VC++ 2008 vs Bloodshed
Author
Ok im sure people probably asked this before but im wondering what IDE is better?
Alot of people recommend VC++ for everyone but when i download programs and look at their source ALOT of programs show that Bloodshed was used to create the persons program.
What is the difference between the two IDEs? I myself am a beginning C++ programmer (relearning after a 6/mo. "break"*cough*) I just dont get it.
VS 2008 Express is great. VS2008 can murder an older computer though. So you can also use the Code::Blocks IDE and call the VS compiler from it if needed.
Dev C++ is buggy, and no longer maintained. It comes with an old version of MinGW (GCC Port). There is no reason to use it. Anything you read that recommends it is most likely very old (or misinformed!)
You can also use Code::Blocks + MinGW if you want. But you can run into trouble with linking to some libraries like DirectX, (although, there are alternatives too).
I would recommend just downloading an using VS2008 Express. Maybe even Visual C# Express and XNA.
Dev C++ is buggy, and no longer maintained. It comes with an old version of MinGW (GCC Port). There is no reason to use it. Anything you read that recommends it is most likely very old (or misinformed!)
You can also use Code::Blocks + MinGW if you want. But you can run into trouble with linking to some libraries like DirectX, (although, there are alternatives too).
I would recommend just downloading an using VS2008 Express. Maybe even Visual C# Express and XNA.
Quote:Ok im sure people probably asked this before but im wondering what IDE is better?Visual Studio by far.
Quote:Alot of people recommend VC++ for everyone but when i download programs and look at their source ALOT of programs show that Bloodshed was used to create the persons program.A lot of beginner programs I presume. Most of the serious programms out there will either reveal using the Visual C++ toolchain, or the mingw (gcc) toolchain without a trace of Bloodshed Dev-C++.
You have to realize that C++ has been around for a long long while. For a long time, gcc on Windows, under the name MinGW, was the only option available for a very up to date, standards compliant compiler that was also free. Then people made IDEs for it, with Dev-C++ being surprisingly better than the rest. No surprise that beginners gravitated to using something free, easy to use, and good quality, right?
That was ages ago. But old programming resources still show up on Google. Beginners then keep on gravitating towards it, and recommend it, and the cycle continues. We don't recommend Dev-C++ anymore. There's superior IDEs out there. wxDev-C++ is actively maintained. Code::Blocks is popular. And there is Visual C++ Express now.
Quote:What is the difference between the two IDEs? I myself am a beginning C++ programmer (relearning after a 6/mo. "break"*cough*) I just dont get it.Why don't you take a look. Download both and play around with them.
But honestly, the programming scene has changed quite a lot over the past decade. We do not recommend C++ for beginners at all anymore. You'll find that Python and C# are popular recommendations here. In general, high level and mainstream languages are good choices, so add Ruby and Java to the list.
There's basically no comparison - Visual Studio is one of the very best IDEs you can get. The free express editions still maintain a large majority of the functionality of the professional editions, and on Windows I would recommend Visual Studio before any other IDE.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement