Links



[IDE's and Compilers]

  • Dev-C++ Official site of the Dev-C++ IDE, one of the best freely available and open source IDE's out there. It uses the MinGW compiler by default. Note: While the project is still alive, it has gone about two years without a version update, though dev-paks are still being added.


  • wxDev-C++ It is an updated version of Dev-C++, currently under heavy continuous development. I recommend this one over Dev-C++. Also this one is based on wxWidgets and includes a form designer for it, which allows creating GUI applications the same way you would in MFC or C#/WinForms or Delphi.


  • MinGW Developer Studio This is an IDE that closely resembles Visual C++ 6. It is a good quality IDE with a very good resource editor for win32 API development. If you are going to do pure Win32 API GUI code and you don't have or don't want to use Visual C++, this is your best choice.


  • Ultimate++ This is a full blown IDE that includes its own STL-like libraries, string libraries, and its unique cross-platform GUI API (CtrlLib) with a form designer. The GUI API is fully functional and easy to develop on, just like wxWidgets, Qt, GTK, or MFC. The only downside is that the GUI is not as extensive and known as the major ones and does not have the same level of support. However if you are interested in doing RAD-like development in C/C++ this tool is for you.


  • MinGW The one and only compiler suite. This is a port of the one and only GNU compiler tools (especially GCC/G++) to Windows. MinGW stands for Minimalist GNU for Windows. Note that this is only the compiler, assembler, linker, etc. but it does not include any IDE (Integrated Development Environment), Visual Designers, or Form Designers. If you want a full development platform, get one of the IDE's I mentioned above.


[Programming Help]

  • The Dev-C++ Source Forge Forum A good source for noob questions and even advanced ones. This is a very active forum so most likely you'll receive an answer soon.


  • Dev Shed C Programming Forum A forum for all C/C++/C# related questions. The forum is very active and you can ask all types of questions, from noobs to very advanced programming ones. It is very versatile.


  • The Code Project A very good source for GUI programming, you can find info related to the Win32 API, to MFC and to WinForms.