Some of you might already know that Microsoft is trying to kill desktop development in favor of Metro style apps. The express editions of the new Visual Studio 11 will only support writing Metro style apps. They also won't give you the new compilers as part of the new Windows SDK. The only way to get the compilers is to buy Visual Studio Professional or higher.
Now it's time to find an alternative (alternative compilers for the Windows platform). Any suggestions?
Some links that are related to this issue:
http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/2645679-visual-studio-11-express-on-windows-7-and-the-abil
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2012/05/18/a-look-ahead-at-the-visual-studio-11-product-lineup-and-platform-support.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/products/express
Gcc/G++ of course. In my opinion it is superior to VC++. In addition, you can use Eclipse CDT as IDE, it is quite usable at the moment (compared to older versions). I work like that on Windows. In addition, you can also work on Linux or MacOS without having to switch to another tool.
1) The Metro and WinRT features are accessible from C++/CX which in turn is built on top of COM, so according to this detailed discussion (SO question on WinRT and C) you can use the latest "Microsoft-only" features with any decent C compiler. Of couse this will require some code generation or just a lot of typing to get the access to basic facilities. I believe there would be a transition period and then the open-source community comes up with some automated solution to consume the WinRT APIs.
2) A quick list of available options right now.
Dev tools: MinGW or Cygwin (GCC toolchain + unix-like tools), Clang maybe, OpenWatcom as a thing from the past
GUI Libraries: FLTK, Qt, wxWidgets, Fox GUI toolkit, librocket (if you are into the OpenGL world)
IDEs: Code::Blocks, Eclipse+CDT, QtCreator
3) There's also a non-C++ way:
The FreePascal+Lazarus to allow Delphi-like RAD
Mono/SharpDevelop
Both options can use C++ code with some bindings.
4) Conclusions
These are the alternatives which give similar results but not always the similar level of comfort.
Yet another possibility would be Qt Creator, which comes with a full toolset targeting Windows (as well as MacOS, Linux, and Symbian). It is definitely somewhat different from VS, so it takes some getting used to, but overall I'd rate it as pretty decent. Qt (the library) generates somewhat mixed feelings -- some dislike its oddities (E.g., MOC), but quite a few consider it the best designed GUI toolkit available.
Don't forget the Netbeans GUI which is also available for windoze. It works great, just install mingw and choose this mingw/bin directory for the compiler tools and mysys/bin/make.exe as the make program
to download
https://netbeans.org/downloads/index.html
they have this plugin for vc++
http://plugins.netbeans.org/plugin/42519/vcc4n-visual-c-compiler-for-netbeans
some install info
https://netbeans.org/community/magazine/html/03/c++/
Another IDE that I havent used but looks good is
http://www.codeblocks.org/
Related
I am new (relatively) to C++ and to SO.
Having stretched the creativity of console applications to the limit, my very rabid mind wants to know how to code GUIs now. I did some research, decided to use GTK rather than Qt because of having freedom of choice, there being no strings attached and something about slow internet and having to download some 0.6GB were I to go with Qt.
It has been a brutal 48 hours trying to build 'Hello World' on Gtk. This is me throwing a tantrum. I'm using Visual Studio 2010. Perhaps this is the source of all my woes. It seems Gtk is meant for C and not C++. After solving issues with header files includes and a certain notorious glibconfig.h missing (which I downloaded from the internet only to find, to my horror,that it is supposed to be a generated file), the compiler threw syntax errors,especially in one gatomic.h.
I suspect 10 errors will come up for every one I manage to solve. This is where you come in. Do you use Gtk to develop c++? If not, why so? What would you recommend instead? Do you use Gtk on windows? How is that possible? Please give details.
Is it possible to make cross-platform apps that use C++ code and a Python/VB GUI?
Your answer will be sincerely appreciated.
First off, a general note: Gtk being mainly developed as a toolkit for Gnome, I think it is fair to say that the main focus is high quality on Linux while other platforms are somewhat second-class citizens. This is probably most visible by looking at the integration with the native look and feel of Windows and MacOS. If you are looking for a toolkit which behaves equally well on all major platforms, I'd recommend you reconsidered Qt.
As far as your more specific questions are concerned:
C/C++
Gtk is written in C, and consequently has a C API. If you are looking for a C++ API, look at the Gtkmm bindings. Note that you can also use the C API in a C++ application.
glibconfig.h
I don't know whether you tried compiling Gtk yourself, but the easiest way to get Gtk3 for windows is by downloading the precompiled all-in-one bundle from http://www.gtk.org/download/win32.php (which includes the glibconfig.h you are missing).
When and how to use Gtk and with what language
As pointed out above, the primary users oft Gtk are people who develop applications for the Gnome desktop environment. Most cross-platform applications nowadays however use Qt since the quality on Windows and MacOS is higher compared to Gtk on those platforms.
Concerning what langauge to use, a strength of Gtk is that there exists bindings for many languages (including C++ and Python), so you are certainly not confined to C.
When developing with C++, something that I personally like about Gtkmm is that it uses the standard library, as opposed to Qt which has it's own implementations for data structures etc (the reason being that Qt predates the times when the STL was generally available and usable on all main platforms).
How to use Gtk: contrary to Qt which has the excellent Qt Creator, Gtk is somewhat lacking a specifically designed IDE for easy development. The closes you'll get is using Glade for interface design and a text editor or IDE of your choice for the coding, but that choice will differ depending on the platform you are on. Clearly, as you probably noticed, integrating Gtk into the environment of choice usually requires some work (and also some more technical knowledge). So again, if you are looking for an easy to set-up and use environment for developing GUI applications, I'd just go with Qt and Qt Creator.
Cross-Platform apps
First off, Visual Basic is not cross-platform. But generally speaking, there are plenty of possibilities for doing cross-application development, using various languages.
I've had to get a gtk3 project working on windows a few months ago, when gtk3 just came out for windows. I've had problems compiling it under Visual Studio as well, and posted a question here, specifically this one.
Here's how I got it working on windows:
Download the all-in-one bundle for Windows from gtk.org
Install, etc, set up include/link dirs within the project. (personally, I dumped gtk's folders in the project folder, pointed at "include" as an include dir and "lib" as a link dir, then proceeded to move any files/folders the compiler cannot find around to the root of "include" )
If not set up automatically, add include and link dirs as necessary until the compiler finds all the files.
If using MinGW to compile, it will succeed at that point.
If using Visual Studio, you have to modify gtk headers as described in the gtk mailing list:
In gutils.h lines 82 and 122, and in gstring.h line 129, change
"static inline" to "static __inline".
Blockquote
Note that the modification does not impact MinGW's ability to compile.
I have successfully compiled my gtk3 project on both windows (with either Visual Studio or Code::Blocks) and linux without writing platform-specific code that way. Just don't forget to include the required runtime dlls with the program when you ship it.
I've been spending my "inbetween" time at the office looking into C++. I'm primarily a flash & web developer, also working on a bunch of flash games, but I thought it was time to have a look at some non-web-based languages and see if I could get some real games going.
I've got the hang of how typing works, arrays, outputting using cout, structs, classes and so on and so on.
I seem to have found myself stuck in terms of what I can do next. Outputting to a DOS window obviously isn't that exciting - how do I get started on doing something graphical? A square moving around on the screen, even. Simple is better in this case.
As for the compiler - I've been using devcpp by Bloodshed; is this adequate or am I missing a more common compiler somehow?
Graphics can be done using DirectX in Windows, or OpenGL on every platform. It's a whole different discussion upon which to choose.
In addition to trying to work with graphics, you could try your hand at developing GUIs. I'd give Qt a shot. Be warned though, Qt is being sold by Nokia, but it's overall a very well known and heavily used framework. Or try direct Win32 (not necessarily something I'd suggest unless you're interested). Or try WinForms (requires .NET experience, and steals from the true C++; C++/CLR is NOT the same C++ you are learning--it adds to it). If you do go the .NET route, avoid "Managed C++" examples, as they that was the first iteration of C++/CLR, and they simply redid it and vastly improved it.
Two most common compilers: gcc (Linux, Mac and Windows) and Visual Studio's for development on Windows', I always use Visual Studio (there is a free version called Visual Studio Express that is a solid product) for Windows development simply because I love the IDE.
For a compiler, my school uses g++, an excellent, free C++ compiler that is compatible with many IDEs for unix-based C++ development. If you're running a windows machine, you'll have to download cygwin (which emulates a linux shell) - you'll have to select which executables you want to download with the cygwin shell, figuring out what items you need may take a little time (basically, download useful looking things for the type of development that you want to do; g++/gcc are very important).
http://cygwin.com/install.html
When you have this, you can easily configure netbeans or eclipse (I've had better experience with netbeans) to compile and run your C++ code through cygwin.
Also, my favorite resource for learning C++ has been cplusplus.com - it has detailed tutorials of all of C/C++'s standard functions.
Hope this helps a little!
Have a look at graphics and windowing libraries. For windowing, as you seem to be on Windows, there's builtin stuff. For more general applicability I suggest having a look at Qt or Gtk.
For graphics, the fancy stuff is usually done in either DirectX (basically Windows only) or OpenGL (more portable).
Compilers: GCC is commonly used in the Unix/Linux world and also available on Windows through Cygwin. In the Windows world you'll also find Microsoft's MSVCC as it comes with their development tools. Btw., there are free dev tools from Microsoft as well, see their Visual Studio Express Editions.
Some tips:
Work through one or more good books. I recommend "Accelerated C++" and "Effective C++". These books will teach you real C++ programming.
If you're on Windows then I think you're better off using Visual Studio. The learning curve for C++ is steep enough already. If you simultaneously need to learn how to work with gcc and makefiles then you are likely to become overwhelmed.
Windows specific: for simple graphics I find WinAPI and GDI+ useful. They are relatively easy to learn and they are immediately available.
Hello I am putting together a tool chain on my windows Box for Cross Platform C++ Development. I plan on using Boost.Build for building and Boost::Test for unit testing. I will be using Mercurial for my VCS because I can just throw the repo on my external HD and then pull it to either my windows or linux partition. The main thing standing in my way is editor compiler/debugger. Anyone have any suggestions?
With Boost.Build I can technically build with whatever compilers it supports easily. That means MSVC on windows and GCC on linux by using the same script with a flag.
Qt Creator using MinGW on Windows and the GNU compiler on Linux. That's what I use and it works perfectly well. Note that you don't have to use Qt when developing with Qt Creator.
May I suggest CMake on Windows and Linux as you can generate native Visual Studio projects as well as Eclipse CDT projects and plain-old makefiles.
If you are targeting multiple platforms, but find yourself primarily developing on a single platform, I highly recommend a continuous build/integration system to ensure a check-in for one platform does not break the build on the others.
Code::Blocks is a free, open source, cross platform C++ IDE. It supports the MS and GCC compilers, among others.
The main thing standing in my way is
editor compiler/debugger. Anyone have
any suggestions?
Yes: Qt Creator as one download and install will satisfy your three requests -- pick the 'LGPL' license route and download and install the SDK which even installs gcc, g++, ... for you. The integrated debugger is very good, and you get cross-platform behavior from both your code and your tools.
you can use gcc/g++ on windows as well. as for debuggers: gdb and ddd might be in cygwin. editor: vim (beware: it's really a programmable editor, not an IDE).
Vim, gdb, gcc/g++, makefile - you can use them on both - Windows and Unix :)
Yet another vote for Code Blocks or Qt Creator.
There are commercial tools too: beside Visual Studio there are MagicC++ (IDE), debuggers like TotalView, Allinea, Zero-bugs, UndoDB ... if you want to stay with VStudio check these VSBridge and WinGDB.
Anyway you can always use MSVC on Windows and other tools on Unix (gdb/DDD for debugging, vim/emacs for edition) - I've worked in this way a lot of years. Common environment for all platforms is nice, but sometimes it is very hard (almost impossible) to "force" it in company (especially big-company) ;-)
I'm under the impression certain compilers only work for making windows applications.
If you want to develop GUI applications and/or go for maximum portability, go for MinGW for compiler, and Qt Creator for IDE (it comes with MinGW bundled).
If you want to stick to Windows, and don't mind coding UI directly using Win32 API, then Visual C++ Express would do the trick.
If you care about portability to Unix, use the mingw compilers which are based on gcc. Gcc is widely available on a lot of architectures and OS. If you only work for Windows, Visual Studio Express might be a better choice in comparison to Codeblocks.
How about Visual Studio Express? This is a complete package with a very nice IDE.
Codeblocks supports many compilers. I recommend using CB with mingw for general purpose usage.
Depends what you want to do. If you want to use POSIX APIs you may want to use mingw. If you distribute to Windows folks, you probably want to use Visual Studio since its compiler is usually better at producing optimized code.
CMake might be something you want to use if you want multiple platforms - it'll create your CodeBlocks/Eclipse/Visual Studio/GNU Make projects for you w/ all the correct settings.
If you are keen on using Codeblocks mingw is a good choice. But C++ is not like Java. It is not write once run everywhere. Also it is not write once compile on different platforms and run everywhere.
You have to change your code for different platforms (win/unix etc...) (eg: socket programming differs on Windows and Linux)
This means that you are not platform independent. So I recommend you to go for a better one. Eclipse is good, community is great but for me QT or Visual Studio (6.0 or 2008 for .Net) would be better.
Currently I`m using Visual Studio for writing code in C++. But it seems so weighty that I decided to switch for another one, preferably free, not so strict to system resources (I mean memory, of course) as VS to learn libraries, such as Boost and Qt. What compiler do you suggest?
I'd suggest using Visual Studio's compiler from the command-line. You get the same high-quality compiler, without the resource-hogging IDE.
Although the IDE is pretty good too, and probably worth the resources it uses.
Code::blocks is exactly what you are after. You can can download it here: http://www.codeblocks.org/downloads/5
Choose the version with the mingw compiler bundled with it (Windows port of GCC). You can switch between that and the VC++ compiler as and when you like.
Code::Blocks has all the stuff you want, debugger integration, code completion, class browser, todo list etc. etc. It even import visual C++ projects.
Don't use Dev C++ which has already been recommended. It's very very old and outdated.
If you want to learn unix tools download and install cygwin It's a good set of tools but a full install takes up 5 or 6 gigs because so much is included.
There is always Digital Mars. Also, you can freely download Microsoft WDK
which comes with their C/C++ compiler and command-line build system.
You will be hard-pressed to find an IDE as capable as MS VS. It is incredibly feature-rich.
However, if you just want command line compiling and linking it can do that too.
GCC is also an option.
Please note that you do not need another compiler or IDE to use boost libraries. I wouldn't replace Visual Studio with any other IDE/compiler, at least not on Windows. Installing Cygwin or SUA (better than Cygwin, closer to the Windows Kernel) will only be a pain just for what you are trying to reach.
Try to minimize the memory usage by disabling unnecessary things, keep the amount of open source files small, use an alternative to document explorer to find help (your browser on msdn will do). Besides that, I wouldn't call a few ten megabytes of memory a high usage. As long as it doesn't slow your system down there is not a real issue.
A better idea would be to upgrade your computer rather than to replace something powerful with something that you don't know.
Seriously there is no real alternative to Ms's compiler on Windows. All the others are OK if you can't spring for Visual Studio or if you are just doing hobbyist work. Cygwin can be a pain to deal with.
If you don't want the IDE as someone else suggested just use the command-line compiler.
I've found VS to be quite good for doing Boost + Qt work. Especially if you have the Qt + VS integration tool. You get a GUI designer and respectable Qt project management tools.
If you are looking for a compiler that uses fewer system resources than the MS ones, you'll probably find that most modern compilers that are able to compile a good part of or almost everything in Boost will be quite heavy on system resources, both processor usage and memory consumption. To a certain extent that's just par for the course when it comes to C++.
That said, I do like to have a second compiler around if I'm writing portable code as it's a lot easier to iron out portability issues when you can ensure that the code compiles in different environments. If you want to do all that on Windows, may Cygwin is worth a look. However it does seem that the GCC you get with Cygwin is not exactly what you'd call up to date.
The aforementioned Digital Mars compilers are well worth a look, Walter Bright (the guy behind them) has been writing C++ compilers for a long time and they're pretty good. I have used them off and on since the early nineties and I've always been happy with them. Not to mention that they always seemed noticeably faster than the Microsoft offerings, but I haven't got any recent measurements to back that up.
At the end of the day, most third-party tool vendors on Windows tend to target the MS environment so if you're writing C++ code professionally and need/want tools like leak detectors, you pretty much need to be able to build with the MS compilers, even if they aren't your main development environment.
I sugget , Netbeans.org
NetBeans IDE , download the Cygwin , follow one tutorial from http://www.netbeans.org for C++ confuguration at Netbeans IDE , just 2 steps.. and u are ok
autocomplete (faster than VS')
classes
and all... you want xD
It needs to mention about DevCpp. It is a simple UI wrap for gcc compiler (oh my, it is sounds like a tautology). It provides lightweight IDE but not so stable (so, its IntelliSense is somewhat buggy).
If you use Qt why not use their IDE, QtCreator, there is compiler, debugger and GUI designer. All comes in one nice package and works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
In my opinion it's better than Code::Blocks (also based on MinGW/GCC).