Recommended C++ Compiler?

[$cirisme]

If there are any experienced C++ programmers here... I could use a recommendation.

What is your recommended C++ compiler for Windows? I have M$ Visual C++ 6... but I prefer open source. I'm thinking I want to move away from MFC since I may eventually want to port to other OSes, so it's better to learn C++ the hard way now rather than relearn it the hardway later. :smile:

Free is a requirement, but otherwise take your best shot. :teeth:

[NeilUnreal]

Hmmm. I'm not sure, I use Microsoft 7.1, since all our stuff runs on Windows OS's. My advice, however, is to make sure whichever one you pick supports partial template specialization, so you can run the newest versions of STL, Loki, etc.

-Neil

[$cirisme]

Loki?

I have DevC++ 4 and have used that somewhat. They're really taking forever on 5, and the beta version doesn't even support their own samples!

:argh:

[NeilUnreal]

I'm using Loki mostly for the typelist stuff. The app I'm working on does huge numbers of small memory allocations in multiple, associated, threads. Depending on the OS to manage that would destroy the runtime performance. I built a small-block memory allocation system that uses typelists to be able to allocate and reclaim heterogenous objects from a common pool without having to have all the objects derive from a common base class. The typelist mechanism lets the memory management system treat the objects as if they were the same type, but without the associated overhead and architectural coupling. That means my design stays clean, but the memory management system can store and reclaim blocks with worrying about size, alignment, etc.

I recommend Andrei Alexandrescu's book Modern C++ Design if you're interesting in typelists, Loki, or just generative programming in general. It's pricey, but it's one of those rare books that's worth far more than the $s it costs. (It's probably in the library if you're at or near a university.)

-Neil

[Jezz]

cirisme:
If there are any experienced C++ programmers here... I could use a recommendation.

What is your recommended C++ compiler for Windows? I have M$ Visual C++ 6... but I prefer open source. I'm thinking I want to move away from MFC since I may eventually want to port to other OSes, so it's better to learn C++ the hard way now rather than relearn it the hardway later. :smile:

Free is a requirement, but otherwise take your best shot. :teeth:
cirisme,

We use gcc for all of our compilation at work. It is free, and it's a pretty good compiler too (perhaps even the best).

If you need to build programs that run on Windows, you can get gcc for Windows. MinGW, it's called. We use it at my work, and in fact we build all of our stuff on Linux (even the Windows executables). It works fine, but you don't get the nice editing environment that you get with MSVC. However, mostly you don't need it because there are plenty of other GNU tools (eg, emacs) that can be used to do those other jobs.

Hope that helps.

[$cirisme]

Yeah, I have Cygwin and have been thinking about just simply using gcc rather than an editing environment. That's how I compile my Java apps, so the command line isn't too bad :teeth:

[nomad]

if you happen to be running on an itanium (hehe), there's ORC...

if not, if it's for personal use and you happen to be running linux:

http://www.intel.com/software/products/compilers/clin/noncom.htm

it's not open source, and it's unsupported, but it IS the intel reference compiler. and they seem to be doing a pretty good job.

of course both of these are compilers, not editing environments, and only for C++.

[$cirisme]

:stupidity: Intel is of Satan!!!!! :stupidity:

I use only AMD :teeth: :wink:

[nomad]

that's ok, i won't hold it against you :grin:



(disclaimer: i work for intel. though not on the compilers. however, even AMD has used the intel compiler for its benchmarking from what i've heard, so that must say something. i'd try it out anyways, and it IS free...

ORC is the open research compiler, an open source project partially funded by intel; though currently it only generates code for itanium, i have heard that the founders do want to extend it to other architectures eventually, though i doubt that will happen, not because of politics (it's open source :) but because the problems to solve are so different on itanium than most other architectures. it's based on SGI's Pro64, another open source compiler for Itanium.)