Beginning C++ Compilers: An Introductory Guide to Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW Compilers

This book focuses on how to install C/C++ compilers on Linux and Windows platforms in a timely and efficient way. Installing C/C++ compilers, especially Microsoft compilers, typically takes quite a lot of time because it comes with Microsoft Visual Studio for the vast majority of users. Installing Visual Studio requires usually about 40 GB of disk space and a large amount of RAM, so it is impossible to use weak hardware.

The authors provide an easy way to deploy Microsoft C/C++ compiler: with no disk space headache and hardware resources lack. The method described saves significant time since software can even be deployed on removable devices, such as flash sticks, in an easy and portable way.

It is achieved by using Enterprise Windows Driver Kit (EWDK), single big ISO image, which can be mounted as virtual device and used directly without any installation. EWDK contains everything from Visual Studio except IDE. EWDK also allows to use MASM64 (Microsoft Macro-Assembly) and C# compilers.

With the aid of the MSBuild System, one can compile Visual Studio Projects (.vcxproj) and Solutions (.sln) without even using Visual Studio! Similarly, MinGW compilers can be deployed from 7z/zip archives, simply by unpacking into appropriate location. Both Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers can be used as portable software―an approach that does not require administrative privileges at all.

What you’ll learn

• Rapid installation of modern Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers.
• How to prepare reusable and portable Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers suite on removable media (flash stick, CD/DVD).
• How to use Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers even on old/slow computers without standard installation.
• How to build under Windows the libraries originally designed for Unix-systems.
• Learn to run multiple versions of these compilers at the same time.

Who This Book Is For

Reader of all skills who wants to save time and efforts to start to work with C++. Also useful for scientists who are not familiar with software installation.