   Compiler
  I am interested in learning to program in c++. I know absolutly nothing about programing other then there are different languages to type in and you need to have a compiler for that language...So my question is where can i find a c++ compiler and are all of them free...I downloaded the free 2005 windows c++ compiler but i am confused on how to use it and if its even working right.   
  i would higly recomend visual studio express   ;  I searched the MSDN-site (http://msdn.microsoft.com) and found this:http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/windows/tier1/   ;  Think he was actually talking about visual studio express :)@jcheath33ok.. you can do this:get qbasic. master it. get pascal. master it. then start thinking about c++...at least that's what i did :)or you can go straight into c++... but i recommend using borland c++ 3.0 (the dos version, not c++ builder) to get confortable with the language (it's a fairly simple ide to use... ) and then switch to visual :)   ;Quote:Original post by Overburnok.. you can do this:get qbasic. master it. get pascal. master it. then start thinking about c++...at least that's what i did :)He could, but I don't see the reason for it. While I quite liked pascal and agree to the notion of beginning with a language with fewer idiosynchrasies than C++ getting in the way of learning proper programming fundamentals, it's a language that has not been in wide use for many years now and thus have a smaller user community and less readily avaliable resources than other, more suited, languages. Instead, the OP might find languages such as C# or Python better suited as they have large active user communities and an abdundance of learning material and libraries, should he decide against C++ as a first language. Same argument holds true in even greater extent against qbasic. Authorware such as BlitzBasic or DarkBasic on the other hand might be of more interest to the OP. <rant>Furthermore, I find the notion "I learnt this way, and it worked for me" that seems quite prevalent when giving beginner advice quite funny. First of all, it's been scientifically suggested that humans are very poor at self-assesement. This is especially true with software development where a working solution, which is often mistaken for an indication of profiency, does not necessarily have to be, and quite often isn't, a good solution. Secondly, how can someone who learnt something one way say that it's better than some other method, as they evidently only tried one of the ways of learning?</rant>Quote:... but i recommend using borland c++ 3.0 (the dos version, not c++ builder) to get confortable with the language (it's a fairly simple ide to use... ) and then switch to visual :)Now this part completely leaves me at loss though. What part of using an outdated tool makes it easier to get comforable with the C++, a language with enough undefined behaviour and other confusions as it is without having to bring in non-standard compliant compilers?No, if the OP wants to learn C++, he should use proper tools such as Visal C++ 2005, which is considered by a large amount of informed individuals to be one of the best C++ IDEs avaliable.   ;  Now, to be of any use to the OP, here's a crash course on using IDEs:As you maybe already figured out, programming is about writing down code using a syntax specificed by whatever language you happen to be using which will later form a program that the computer can execute. In the not so good old days, what you did was write your code in any old texteditor and then feed it into a compiler which would, if all went well, spit out an executable. The problem with this is that as programs get more complex, the programmer needs to keep track of a growing number of things; which files that are in need of re-compiling after a change, what libraries to link with etc. Using an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), such as Visual C++, many such details are taken care of for you. Instead though, you'll have to do a bit of setting up first. In Visual C++, this is done by creating a project. As a beginner, there's mainly two projects you need to concern your with: Console Application and Windowns Application. The previous is for creating text-mode applications that run in a command-prompt and the latter is for creating "normal" windowed applications.With that very short introduction, here's a video tutorial from microsoft on how to create a simple console application which should give you a basic idea of how an IDE is used.Your next step is to learn the language proper. As I hinted on in my previous post, I would rather recommend beginning with a language such as C# or Python rather than C++ as there are a lot of idiosynchrasies in C++ a beginner can do without when learning to program. Regardless of which language you do end up using you probably want to get some books to learn from. I've heard good things about Thinking in C++ for C++ and Dive Into Python, both of which are free online books.   