What software?

[Hugetanks]

Hello,

I wanted to learn C++ for a while, however, a book I had a while ago tells me to use command prompt and notepad. I think this is pretty outdated, so can you recommend to me a compiler?

Thanks

[Srlancelot39]

I have always liked Visual Studio.

[Insectoid]

A lot of people still code with notepad and a command prompt, and for a beginner this can be the best way to start. Complex IDEs do a lot of magic behind the scenes that can be really confusing if you don't know what's going on. Notepad (or a similar small-featured text editor) forces you to learn everything from the bottom up.

[Srlancelot39]

Insectoid @ Mon Jun 11, 2018 1:02 pm wrote:

A lot of people still code with notepad and a command prompt, and for a beginner this can be the best way to start. Complex IDEs do a lot of magic behind the scenes that can be really confusing if you don't know what's going on. Notepad (or a similar small-featured text editor) forces you to learn everything from the bottom up.

Additionally, these editors do not encourage laziness/sloppiness in formatting etc. since those responsibilities are left entirely to the programmer and are good for beginners for that reason as well. It's also just a good skill in general to be able to code effectively without an advanced compiler...similar to having good survival skills!

[ecookman]

^^ Very true.

I'm just starting to learn C++ and getting back into programming after long hiatus... When I was first taught how to program a decade ago it was done without any sort of IDE and my first prof made us hand-write assignments.

Although not as sexy, I will strongly vouch for starting with a basic text editor due to the same reasons mentioned above. I got lazy when learning Java and occasionally the IDE I was using wouldn't format the code properly... which was a massive headache because I spent forever trying to find where the formatting error was and why my code wasn't working properly - without totally understanding what was going on.

[Hugetanks]

The thing was that when I first tried C++, I was told to use notepad and command prompt by my book, however, it wouldn't compile, so I kinda stopped trying. I wanted to come back to learning C++, so I decided to use a compiler.

[Hugetanks]

Also, is C++ a good first computer language to learn? I am not sure what C++ is useful for, in comparison to other languages like Java and Python.

[Insectoid]

C++ can do anything. It is fully modern and supported worldwide.

I think you've got some things confused. Even if you run off the command line, you still need a compiler. The compiler is what converts human-readable code to computer-readable code. You probably don't have one installed already, so you'll need to find one online like minGW and carefully follow the installation instructions.

[Hugetanks]

Does cygwin also work? I installed that one recently for C++.

[Hugetanks]

Also, I think i mixed up compiler and IDE. I think when I was starting C++, I tried to use command line to execute my program, however it did not work. Could it be that I did not have a compiler? The pathway thingy that I have to do in the beginning was confusing for me.

[Insectoid]

Cygwin is a bunch of Linux programs ported to Windows. It does not include a compiler by default. I wouldn't bother with it, really. Visual Studio includes a command-line compiler.

Before you can execute a program, it must be compiled. When it is compiled, a new exe file will be created. That file is your program and can be executed.

[Hugetanks]

So I should uninstall cygwin and get mingw?