What tool exists to compile C++2011 code for Windows target? - c++

I created a program in C++2011 that actually uses features of C++2011: mutex, unique_lock, condition_variable, future and async.
I've tested it on Debian Linux 64 bits box, and it compiles and runs like a charm.
Now, I want to compile it for Windows.
I tried Visual C++ Express 2010, but it does not have support for the new features of C++. (The Beta for Visual C++/Studio 2012 only runs on Windows 8.)
I tried cross compiling with mingw-g++ (4.6), but it looks like these new features are not supported for the Windows target. (Although they are supported for g++-4.6 for Linux target).
Is there any (free?) solution as of today to compile a C++2011 program for Windows target?

My (commercial) Just::Thread library provides std::thread, std::mutex and friends for MSVC 2005/2008/2010 and the TDM port of mingw-gcc 4.5/4.6 on Windows. It's not free, though.
Alternatively, look for a build of gcc 4.7 for mingw. Support for the thread library on Windows is supposed to be available out-of-the-box with gcc 4.7, but it's not officially released yet.

I have not tried it yet, but this quote from the project site sounds promising:
"Builds support the following technologies:
OpenMP
LTO
Graphite
std_threads
std_atomics
..."
http://code.google.com/p/mingw-builds/
hope this helps

Related

OpenMP 3.0 for Visual Studio

Currently I am developing a cross-plattform framework where I want to use actuall features of openmp.
I would like to make use of the "new features" of openmp 3.0 (or later).
(Such like unsigned parallel for loops or tasks etc.,
I haven't developed on a windows plattform for quite a while and
as I have seen for now even Visual Studio 2015 does only support openmp 2.0 (At least when using msvc, see e.g. All OpenMP Tasks running on the same thread or https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2014/11/12/visual-studio-2015-preview-is-now-available/) So my questions are:
Is there any sane reason to not support openmp3.0 in Visual Studio?
Is there any way to get it work under Visual Studio?
I am aware, that I could use the Intel C++ compiler, but unfortunately i do not have access to one. So is there a free alternative to the Intel compiler with openmp3.0 support?
Thanks in advance
Well, you might try GCC ports for Windows, native (mingw64) and on top of cygwin.
Try to install msys2 and you'll get ming64 as well as cygwin compilers with OpenMP support
You can try cygwin.
cygwin is gcc compiler by GNU for windows.

Which C++11 compilers for Windows support new type traits like "is_nothrow_move_constructible"?

Is there any C++11 compiler for Windows that supports the new C++11 type traits, like is_nothrow_move_constructible?
I was trying to write a container that supported it, only to find that none of my compilers (VC++ 2010, TDM MinGW32 GCC 4.6) support it...
For mingw, I would recommend STL's distro here (gcc 4.7.1). It comes with boost 1.50 also.
There also is mingw-w64 (a fork of the original mingw), I recommend rubenvb's personal builds here. Go to Toolchains targetting Win32 if you want the 32-bit versions. He also has personal builds of clang (clang support on windows is still very buggy. The x64 build will report linker errors so can only be used for better diagnostics, etc.)
STL's distro is very nice, however I find the mingw-w64 to have much better support for the win32 api (I have run into countless problems with the original mingw) and c++11 headers, such as <atomic> which is unsupported in the original mingw. mingw-w64 is much more actively developed (can create 32-bit and 64-bit binaries) and includes support for newer functions from windows vista and up.
For more info on the naming conventions of mingw-w64, see here and the faq.
Visual Studio C++ 2012 Beta supports a lot of C++11 type traits according to the reference. Have a look at the Visual Studio C++ 2012 Documentation However, I could not find is_nothrow_move_constructible documented there. It appears to be supported though.
GCC 4.7 does support is_nothrow_move_constructible you can try it on Windows by installing MinGW Distro.
Not an answer, but I just learned something from looking at the source code of GCC 4.7's type_traits header:
You don't even need is_nothrow_xyz in the first place!
The noexcept operator tells you if an exception throws.
So for these specific type traits, you can use that instead.
(Or at least in theory. Whether your compiler implements it is another matter.)

MinGW as a reliable 64-bit GCC compiler

I am worried about the reliability of the MinGW compiler for 64-bit, as an alternative to the Visual C++ compiler.
For example, assuming C++ code builds and runs perfectly under Linux using GCC 4.6.2, will the corresponding MinGW produce similarly reliable executables/libraries under 64-bit Windows?
Is Cygwin a better option in terms of reliablity? Is neither to the Visual C++ compiler?
First, some misconceptions:
MinGW(.org) does not provide a 64-bit version of its runtime. MinGW-w64 does, in addition to their 32-bit CRT. They are also working on ARM support. And support various additional APIs (Win32 and others).
Cygwin <-> MinGW-w64: Cygwin does not use the MS CRT (msvcrt.dll). It instead inserts a POSIX compatibility layer in between your Cygwin app and the system's OS libraries (kernel32.dll, ntdll.dll, etc.), namely cygwin1.dll.
On to the question then...
I have found the MinGW-w64 compilers very good, and GCC 4.6 and above (actually, 4.5.1 and above) are very capable of producing good 64-bit code for Windows. Please remember that MinGW provides essentially the same C API as msvcrt.dll, so go to msdn.com for documentation (and be sure to look at the "MSVC++ 2003" version of documentation, some functions differ with the newer runtimes), do not think that because it's GCC, glibc documentation suddenly applies to Windows. Your code will have to be cross-platform. Also note that sizeof(long)!=sizeof(T*) on x64 Windows. A commonly encountered error when porting *nix or x86 Windows code to x64 Windows.

C++11 compiler for windows

I was just watching a few videos on Channel9. I found things like lambdas really cool. when I tried to copy the example, it failed. auto didn't work either.
I'm using Nokia's qtcreator which ships with gcc-4.4.0.
I wanted to know which compiler has the fun features implemented so I could play around and learn. I'm not anti MS or anyhting so I don't mind trying Visual Studio if it has those features.
Nearly all C++11 features are implemented in the GCC 4.6.x . A good place to get latest GCC builds (MinGW) is the TDM website - http://tdm-gcc.tdragon.net/download . It should be easy to replace your current GCC with TDM GCC by overwriting files...
A special version of MinGW:
MinGW-Builds gives you everything gcc offers (currently 4.7.2)
That is: Including support for std::thread, std::async, std::future and friends.
As far as I know that's by far the most complete C++11 you can get on Windows.
You just get the MinGW-build binaries here. Unlike other gcc-based installations it supports posix threads, which are currently key to getting the gcc support for C++11 threads and friends working on Windows.
Extract the directory mingw to any location and add the following two paths to your PATH environment variable: (well, change F:\coding ...)
F:\coding\MinGW\bin
F:\coding\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin
Add both, separated by semi colon. You will need to log out or reboot. To verify that you got it right, you can open a command prompt, and write
g++ --version
You should get a response like this, mentioning MinGW-builds:
g++ (Built by MinGW-builds project) 4.7.2
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. ...
I wrote a more complete instruction for getting this going with Eclipse, here: http://scrupulousabstractions.tumblr.com/post/36441490955/eclipse-mingw-builds
For playing around and learning C++11 on Windows, I recommend MinGW Distro by Stephan T. Lavavej. The newest version contains GCC 4.8.2 and Boost 1.55.0.
Take a look at MinGW-w64 if you're looking for a gcc-compatible compiler on Windows that supports a number of C++11 features.
Also if you're just looking for lambas and auto, as well as some other C++11 features like decltype, etc., (again, not as many feature are implemented compared to the latest stable gcc branch) then you can also use the free Visual Studio 2010 Express for C++ on Windows.
See here for an overview of the compilers and the supported C++11 features.
Scott Meyers maintains a webpage here:
C++11FeatureAvailability
The First link on the Webpage is:
Apache Wiki Overview of C++11 Support in Several Compilers is what you should have a look at.It doccuments in detail C++11 features supported by all popular compilers.
The Visual Studio 11 preview also supports lambdas.
Visual Studio 2017 has support in C++11, C++14, & C++17. + some of the Modern C++ "experimental" modules. If you decide on Visual Studio, you set the C++ standard at the project properties. C++11 is by default, but you can set it to C++14, C++17, or latest draft.
As regards g++, C++0x feature support should be detailed here: C++0x/C++11 Support in GCC - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you want to test most of the C++11 syntax using a Windows machine you have two options:
Install Cygwin and compile from sources gcc-4.7 (latest snapshot) and clang++ with libstdc++. However it is not guaranteed that this will work.
Safest bet: Install a modern Linux (such as Ubuntu if you are a Linux newbie) in a virtual machine (VirtualBox is a free virtual machine application) and in this virtual machine compile gcc-4.7 and clang++. I was able to successfully compile both of them on Ubuntu 11.10 following the instructions from this website.
Best option, as of 2014, is to use Visual Studio 2013 updated with the latest CTP (this will work even for the Express edition).
Few Min-GW Compilers do not support C++ Version 11 or later. This version is required for thread in OpenCV. So I will suggest using TDM-GCC Compiler instead of MinGW Compiler. Install this compiler and set path C:\TDM-GCC-64\bin to the system's environmental variable.

Best way to setup a Windows build environment for C/C++

Basically I want to compile C/C++ using the GCC on Windows. The two competing platforms, as i see it, are MinGW and Cygwin. Each have their own benifits and limitations. MinGW compiles for Windows, whereas Cygwin needs the cygwin .dll. However installing libraries on MinGW is difficult, whereas on cygwin it's easier, using the setup.exe as a 'package manager'.
My question is what's the best way to compile on Windows. Would it be better to use MinGW and struggle with libraries (in which case is there an easy way of installing libraries on MinGW). Or should I use Cygwin, if so how do I get it to compile without needing the cygwin .dll, effectively compile for normal Windows.
The easiest and best way to compile on windows is to use visual studio express. It is free. A good reason for using cygwin is for cross platform builds. A good reason to use gcc is it supports some compiler candy the Microsoft compiler doesn't.
But all in all VC++ Express is the way to go for windows only development.
There is always the option of using -mno-cygwin with Cygwin to compile against Windows libraries like MinGW does:
gcc -mno-cygwin file.c -o test
It's not an easy choice and mainly depends on how much you will rely on other libraries. Cygwin really adds an additional layer, which is heavier but "emulates" the Linux environment better than MinGW.
Edit:
Qt Creator allows you to compile with MinGW on Windows (and gcc on Linux, ...), has an IDE that makes debugging more friendly than gdb. If you need libraries, you still have the option of using the Qt libraries. That would be a good alternate solution to the Visual Studio if you really want to stick to gcc for future portability.
You might want to look at CodeBlocks. It is generally used to build WxWidgets apps, but it wraps MinGW nicely.
Actually, there's option #3: if your edition of Windows permits it, you can install Microsoft Services For Unix / Subsystem for Unix Applications, and then get gcc from SUACommunity. It has a package manager, too. Of those 3 options, this will give you behavior closest to a true Unix system.
However, the resulting applications aren't Win32 applications; they're SUA applications, and will require SUA to run. If you write code for yourself, it's usually not a problem if you write code for yourself, but if you want to write and distribute a proper Windows application, I would suggest staying away from anything that tries to emulate Unix, so MinGW it is.
Qt Creator comes with MinGW as standard and can be used to build projects that don't actually use the Qt framework.
There's an easy to install MinGW wrapped GCC at equation.com.
Click "Programming Tools" then "Fortran, C, C++", download the release you prefer, install and use.
One possible method is to use CMake which can build Visual Studio project from your sources and then compile from Visual Studio. It can build project for other IDEs too, so you can go cross platform.
I think the answer depends on whether you intend to use libraries or compile programs that are targeted to POSIX or a POSIX-based target. That's what Cygwin is intended for, while MinGW is more intended for compiling Windows-targeted programs using GCC.
Another option is TDM MinGW: http://www.tdragon.net/recentgcc/
It's basically an unofficial fork of MinGW with the latest GCC compiler available for both 32- and 64bit windows machines. Even some MinGW developers themselves use it.
Equation Gcc is even better: http://www.equation.com/servlet/equation.cmd?fa=fortran