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Does anyone know of where I can find a free or demo compiler for any language? Right now I have one for VB, but I'd like to be able to easily compile code in other languages, especially Visual/C++, but unfortunately I haven't been able to test what I learned so far, because I lack the compiler needed.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
dev-cpp from bloodshed software is very similar to ms-vc++ and its free
www.bloodshed.net
VB and Visual C++ are both proprietary Microsoft languages (VB is based on BASIC, VC++ on C++, J++ on Java etc..) You have to pay M$ for their compilers. So you're pretty much out of luck on the whole *every* language compiler.
You can switch to the standard version of languages, ie ANSI C/C++, in which case you can get some great free compilers (i.e. gcc if you want to develop on a Linux box, or djgpp for windows). Borland has a good devlopment environment that I think you can download as a trial.
Keep in mind though that the best devlopment environment is a text editor and command-line compiler because it requires very little proprietary knowledge.
I would recommend installing Linux and getting gcc because there are a bunch of addons that you can install that will make gcc compile pretty much anything.
I use this on my laptop all the time. It is great for writing the code and most of them will port to other systems with a couple minor changes to header files and different commands.Quote:
I would recommend installing Linux and getting gcc because there are a bunch of addons that you can install that will make gcc compile pretty much anything.
That is how I program at work, as I'm not supposed to install any software the company doesn't have a license for and they don't like me to bring in my software to install even though I have a licnese for it... the company does not.
If you are in school, see if you can get a shell account from your school. They have gcc and other compilers available for us there, we just have to login and xfer the source files over. I find that they work well for what I need them for. I do mostly c and c++.
Bah anyother install Linux. that'll fix everything post in there I see..
Anyways.. A windows port of gcc also comes with Dev-C++ that Tedob1 mentioned. I use Dev-C++ on a daily basis and I love it. Just a suggestion if you decide to go with Dev-C++ (and I highly recomend you do) when you download it, make sure you download the new version but with MINGW/GCC 2.95.3 as Dev-C++ still has a few issues with MINGW/GCC 3.2, I had a few programs which wouldn't compile correctly on 3.2.
I'm not sure if they still do it, but for a while Borland offered a free version of their C/C++ command line compiler, I think it was version 5.5 perhaps. Check into that, and if all else consult the almighty Google...
I looked for Borland a few weeks ago, and it seems, unfortunately, they now charge money to use their compiler.
the MINGW compiler is a native Win32 port of gcc - it is as such completely free, and a reasonably small download.
You can develop "Real" windows applications with it, as well as using any library that you normally could (winsock, odbc etc) - this is in contrast to Cygwin, which emulates a UNIX environment.
Requires Windows95/98 or NT/2000 etc, compiles only from the command line (although can be used with 3rd party GUIs)
Get it from http://www.mingw.org/