What the best or the most frequently used C++ compiler under Windows?
Besides Visual Studio, it seems there have two options: Dev-C++ and Eclipse.
What the best or the most frequently used C++ compiler under Windows? Besides Visual
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What the best or the most frequently used C++ compiler under Windows?
Besides Visual Studio, it seems there have two options: Dev-C++ and Eclipse.
Strictly neither of your named examples are “compilers” they are all IDEs. Dev-C++ specifically used GCC, and is packaged with MinGW/GCC, Eclipse is not distributed with a compiler at all.
Visual C++ in its “Express Edition” is available for free and is more fully featured that the ageing Dev-C++, and on a par perhaps, though less extensible than Eclipse. Full Visual Studio/VC++ has “plug-in” extensibility though.
VC++ has good ISO C++ support as well as C++/CLI, but no ISO C99 support if that is important to you. The version of MinGW packaged with Dev-C++ is GCC 3.4.5, and Dev-C++ is no longer developed – avoid.
Critically perhaps, Dev-C++’s integration of GDB is minimal and severely broken in such a way as to make it unusable. Using GDB from within Eclipse is better, but it is still just GDB while VC++’s debugger is about the best I have ever used.
Also for Windows development, there are fewer barriers to using Microsoft API’s in VC++ than with open source projects that cannot include the official Win32 API or .NET framework.
On the other hand, outside of Visual Studio, VC++ like all compilers is a command line tool, and can be used within other IDEs or stand-alone if you prefer. The Dev-C++ derived wxDev-C++ specifically supports the Microsoft Compiler as an alternative back-end, and Eclipse can be used with any compiler.