Does anyone have anything good/bad/indifferent to say about some visual compilers out there today? I am wondering what is a good compiler for a somewhat newbie to work with for windows game programming in c/c++. I have seen M$VC++, I have heard good things about C++Builder from Imprise(Borland), and I have heard something about Merkworks/Codewarrior... but nothing too informing... What compiler do you prefer, and what has been your experience with it and/or the others, if any.... Much appreciation for your help, Mike

The two compilers I have used with any frequency on the Windows platform is MSVC6 and Metrowerks.

I use Metrowerks to develop Palm applications, so I can''t really say anything about the efficieny of their Intel code generation, but I hear it''s average. The MacOS version of the Metrowerks IDE is rock-solid, but the Windows version has numerous problems. Most of them are minor, and the compiler can be used successfully, but those problems can be a regular annoyance.

MSVC6 I''ve used mostly for professional development. The IDE is fairly solid, though I do occasionally hit some weird minor problem. Code generation is good. Their compliance to the C++ standard is sub-par -- a real annoyance -- but I''ve learned most of its problems and can usually work around them easily enough.


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Blue programmer needs food badly. Blue programmer is about to die!

I use MSVC and C++ Builder. MSVC has better code generation, and is used for most production releases. C++ Builder is used for prototyping and in-house tools. It has better language compliance and much better GUI generation. If you only got one I would suggest getting C++ Builder.

Where is the support at? Is there good support here for C++Builder? What about MSVC++? I know I''m going to have to find my own "happiness" point, but to start out with, I just want to make sure I have as much "freedom" as possible when developing, and I''m not gonna hinder myself right off the bat with a sub-standard devel system.

Thanks again!
Mike

The first Windows programming system I got was Borland C++Builder 3, and I really liked it. It let me get in to Windows programming pretty painlessly, and most of the stuff you learn with the VCL (Borland''s Windows library) will apply to MFC in some ways too. The compiler is pretty good in Builder, too. Then I got Visual C++ 6, because more people seem to use it, and I do like the VC++ IDE and debugger better, especially for making stuff that doesn''t require a windows GUI (games). It has a more "tradition" C++ IDE, in how the projects are managed and stuff, whereas Builder puts more of the project stuff directly into your source code (not a big deal though).

There''s no question that most of the support is for VC++, but there generally isn''t a problem making the same stuff work in C++ Builder.

One thing to consider is that Borland will give academic discounts to High School students, where as Microsoft only to college students (I don''t know about Metrowerks).

So if you really want to go for what people support, Visual is probably the best choice. But if you want to be able to make GUI Apps quickly (Visual Basic style) then go for Builder. They''re both good IDEs.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Good luck!

- If you''re new to this (as I am) save yourself a lot of headaches and go MS all the way. If you buy MSVC, you can also get MS books, which are about the best out there. All the examples will work exactly as they are supposed to, because they are written specifically for MSVC++, by MS. MSVC may not be the best compiler, but it does seem to be the best-documented. The problems come when you buy Joe''s Compiler, and then buy Larry''s How-To-Program-C++/Windows book - you get stuck a lot because the book''s examples often don''t work, and neither the book nor the compiler tells you how to fix it so they do.
- By the by, should you go MS, the first book to buy is "Programming Windows Fifth Edition", NOT "Programming Visual C++ Fifth Edition". Programming C++ starts off with examples that use the App Wizard to generate "simple" (multi-file object-oriented) projects. Programming Windows starts off assuming you know only C and nothing about objects and Windows/MFC/API. - Lubb