I have read numerous examples and videos to learn how to fix this to no avail. I am new to using Visual Studio Code and I seem to not be able to resolve this issue independently. I've reset my settings, deleted and reinstalled, etc. One common occurrence I am seeing is to access "MingGW", which I apparently do not have installed on my computer and/or have access to. I am in need of great assistance!
Apparently, the error is related to the fact that you don't have a compiler installed on your machine (or VS Code can't find its directory).
You can download the compiler from its official website here:
Mingw-w64
The answer is in your question ""MingGW", which I apparently do not have installed on my computer and/or have access to"
Install MingGw, and then compile.
Here is a Link to help you get started on setting up the MinGW for Visual Studio
It sounds like you are also new to C++. Are you on Windows? (I will assume so since you explicitly mentioned MinGW).
MinGW is an older version of the compiler, and I would encourage you to install the official Microsoft Sdk instead - that is, if you want the easy road.
Are you using Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code? They are two very different application, and if you are new to either programming or C++ I would heartily recommend Visual Studio as it does all the "complicated things" for you.
There is a difference between installing Visual Studio Code (a text editor) and a compiler (MinGW, MSVC++, clang, GCC, Intel, etc.).
Btw., I know your pain - we have all been there! Don't expect things to be easy in programming, it takes some time. This is especially true for C++ which has more complications than other languages (but worth the effort!).
I have tried searching on the internet but could not find out the compiler used by Visual Studio for C++ applications.
I wanted to know whether it is freely available & whether it can be used for commercial applications.
Traditionally I have been using Turbo C++.
The problem with Visual Studio C++ Express is that it does not work with some applications.
For example, BRL-CAD which is an open source project works properly with the commercial version but gives some problems for the Express edition.
It seems that there is some problem with MinGW compiler as well.
I am told this by the people running that project.
Visual Studio uses the same compiler for all editions. So, the Express edition uses the same compiler as the Professional edition. There are also no restrictions on producing commercial applications, in either case. There are differences in the advanced features offered by the IDE, but the compilers are the same. So whatever your problems are in getting the project to work, it is nothing to do with the compiler.
I don't like qt creator as IDE and love VS, but I must use exactly mingw compiler. Sad story :'(
Just set up a makefile project - that way you can tell VC what command to run to compile your files.
You have to maintain a makefile in addition to the Visual Studio project, but that's really not too big of a problem since in that case the VS project becomes just a list of the files you want Visual Studio to know about.
Unfortunately, the VS debugger is not useful in this scenario, but all of the IDE's code navigation works fine.
You can't easily replace the C++ compiler in Visual Studio.
But at one time (in the 1990's) I used Visual Studio as simply an editor for Java. And since there are extensions for e.g. the D programming language (well that's the only one I've used) you can certainly, with a lot of work, make the full Visual Studio work with g++ or any other compiler for whatever language, as an additional "language". It can even work with the debugger, if the language implementation is suitable for that.
It's just that nowadays it's much easier to use an IDE that does support the tools you want to use. E.g., for g++ you have Eclipse, Code::Blocks, even old DevC++, etc. Oh yes, and the QT thing.
Dev10 has facilities for using the C++ compiler shipped in Orcas. However, I really don't need to install the full IDE -- I merely need to use Orcas' compiler because I need to support Windows 2000.
What's the simplest way of installing just the bits required to build using Orcas' toolset in Dev10?
Given your condition, I'd say just install VS2008 and use it. While it's not what you want it's the fastest path to working.
What about setting up Visual studio 2008 to work with Orcas compiler ?
I'm sorry I don't know about this very compiler, but I know it's possible to use VS2008 with a different compiler, because I tried it.
You can find plenty of doc on running VS2008 with, for example, the Windows SDK compiler or VS2010 compiler. For example that links explains that quite well : http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/105011/Using-Visual-Studio-2008-IDE-with-Visual-Cplusplus.aspx
HTH
I searched around for the answers to these questions, but I have had little luck. So, I thought I would post them here to get some clarification. If this is a duplicate, please let me know, and I will close this.
Okay, with that said, I would like to begin learning C++. I come from a C# background and I have a great respect for Visual Studio and what it can do. Now, my question is. How well does Visual Studio's compiler work for C++ as opposed to a non-Microsoft version (such as MinGW)?
My thing is this. I have nothing wrong with Microsoft, but I would really like to learn C++ in a "pure" form and not scewed by any particular implementation. How reliant is Visual C++ on the .NET Framework? Can a "pure" C++ application be created through Visual Studio without any .NET usage or overhead? Does the Visual Studio compiler compile C++ into CIL like it does with C#/VB, or does it compile it all the way down as others do?
Thanks for any help anyone can provide!
The Visual C++ compiler will compile C++ code into standalone EXEs that have nothing to do with the .NET framework.
The only way to get the .NET baggage thrown in is to compile the C++ as "managed".
If you create a new project (File|New|New Project) Then choose "Win32" from the Visual C++ submenu in the project types and choose "Win32 Console Application" Visual studio will create a simple project with a couple of source files that will compile to a little executable.
Most of the time, Visual C++ is very similar to other compilers. Avoid #pragmas, microsoft libraries (MFC, ATL) and you should be fine.
Edit (thanks Cheeso) - Documentation of where Visual C++ diverges from standard.
In general I would advise using boost libraries for threads and networking because they work on many platforms (i.e linux). Also if your code can compile in GCC and Visual Studio then you are doing a good job keeping it portable.
The most recent versions of VC++ have become significantly more compliant to the C++ standard, so it's not really an issue to write "pure" C++ using Visual Studio, presuming that you stay out of the Windows API, COM+ and ATL. In fact, the documentation with Visual Studio is very rich, with details on the standard libraries and the STL, so it can help you learn a great deal. It can't teach you everything, but it's certainly loaded up with a wealth of information that is portable to any compiler and it is very easily accessbible inside the IDE.
If you create a new solution you should choose new Win32 Project, or Win32 Console Application, and check the 'Empty Project' option. Then you can add a main.cpp file, and add your standard C++ code.
If you like Visual Studio, go ahead and use it to learn C++ -- I haven't used the very latest version, but even the previous one was pretty standards-compliant, C++-wise, and I assume the latest one can only have gotten better. You can have many different kinds of project in Visual Studio, including "console apps", which are the "plain vanilla" kind you could make on any platform, and also many other kinds, such as, windows apps using the good old win32 api, ones made with MFC or other frameworks older than .NET, .NET ones using "managed code", etc.
Just make sure you always work in a "console app" project, and you'll be operating pretty closely to how you would be on other platforms and/or with other C++ IDEs.
If you limit yourself to writing ANSI C++ compliant code then what you write in VS will work in other compilers, until you have to interact with a graphic interface or IO. Then you need to make certain that you are using something that is portable, such as OpenGL, and not DirectX.
To set your project the steps here may be useful:
http://bytes.com/topic/net/answers/447572-strict-ansi-c
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 comes with a very good, C++98 standard compliant pure C++ compiler. If you are interested in pure C++, don't forget to disable language extensions in project settings and you are good to go. Nobody is going to force you to use .NET framework, MFC or anyting like that. Just pure core C++ language and C++ standard library.
Of course, just like any other compiler, it has known non-compliance issues, but in general it is, again, surprisingly good. Older versions of their compiler (MS VS 6.0 specifically) suffered from many non-compliance problems and could not even compile its own header files with language extensions disabled. In 2005 version they fixed a lot of these issues.
After creating a standard Win32 project, you can turn up the compliance a bit more. On the project properties sheet, there's a C/C++ category, with a Language entry. This lists a number of cases where VC++ can differ from the standard. Here, you'd want to turn OFF language extensions, and turn ON "wchar_t as built-in type", "for-loop conformance" and "RTTI support".