So as part of my course we have to learn some C, and do some basic programs in them (Minimisation problems, non-linear pendulum and other maths/physics stuff) So thats grand when I'm in college because I can work away with the linux thats installed on the computers. However I just have plain old windows on my laptop at home, and I've no idea what the best software to compile/run my programs is. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Jyvblamo

Canada13788 Posts

April 29 2009 15:26 GMT

Try running gcc with cygwin.

freelander

Hungary4707 Posts

April 29 2009 15:28 GMT

or codeblocs maybe ?

fusionsdf

Canada15390 Posts

April 29 2009 15:33 GMT

On April 30 2009 00:26 Jyvblamo wrote:
Try running gcc with cygwin.

yeah that should work. Also some colleges have a linux server set up for you to telnet to. Make sure thats not what you are expected to do (but if you've been to every class and they havent mentioned it, thats probably not the case)

pachi

Melbourne5338 Posts

April 29 2009 15:33 GMT

also check if your college has the option to putty in and use their computers or something

Jin

Canada444 Posts

April 29 2009 15:38 GMT

if you can't ssh/telnet to a school machine, try cygwin + mingw

u can also use a virtual machine
such as vmware workstation + linux

Navane

Netherlands2763 Posts

April 29 2009 15:43 GMT

Or if you want to work locally on windows: borland has a free commandline compiler.

http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-Borland's-Free-C-Compiler-for-Windows

Myrmidon

United States9452 Posts

April 29 2009 15:51 GMT

I wouldn't recommend setting up Cygwin/MinGW or a Windows compiler or IDE for this one class unless you absolutely have to. By far the best bet is to remotely use a school computer, since you're already familiar with working on those. Also, what with the slightly different versions of C and C compilers on various machines, you won't run into possible compatibility issues (shouldn't happen, but who knows...) compiling on your setup as opposed to the school's setup.

deconduo

Ireland4122 Posts

April 29 2009 15:58 GMT

On April 30 2009 00:26 Jyvblamo wrote:
Try running gcc with cygwin.

I had a look at that, seems to be a good idea. I'm downloading cygwin now and that seems easy enough. Had a look at the gcc download stuff and I'm completely lost. Keep in mind I'm only competent with windows stuff, so anything outside of setup.exe is way over my head. Any advice on what exactly I need to do to get it running would be great

On April 30 2009 00:51 Myrmidon wrote:
I wouldn't recommend setting up Cygwin/MinGW or a Windows compiler or IDE for this one class unless you absolutely have to. By far the best bet is to remotely use a school computer, since you're already familiar with working on those. Also, what with the slightly different versions of C and C compilers on various machines, you won't run into possible compatibility issues (shouldn't happen, but who knows...) compiling on your setup as opposed to the school's setup.

Remotely connecting isn't an option unfortunately. The computers we're doing the labs on are separate from the rest of the college system. Can't even access external web pages from them. Also I'll be doing a lot more C next year, so I might as well have stuff working on my laptop now rather than later.

GHOSTCLAW

United States17042 Posts

April 29 2009 16:03 GMT

#10

if you're going to get serious about it, i think that linux is going to be the way to go. You can dual boot, so that you don't need to give up windows at all, and then you can use linux as your coding environment. If you don't want to learn as much, and just want to get your school assignments done, then I wouldn't suggest installing linux.

Murkyith14

United States111 Posts

April 29 2009 16:14 GMT

#11

For windows, download the free version of Visual Studio from the Microsoft website. I use it for C++, it's pretty nice, and you can set it up to use C instead I'm pretty sure.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/vc/

pheer

5404 Posts

April 29 2009 16:41 GMT

#12

I have no idea what everyone in this thread is thinking, but Dev C++ is the easiest program to get the standard C compiler up and running without having to install cygwin yourself, or jump through a bunch of hoops messing with environment variables.

Also it's not a bloated microsoft piece of crap.

If you just need to work on source code, Dev C++ is good for C.
However if you need to COMPILE AND SEND your program to use in real environments, go with one of the other options above, because Dev C++ will not include the proper libraries to run the compiled binary file outside the Dev C++ environment.

unknown.sam

Philippines2701 Posts

April 29 2009 16:41 GMT

#13

well if you wanna go with heavy duty software you could always download visual studio...but that might take a while so you might wanna give this a go:

Dev-C
very lite software and easy to use. i used it back in college as a substitute for linux C

CTStalker

Canada9720 Posts

April 29 2009 17:18 GMT

#14

eclipse with cdt. you're good to go

b3h47pte

United States1317 Posts

April 29 2009 18:09 GMT

#15

On April 30 2009 01:41 pheer wrote:
I have no idea what everyone in this thread is thinking, but Dev C++ is the easiest program to get the standard C compiler up and running without having to install cygwin yourself, or jump through a bunch of hoops messing with environment variables.

Also it's not a bloated microsoft piece of crap.

If you just need to work on source code, Dev C++ is good for C.
However if you need to COMPILE AND SEND your program to use in real environments, go with one of the other options above, because Dev C++ will not include the proper libraries to run the compiled binary file outside the Dev C++ environment.

Bloated? You mean like 'bloated' because of the couple hundred megabytes of .NET and MSDN and what not? I don't think that can be considered 'bloated' beacause those are actually useful features one can use...

If you're just going to do some small apps then just use Dev C++ or some other small IDE that won't take you far.

However if you decide to further professionaly, I would recommend Visual Studios. Taking an hour or two to learn a more 'complex' IDE is well worth it in the long run.

imDerek

United States1944 Posts

April 29 2009 18:38 GMT

#16

2nding cygwin + gcc