Hello linux people. Im a beginner in C programming, and i'm under the impression that Dev-Cpp uses gcc as its compiler. If this is true, then is there any way to compile my stuff with it manually in the command prompt in windows(vista)? The reason i want to be able to do this is because most C tutorials and books use gcc like this in the examples provided, and it would be easier to follow them if i could do this myself (on windows).

Thanks in advance,

Ganahim

No, DevCPP doesn't use gcc. It uses cc, which is the actual C/C++ compiler (gcc uses it too). I would suggest installing Cygwin on your Vista box. Cygwin's run.bin or bin.exe sometimes triggers an antivirus warning, but it's safe (see the cygwin site). Google cygwin.

Actually, I believe that Dev-cpp IDE happens to use MinGW compiler (just as, for example, the KDevelop IDE uses gcc).

The mechanics of compiling from the command line are useful ... but not essential.

The important thing is to understand the language, and to understand how it relates to the problems you're trying to solve with the language. You you actually run the compiler, frankly, is more or less irrelevant.

If you're comfortable with Dev-Cpp - then by all means continue using Dev-cpp. I think installing Cygwin would probably be a complete waste of time, unless you had some other compelling reason to use it.

IMHO .. PSM

If I understand correctly (from a quick look at the web site) Dev-Cpp uses MinGW (as PSM told you).

MinGW is one of the two popular Windows ports of GCC (the other is Cygwin).

So you do have a copy of GCC installed that can be used from the Windows command prompt, provided you have the right path and other environment variables set up.

Yes. Have you tried it?

Depending on how MinGW was installed, the path entries and other environment variables it needs (for finding lib and include files) might or might not have been added to system wide environment variables.

I never leave path entries or other environment variable from any compiler install in Windows in the system wide set, because I use too many different compilers on one computer.

I have a special link to command prompt for use with each compiler and that link runs a .bat file each time it opens that command prompt. That .bat file adjusts the path and environment variables as appropriate for that compiler. I think that is the best way to use MinGW from a command prompt. Depending on how you installed MinGW, you might or might not need a .bat file like that to prepare a command prompt window for use with MinGW.