What is needed to code
Let's say I'm completely new to programs, what would I need to code and write my first programs besides the knowledge of the language's syntax and the likes? I mean, let's pretend (pretend!) I've never ever coded anything, what do I need to make my first Hello World! program actually work with C++? I'm assuming I would need some kind of software to code it in or something to compile said code. If so, what would that be?
Yes your right. You need whats called a compiler / IDE. An IDE is like a workspace for you to write your code and then compile it.
I personally recommend Microsoft Visual Studio. Or Microsoft Visual C++ express (which is free to download from microsofts website). Another one i hear people raving about is Eclipse, but ive never really used it.
I personally recommend Microsoft Visual Studio. Or Microsoft Visual C++ express (which is free to download from microsofts website). Another one i hear people raving about is Eclipse, but ive never really used it.
I recommend using either GCC and gEdit, which would come with many Linux distributions (if not, sudo apt-get install binutils and sudo apt-get install gedit (which may not work) should get what you need) or downloading CodeBlocks, netbeans or wxDev-C++ as the normal Dev-C++ has been left undeveloped for too long.
All three of the above use the MinGW compiler set, which is a windows port of the GNU Compiler Collection. I'm not sure about the others, but in CodeBlocks you can choose the VC++ compiler anyway.
Plus visual studio is a very bloated IDE. Lots of disk space, RAM will be needed. In fact on my old PC (512MB RAM 2GHz AMD64 CPU, and 64MB VRAM (AMD/ATI Radeon thing)) I could run Counter-Strike Source without trouble, but visual studio took ages to load.
Anyway, the debugger is good but...
All three of the above use the MinGW compiler set, which is a windows port of the GNU Compiler Collection. I'm not sure about the others, but in CodeBlocks you can choose the VC++ compiler anyway.
Plus visual studio is a very bloated IDE. Lots of disk space, RAM will be needed. In fact on my old PC (512MB RAM 2GHz AMD64 CPU, and 64MB VRAM (AMD/ATI Radeon thing)) I could run Counter-Strike Source without trouble, but visual studio took ages to load.
Anyway, the debugger is good but...
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We really need a stickied post about this stuff which should include a list of compilers, books, etc... for the c++ noobie.
| We really need a stickied post about this stuff which should include a list of compilers, books, etc... for the c++ noobie. |
I'm not sure if it would do any good. I've seen many FAQs, articles on these questions yet they keep getting asked over and over.
You're right but the answer could be a simple link to that.
Zaita's article is good for compilers/IDE but we are missing a list of C++ books. This was already proposed some time ago but we need someone having read all of the most popular C++ books to write an article
Zaita's article is good for compilers/IDE but we are missing a list of C++ books. This was already proposed some time ago but we need someone having read all of the most popular C++ books to write an article
| Another one i hear people raving about is Eclipse, but ive never really used it. |
It checks for syntax errors while you're still typing, instead of at compile-time. That's awesome, if not somewhat annoying after a while. I don't know much about it's debugging tools, I only used it for Java, where you don't have access to memory information since it wouldn't be of any use. I don't use it anymore though, since I don't code in Java often.
I learned C++ through C++ For Dummies ( They suggested bad practices, though (system( ), using Dev-C++, etc... ) as well as this site. I recommend this site over anything else, though. If you can't find what you need here, try Google, or ask about it on these forums.
P.S.- IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment.
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