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Ok I am wanting to teach myself C++. I can't afford Visual Studio and am looking for a free alternative to it? I would like and IDE and compiler to use to learn C++ and then C#
I appreciate being pointed in the correct direction to accomplish this. Thanks in Advance.
Visual Studio Community 2015 is free.
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/downloads/download-visual-studio-vs.aspx
Download the ISO and do a custom install so you can install C++, including MFC.
The ISO is large (approx. 5.6G), yet doing the web install can be just as large.
No need to burn the ISO to a disc. Download a virtual drive manager, such as Virtual CloneDrive (freeware), and mount the ISO to your virtual drive.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html
I use VS 2015 Community and TDM-GCC (Orwell's Dev++ fork).
GCC doesn't "like" C++11's random_device rnd generator, VS truncates the maximum value for the newer built-in variable types (long long and long double.)
Since I am brand new to programming with C++ what will I not have with Community that I would get with Studio? Please dummy it down to a newbie level.
I am not sure what I am aiming at to develop but I guess I would like to reinvent the wheel with some basic apps and then move on to something new. I have some courses on Udemy that I am going to use to learn C++. I may also try to find some books for it too.
#include <iostream>
#include <limits>
int main()
{
std::cout << "The size of a long double is: " << sizeof(longdouble) << " bytes.\n";
std::cout << "The max long double value is: " << std::numeric_limits<longdouble>::max() << "\n";
}
VS output:
The size of a long double is: 8 bytes.
The max long double value is: 1.79769e+308
TDM-GCC output:
The size of a long double is: 16 bytes.
The max long double value is: 1.18973e+4932
This simply shows why using more than one compiler is the way to go. Different implementation details.
I hope your question was answered to your satisfaction. If you do decide to install Visual Studio Community 2015 remember you need to do a custom install. C++ is not installed by default. C# is installed by default. The VS C# project wizards seem to emphasize creating a Windows store style app, though.
Since I am brand new to programming with C++ what will I not have with Community that I would get with Studio? Please dummy it down to a newbie level.
I prefer to stay away from VS, but that's just my personal preference.
I like QtCreator with a clang compiler from llvm - which relies on gcc compiler.
QtCreator the IDE can build Qt apps and has lots & lots of stuff for doing all kinds of things. clang has had one of the best records for being up to date with the latest c++ standards, and it has nice easy to understand error messages.
Another IDE I like is KDevelop, it has the ability to compile or interpret over 60 types of languages / scripts, provided that one has a compiler / interpreter for that language. It is also a mature application with many years of development.
Since I am brand new to programming with C++ what will I not have with Community that I would get with Studio?
The features a single user would use and need are available in the free Community version, especially someone using VS as a learning to program tool.
The pay versions are geared toward team programmers working on a shared project.
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/compare-visual-studio-2015-products-vs