Free Optimizing C++ Compiler from Microsoft

FortranDragon writes "Microsoft has made the command line toolkit for Visual C++ available for a free download. You can use the toolkit to build applications and redistribute them if you want (though you should read the EULA for the details, as always). This is a nice boon for those that have to deal with cross-platform compatibility, especially since Microsoft has tried to make Visual C++ more conformant to the ISO C++ standard. Go forth and compile your favorite OSS or FS programs today. ;-)"

Comments

Re:My experience with VC++

[Wumpus]

You could try Dev-C++

Following Borland's lead?

[bigberk]

Borland has offered free downloads of C++ Builder (and some tools) for quite some time.

Re:can't believe I am doing this, but...

[Decameron81]

I will talk about MSV C++ 6.x as it was the last version I used of it (for compatibility reasons)...

The problem with me was not that MSV C++ didn't let me do things I could do with other compilers. The problem was mostly about plain ISO C++ compliance. Just to give you an example, the following is a problem I found in MSV C++ when trying to port a program:

for (<B>int counter</B>; ...)
{
somecode;
}

for (<B>int counter</B>; ...)
{
somecode;
}

This code would not compile in MSVC++ 6.x telling me that the same variable had been defined twice. Now while this could seem like a simple problem to solve, it meant going through 7000+ lines of code and declaring the variable outside the for loop every single time.

According to the C++ standard, the scope of the variable that is declared inside the "for" loop is limited to the loop. In other words, this code is legal according to the C++ standard, but Visual C++ 6 couldn't compile it successfully.

MSVC++ is considered one of the least compliant C++ compiler implementations available for this, and many other reasons.

To back up a bit what I said, here goes a google link to a discussion regarding VC++'s ISO compliance. If you follow the selected sub-thread you will also find a reply from one of the developers of MSVC++ in which he clearly states that Microsoft's main goal was not to create a fully compliant C++ compiler, but rather to implement upon the standard specifications and create a sort of Microsoft C++ standards.

A small quote:

"The main decision the C++ team was faced with in this release was to either
devote most of the effort to compliance issues, or to have a stab at making
sure C++ on Microsoft platforms was still a viable language to use to write
code in a managed execution environment. We chose the latter."

And the link to the discussion:
google.com

Diego Rey

Re:How about some evidence?

[jhunsake]

Just about everything you've said has been proven wrong in other posts. Why did you bother posting in the first place? You've only made yourself look like an idiot.