think, but the question is what is a good FREE compiler i can use with this system. i tried devc++ but i couldnt get any thing to link properly. any help would be very appreciated.

Try the Visual Studio Express Editions. C++, C#, etc. All are free, and a good introductory if you don't need all the full features.

Dev-C++ is an IDE, not a compiler (it uses a GGC port for a compiler). It's also a piece of junk -- easily one of the worst choices for a development environment on a Windows platform. Visual C++ Express, however, is an excellent option.

Quote:Original post by Nytegard
Try the Visual Studio Express Editions. C++, C#, etc. All are free, and a good introductory if you don't need all the full features.

Second that. But make sure to also get the Service Pack 1 for Visual C++ Express Edition and the Vista Update for VCEESP1 (these are two separate downloads!).

Quote:Original post by jpetrie
Dev-C++ is an IDE, not a compiler (it uses a GGC port for a compiler). It's also a piece of junk -- easily one of the worst choices for a development environment on a Windows platform.

I assume you mean GCC :-). What makes this a piece of junk, and one of the worst choices? I'm assuming you're talking about GCC and not the IDE itself...

Quote:
I assume you mean GCC :-)

Oops. Yes, I meant GCC.

Quote:
I'm assuming you're talking about GCC and not the IDE itself...

I'm not, I'm talking about the IDE. But since you asked...
a) MinGW is, in my experience, a crappy port of GCC. It lags a bit (being a port) and generated poor machine code during my tests (admittedly, long ago, but I don't think the MinGW version that ships with Dev-C++ is new, since Dev-C++ is pretty darn dead itself). It's also not compatible with the same object format that Microsoft's compiler is, which is why you have to idiotic Dev-C++ "devpacks" which hamper your ability to use modern APIs, such as DirectX, effectively.
b) I don't like GCC in general for subjective reasons. For example, I think its error reporting is asinine. But that's just me.

As for Dev-C++ itself...

Quote:
What makes this a piece of junk, and one of the worst choices?

a) It's old. It hasn't been updated in a long time. It shows no sign of being updated. It's missing a lot of modern features that make writing code nicer, and the ones it has are poorly implemented.
b) It has a poor, limiting user interface designed to be easy for small trivial projects, but its next to unusable for large ones.
c) Devpaks. The word is "pack," people; omitting letters is not cool. This is not AOL.
d) gdb is a clunky debugger to use, even natively, and...
e) Dev-C++'s interface to gdb is "passable" at best.
f) It's not particularly extensible.

Quote:Original post by jesse007
I still don't use it because I hear it isn't very ANSI C++ compliant, and when I'm learning I like the source code to compile right out of the box;

Visual C++ is one of the most standard compliant compilers. Comeau definitely beats it and I think the newest GCC and Visual C++ is about equal when it comes to standard conformance. GCC does seem to have more stuff from the technical reports, C99 and C++0x though, but when it comes to the 2003 standard I don't believe it's ahead.

The version shipped with Dev-C++ is, as far as I recall, pretty old and probably less standard compliant than Visual C++.

Quote:IMO, that's the best thing about open source: if people think some software sucks, like MingGW or Dev-C++ for example, then they can go fix it since the source code is provided. Good luck fixing VC++...

Have you ever seen someone actually do that? It's open-source, but documentation for the code is non-existant and it would take enormous amounts of times to fix anything. Have you ever changed a single line of Dev-C++? Have you ever compiled it yourself? If not then I don't see how you consider it an advantage.

Dev-C++ is pretty dead and no one from the enormous open source community have taken up the task of even supplying it with a new version of the compiler. The only project I know of which is based on Dev-C++ is wxDev-C++ which AFAIK doesn't contain any improvements except the wxWidgets support.

VC++ have something called plugins instead. A standard way of adding functionality that doesn't break on the next release (your modified Dev-C++ code wouldn't work when a new release came along). This is functionality that people are able to actually use; see VisualAssistX for a good example of what is possible (fixing IntelliSense, a major component of Visual C++). Of course Visual C++ Express is a limited edition and therefore it doesn't support plugins, so it doesn't have this advantage over Dev-C++.