Do you know any free C++ IDE that works properly on Win XP?

Hello everyone,

I hope someone will be able to help me as I've been trying hard to solve my problem but nothing seems to be working...

I went through almost all the web site providing links to free C++ software (even those supposed to be Windows XP compliant) but I have weird error messages when I install on my laptop...
Then when I managed to have the software installed (the Dev-C++ 5 beta version) I have errors when compiling (something about not the libraries being archaics or something) and I am simply unable to compile a simple Hello world...



I'm not new to programming at all but it's is true that when it comes to manipulating software options I'm a bit reluctant...

Maybe you went through the same problem as me (if yes PLEASE HELP ME!) or maybe you know a nice C++ IDE which is XP compliant (then I'll be grateful forever!)

I hope to get a reply soon as posting a note in a forum is definitely my last resort (this is my first post ever...)

Thanks,

Annie.
PS: On the Dev-C++ FAQ, they suggest to run Program Compatibility wizard and then try again but it is not working either...

i am developing sometimes using dev-cpp. XP home at home, XP pro at work. it compiles all applications that are "real ANSI C" without problems. of course it does not compile MSVC++ code. MS does not want that... i am using a 4 version though.

setup "Windows GUI application" in the project manager and try this simple helloworld:

[edit]corrected and tested code:
#include <windows.h>

int WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd) {
return MessageBox(0, "test","Hello world",MB_OK); //(not sure about the full syntax)
}
[/edit]

Thanks very much...I'll try that tonight and give a feedback (even if it looks quite complicated already...Thanks Microsoft! )

Annie.

Annie,

I'm running Dev-C++ on WinXP Pro quite happily. There are some tricks though, and they aren't necessarily obvious.

First, you can't use the GCC 3.2 toolchain, you'll need to use the older version (2.9x). 3.2 is annoying on UNIX (where I am using it) and completely broken under Windows. To get rid of it, you'll have to uninstall the application, then manually delete the folder that you installed it into. If you don't do both, you'll get exactly the ugly errors that you're receiving.

The second step is to download the new IDE with the older GCC toolchain. They you should be running without any problems.

Well. This is actually wrong.

Disregard this please.

Essentially when choosing the dev-cpp flavour you have three options:
1) Stick with the old non-beta: Download version 4.
2) Use the newest beta with the old 2.95 gcc: Download 4.9.7.0/2.95.
3) Use the newest beta with the new 3.2 gcc: Download 4.9.7.0/3.2

The beta versions allows you to add 'devpacks' to your compiler.
A devpack generally expands your possibilities.
For example: If you want to program a graphical Windows game you'd most likely use one or more of the following: Allegro, Direct-X, SDL, OpenGL.

The beta versions are exactly that. Beta versions.
This means, that you'd better watch the dev-cpp forum for information on your version. And you'd better use vUpdate to download updates (and devpacks).

The two most often brought up errors right now
1) The C++ include path is incomplete.
You must manually patch this by including
C:\dev-cpp\include\c++\mingw32 to your C++ include directory list.
2) Compliancy to the C++ language specification. Specifically deprecation of iostream.h.
Basically code like this
#include <iostream.h>
...
cout << "This won't work";

Must be replace with code like this
#include <iostream>
...
std::cout << "This will work";

or this
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
...
cout << "This will also work";


Hope it works out for you now.

/Lars.

Clay,

Thank you so much for your message...The thing is, I tried it for the sake of trying something because I was so desperate and it WAS actually the version of the beta that I downloaded that was giving me errors...I downloaded the 3.2 and I needed the 2.95 (on the dev-cpp website). I now downloaded dev-cpp 5 toolchain version 2.95 and everything works perfectly now!

Sorry it was not right after reading your note but definitely now no one should have problem using Dev-C++ on Win XP anymore...

Lars, sorry to say that but Clay was not wrong at all and I hope that people encountering the same problems WON'T disregard his message.

No bad feeling please.

And I would like to send a warm thank you to the 3 of you for trying to help me.

May you help plenty other lost users.

Annie.

Forums are gr8. Thanks for this tip... Just getting back into C/C++, it's been about 4 years. This tool will help me a gr8 deal. Thanks again.