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??? were do i get c++ from

I assume you mean "Where can I get a C++ compiler?"

Windows compiler: Visual C++
Free Windows compilers: Cygwin, mingw32
Linux compiler: type 'cc' or 'gcc' (you should already have one)

stephen wrote: ??? were do i get c++ from

I highly recommend DJGPP if you are using Windows.

http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/zip-picker.html

And this site has a zip picker, which tells you the files you will need. You use the drop down menus to tell the zip picker what flavour of Windows you are using, and what languages you want (choose at least C and C++), and if you want extras like Emacs (text editor), Allegro graphics/games dev kit, that sort of thing.

You really only need to select that you want to build and run programmes using DJGPP, and choose C and C++ as your languages. You can uncheck everything else and use your own text editor to write C++ programmes.

Once you have downloaded, unzip the files to C:\DJGPP and read the installation instructions for setting up your PATH and the DJGPP environment file.

Then at the DOS prompt, let's say:

C:\DJGPP>gpp myfile.cpp

to compile your programme in the file myfile.cpp. G++ is normally invoked as g++, but DJGPP uses gpp instead, so the plus characters are avoided on shonky DOS filesystems.

That is, I assume you are using DOS or Windows...

I only recommend DJGPP if you're using Windows 95, 98 or Me. Since they are native Windows applications, and not DOS applications as DJGPP is, Cygwin and mingw work much faster.

You might want to try Dev C++, an integrated development environment for C and C++. It provides a graphical interface to the mingw version of the gcc compiler, which comes with the development kit. While I'm not a huge fan if IDEs, this one seems to be be pretty good, and would probably be a good place to start for a beginner.

BTW, if you've never done any programming, C may not be the best language to start with. You might want to take a look at something like Python or Scheme first (I'd especially recommend Dr Scheme and the online book How to Design Programs, and have many times in the past), as they are easier to learn as your first language, and probably would make it easier to understand C when you try it later. This is just my opinion, however; plenty of programmers started with C and had no problems.

I'ld recommend Bloodshed's Dev-C++ too. It's easy to use and if you double-click on a compiling error, you're automatically taken to the line where the error is. This saves alot of frustration, especially with beginners like you and me.

Try to get an understanding of the basic principles first too. I did mine using AGI. Those're the very basic principles, some others've been explained by others. I found that the best way to learn the language, is to learn it while making a small program (mine's a calculator that can even do things like 4v-6 (the 4th root of 6) It only has one bug in it now. It doesn't accept things like this: 0,5 + 0,9. It just reads it as 0 + 0)

-Kon-Tiki-

if u r making windows GUI apps i would really recamend taking a look at borland's c++ IDE. its $70 for the personal edition but thats pretty good compared to Visual C++'s $100. Yes VC++ is alot more powerful but in turn is alot harder. Borland C++ builder is a very good c++ IDE for Windows GUI applacations.


www.borland.com