   What's the industry standard C++ compiler?
  Seems like every time I try to pick up programming again, I run into some sort of technical problem with compilation. So, coding in winXP, what compiler should I be using, and where do I learn to actually use it properly with regard to libraries and linking and whatnot? My options seem to be:Dev-C++: Seems like a good, no-nonsense system, but what's all this about devpaks? Can I only use a library that someone's created a devpak for? Will that limit my options?g++: Seems like the obvious choice for learning how the compilation process actually works, and also for compiling open-source projects. I think. Makefiles and all that. But it's somehow inextricably linked with MingW? Would I be limiting my audience to other MingW users?Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition: Big, bloated, slow, and I loathe the interface, but if it's the industry standard that might be enough reason to learn to deal with it. But when a "Hello, world" program takes more than half a second to execute from a console window when the same code compiled in Dev-C++ executes instantaneously, I worry.So like, what do people working in the industry actually use? I want to get this superfluous crap out of the way so I can focus on the coding itself. Thanks.   
  I'm not in the Industry, but I'm guessing that they use Visual Studio and such, not free compilers.  On another note, I'm pretty sure that a vc++ 2k5 EE executable is faster than dev.edit: To actually answer your question, between those three, I would pick vc++ 2k5 EE   ;  I would say Visual Studio, too. Though I'm not in the industry, I use Visual Studio 2005 Professional. It may be bloated and all that, but I love it.Another reason VS is used a lot is the debugger. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but that's what a lot of people say. And I'd have to agree.It's not very slow on my machine:Windows 2000 Pro SP4Pentium III 733MHz256MB RAMYes, a PIII 733MHz. It gets a little behind at times. But it runs smooth and pretty fast most of the time I am using it.Sorry for my "personal" info. LoL. I apologize. But I would say VS.   ;  Dont confuse compiler with IDE. Here at Microsoft we use the Visual C++ compiler (unsurprisingly) for compiling C++ but the IDE is the employee's choice. I use VS.NET 2005 but I know a lot of people who use Vim.The debugger is also the employee's choice although most people (myself included) seem to use NTSD.   ;  g++ isn't linked with mingw really, g++ can be used with visual studio aswell if you want.however i would suggest using VS 2005 aswell (express is free) mainly because the debugger is very nice.if you want your programs to execute faster you can try to make release builds instead of debug builds.there are better compilers than the one in VS such as Intels C++ Compiler. (it costs $399 though) (it should be pretty good at optimizing for intels cpus atleast :))   ;  Visual Studio is the de facto standard by a decent margin, to the best of my knowledge. However, for cross-platform development, it's common to also target compilers like gcc (or native compilers for whatever platform is being targeted).Suggestion: instead of wasting time faffing about with C++'s hideously broken compilation model, learn a language like Ruby or C# that doesn't have all those problems. Getting on with the programming and the making of the games is more important.   ;  Summary plus random observations:0) Compiler != IDE. gcc is a compiler, and it can be made to work with several different IDEs and can also be used on its own. Similarly for most other popular compilers.1) Compiling C++ code sucks. Writing C++ code sucks a fair bit, too, so it's not recommended for people who don't need to do it.2) You're not in "the industry", so why care what the "industry standard" is?3) Using a hello-world program to compare two compilers, languages, etc. etc. is ridiculous. Lots of environments carry a certain amount of *constant* overhead, which looks retarded for hello-world, but is barely if at all noticed in a large project.   ;Quote:Original post by ApochPiQSuggestion: instead of wasting time faffing about with C++'s hideously broken compilation model, learn a language like Ruby or C# that doesn't have all those problems. Getting on with the programming and the making of the games is more important.You have a point, but I would also make the point that quite a bit of money can be made if you're able to approach horribly broken things (compilers, target platforms, political situations, etc.) and make them productive. Sometimes, avoiding hard stuff is the right call, sometimes it's not.VC++ is the standard compiler for targeting Windows and Xenon. As for the IDE, I rely on Visual Assist to make it more to my liking.   ;  Dev-C++ is an IDE that uses g++.If you're trying to target only Microsoft Windows, sticking to Visual Studio is a good idea.  Many companies don't even know there are alternatives.  Visual Studio provides a feature-rich set of development tools and until Vista flops it is the de facto industry standard for most development.If you intend to look outside of the Microsoft world, use GCC.  It's what's used on the Macintosh and Linux (and the Unixes), and it's available on Windows in either MinGW or Cygwin flavours.  If you use GCC and the GNU autotools, you can write code that will likely build anywhere (and run everywhere it builds) and is used by most open source and free software.  You have your choice of development environments.;  In terms of IDEs you may want to take a look at Eclipse with the CDT plugin (which you need for C++ development).  Though if you found VC++ bloated and slow Eclipse may not be for you.  Personally I use Visual Studio for C++ and C# development under Windows, it may appear to be a bit bloated and slow at first however when you start developing reasonably sized projects what you may perceive as bloat becomes highly useful.   