Re: Linux or windows
On 19 Dec., 00:01, "Ron AF Greve" <me@localhost> wrote:
Hi,
"Abhi" <meetabh...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:32be98de-dc19-4c0b-a901-fb96b949e09e@e1g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
this is not a technical c++ questions , but as a C++ learner i was
just wondering which of the operating system environment , Linux or
Windows is good for learning C++, in terms of the depth in
understanding of language one can achieve
As others pointed out whether MS-Windows or Linux doesn't really matter. =
If
you use Visual C++ (http://www.microsoft.com/express/vc/)you also have to
spend some time getting acquainted with the IDE. It is well worth the eff=
ort
thpugh. Just switched from my payed 2003 version to the free 2008 version
and I am pretty impressed how you can debug structures vectors arrays etc=
..
When you are learning, this also might help alot with seeing what is goin=
g
on.
Note that if you use VC it will generate some code for a basis windows ap=
p
for you. However if you want to not dive (directly in to MS-Windows) you =
can
just add your code to WinMain and do a 'PostMessage( hWnd, WM_QUIT, 0,
0 );' just before entering the message loop.
This is not true. Just create a console application with no code and
you can generate completely standard C++ applications. You have to
look out some places if you don't want to use Microsofts extensions,
however. We have all seen these extensions creeping in here when
beginners ask "C++" related questions that are full of Microsoft
specific code.
If you use linux you can start directly with your favorite editor (mine
still being vi ). If projects become larger than one file you probably ha=
ve
to learn how to make a Makefile, how to set library paths etc. (VC++ does
all that stuff more or less automatically).
This is a disadvantage. I find it to be of big value that you can see
the code execute in the debugger. Of course, this applies mostly to
beginners, but I also often debug my code to verify that everything is
as expected (no uninitialised variables, for example). And here the
Microsoft debugger is very handy compared to what I have otherwise
seen.
Another option is installing cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/) on your PC t=
o
do the same as on unix/linux but under MS-Windows.
Or do both. It is a very good idea to have two opinions of your code.
/Peter