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[Blank Expression]

Thanks for the advice, many by user friendly I had tried out several other compilers such as Borland C++ for msdos.  It was out of my realm for programming.  I went ahead and downloaded the microsoft express 2010, i'll give that a shot.  I've also looked at several libraries to download that other people have made.

Microsoft Visual Studio Express is arguably the least user-hostile way to do C++ development. You made a good choice, as far as C++ goes. The claims by "Another" that Visual Studio requires you to "agree to stay with Windows forever" is foolish; the skills learned can port to other development environments whenever necessary, and VS is flexible enough that you may not need to. For example, one of my VS C++ projects actually invokes GCC to build for ARM7TDMI (specifically, the Game Boy Advance). Another builds and deploys straight to Linux, from within VS. I regularly build Qt applications from within Visual Studio and have no problems doing so. Claims like "Another"'s are generally made by people with fanboyishness, rather than your interests, in mind.

That said--and this is not quite what you're asking, but it's something that should be raised--think very hard before you jump into C++ for a first or early language. I realize that it has some mysterious "cool factor" for a variety of reasons (not least, I'm reasonably sure, that Dwarf Fortress is written in C++), but it's a poor early choice for a number of reasons. Starting around here in the Creative Projects forum's programming thread may be of value.

Programming is a hard and miserable process to learn, but the payoffs can be great and rewarding. Good luck.

[Tellemurius]

yea i see how you guys continued my single comment even though i am right, i had more luck using DEV-C++, nice IDE using Mingw.

heres the website: http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html (i have no affiliations with this site)

[Blank Expression]

Regardless of anything else...whatever you use, whether you continue with C++ or not...ignore the above poster.

I used the most recent version of Dev-C++ when I was reacquainting myself with C++...five years ago. Dev-C++ Beta 5 (the last release before the developer lost interest) is six years old. The compiler is, by any reasonable standard, hilariously old. The IDE is poorly built and lacking in features (like, y'know, debugging support). And seeing as how MSVC Express is free, there is no conscionable reason to use Dev-C++. Even, of course, were it not a beta version (which it is, and is somewhat unstable).

As for MinGW--the aims of the project are admirable, but MinGW itself is something of a joke. It builds executables that work, but you're going uphill through the entire development process. On a Unix, use GCC. On Windows, use the tools that are designed for it. (The Windows C++ tools, while rather poor in the 90's, are top-of-the-line today and offer tools--especially debugging support--that are only really available in the Intel compiler kit, which is not cheap. And if you want a decent GCC debugger...be prepared to pay money.)

[G-Flex]

Yeah, I honestly don't know why you'd want to use an abandoned beta-version IDE from five years ago. Seems a tad silly to me.

My recent, extremely limited experience with Microsoft Visual Studio is that it isn't half-bad, and beats whatever versions of it I used way back in high school and early college, years ago.

[Tellemurius]

it works for me, i have been able to successfully finish all of my work for C++ through high school from simple calcultations to a advance roguelike game (i don't have it anymore). i just started working on C# cause i find it easier to utilize the libraries.

[Blank Expression]

If you have VS, try the C++ support therein. You'll see what I mean. It's night and day, seriously.

[G-Flex]

it works for me, i have been able to successfully finish all of my work for C++ through high school from simple calcultations to a advance roguelike game (i don't have it anymore).

Dude, I can walk down the stairs backwards if I want to, or use a small shipping crate as a desk chair, or shovel the driveway with a garbage can lid tied to a stick. That doesn't mean there aren't more reasonable alternatives.

[Tellemurius]

hey im just defending it, im not dishing out on MVS, i like using VS but i only use that for my XNA projects.

[Another]

Blank Expression, personal insults were uncalled-for.

[RiotHouse]

Thanks everyone for your advice and opinions on the multitudes of choices out there.  Too tie this into the "Other Games" forum, I do plan on developing a game, probably something small as in a ponglike etc.  I'll move from there.

Last night a started a Youtube lets play.  Expect it to have regular updates.  Subscribe and comment to get your name on one of the dwarves!

http://www.youtube.com/user/RiotHouseLP