MinGW(GCC) Help

[wassonator]

i'm interested in learning c++ and i have read around and decided the compiler i should use is MinGW(GCC)...
The only problem is i can't figure out how to install it to save my life.

I have tried following the guide here: http://www.mingw.org/wiki/HOWTO_Install_the_MinGW_GCC_Compiler_Suite

and it says i have to download the installer executable but i can't find one on the link provided on the page above


please help me

[wtd]

It's under "Automated MinGW Installer".

[wassonator]

thanks... i went through the installer and checked off the c++ compiler... now im left with a foler containing installed files
in my C: drive and a few archived files on my desktop, i can't find anything that will run the compiler

also can i get rid of the archived files on my desktop?

[nike52]

http://www.mingw.org/wiki/MinGWforFirstTimeUsers

[wassonator]

really that didnt help at all

[nike52]

Ya sure The compiler works from the cmd prompt. That link describes how to do it.
- in win xp to get to the cmd prompt, go to start, run, then type in cmd

[andrew.]

Like Nike52 said, you have to open the command prompt (just click Run and type in 'cmd'), and use that to navigate to the folder with your source files. You navigate in the cmd prompt with the command 'cd PATH/TO/FOLDER' where PATH/TO/FOLDER would be your path to the folder. Once in the right folder, run g++ by typing in 'g++ yoursource.cpp -o myapp.exe'. yoursource.cpp is obviously your source and myapp.exe is the exe file that will be created.

[wassonator]

thanks ill give that a try, thanks for being specific

[romantic_programmer]

I navigated to the folder with my source code but g++ is not recognized as an internal or external variable.

[rdrake]

You need to put it in your path.

[romantic_programmer]

i have it in my path ;c:/minGW/bin and i look in the bin folder everything is there.... Does anyone know of any issues that xp might have with minGW because it works on my other laptop which runs Vista.

[rdrake]

Doesn't Windows use back slashes?

[romantic_programmer]

yea it does, but still didn't fix it.

EDIT:

Ok i got it working the problem was with the actual path command... i accidentally used lowercase c when the drive is clearly names with an upper case C. takes for the help guys.

[rdrake]

Windows sees C:\ and c:\ as the same thing. Did you happen to close the command window after changing it then re-opening it? You have to do that for the path to take effect.

Well no, but it's the easiest way to do it.