[OT] Compilers

[Dinkeldog]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for Java and C++ compilers/development environments for my home PC. The criteria are: legal, decent and cheap.

What's the consensus among geeks here? I'm less likely to want to be sucked into the Microsoft monster--whatever I do I want to be able to run on friends' Linux boxes, too.

Thanks,
Ddog

 

[RyanL]

I'm a vi + gcc/javac guy, myself, but you probably didn't want to hear that.

If you avoid platform-specific libraries and don't get too crazy with templates and whatnot, C/C++ code should work fine on both windows and linux.

 

[Psionicist]

Hmm you cannot run programs depending upon the Windows API under *nux. This basically means that whenever you write a graphical program in C/C++ you must code two versions, one for win and one for linux.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Yeah, I know the graphical stuff won't work, but I also know that Microsoft's Visual C++ generally has a ton of stuff in it that won't compile correctly because they're more important than ANSI.

I won't use vi. I'm evolved--I use xemacs. The java compiler is free, I'm just looking for a decent development environment I can get fairly cheaply.

 

[Tsyr]

Bah! Back in my day, we did it all on punch cards!

Well... no, we didn't. I'm not that old. Not by a long shot. And for that matter, I never really progressed beyond BASIC, so...

 

[hong]

Yeah, I know the graphical stuff won't work, but I also know that Microsoft's Visual C++ generally has a ton of stuff in it that won't compile correctly because they're more important than ANSI.

I won't use vi. I'm evolved--I use xemacs. The java compiler is free, I'm just looking for a decent development environment I can get fairly cheaply.

Visual Studio/VC++ is actually quite a decent package, counting both the compiler and IDE. I haven't heard of it being particularly bad as regards C++ ANSI compliance. Very few compilers are 100% compliant, the C++ standard being the horrid, gnarly thing that it is. However, I don't think you can use it to cross-compile code, if that's your aim.

I've used it for a few years now, although I work in C rather than C++. It's perfectly happy compiling ANSI C code.