0.

5InstallinganIntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment(IDE)
BYALEX,O NMAY28T H,2007

Asmentionedintheprevioussection,anIntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment(IDE)containsallofthethings
youneedtodevelop,compile,link,anddebugyourprograms.Soletsinstallone.
Theobviousquestionis,whichone?.KeepinmindthatyoucaninstallmultipleIDEs,sothereisnowrong
decisionhere.Duringthecourseofthesetutorials,wewillbeshowingyousomeofthenicefeaturesofyourIDE,
suchashowtodointegrateddebugging.AllofourexampleswillbedoneusingbothMicrosoftsVisualC++(for
Windows),andCode::Blocks(forLinuxorWindows).Thuswehighlyrecommendyoupickoneofthese.
However,ifyouwouldliketotryadifferentIDE,youarefreetodoso.Theconceptsweshowyouwillworkfor
anyIDEhowever,differentIDEsusedifferentkeymappingsanddifferentsetups,andyoumayhavetodoabit
ofsearchingtofindtheequivalentofwhatweshowyou.
Windows
IfyouaredevelopingonaWindowsmachine(asmostofyouare),thenyouhavetwochoices:
1)Ifdiskspaceand/ordownloadsizearenotaconstraint,thenwerecommendVisualStudioCommunity2015.
Wheninstallingthisversion,youllneedtodoaCustominstallationandchooseProgrammingLanguages>Visual
C++,astheC++compilerisnotinstalledbydefault.YoucanalsounchecktheWindowsandWebDevelopment
checkbox.

2)Ifdiskspaceand/ordownloadsizeareachallenge,thenwerecommendMicrosoftsfreeVisualStudioExpress
2013forWindowsDesktop.Whenasked,choosewdexpress_full.exeandrunit.
TheinstallerthatyoudownloadoffofMicrosoftswebpageisactuallyadownloader.Whenyourunit,itwill
downloadtheactualIDEfromMicrosoftandinstallit.
Note:ThistutorialwasoriginallywrittenwhenMicrosoftwasdistributingthe2005versionofVisualC++.
Consequently,allreferencesandscreenshotsaretargetedtothatversion.Runninganylaterversions(suchas
2008,2010,2013,2015,etc)arefine,however,yourscreensmaylookslightlydifferent.
LinuxorWindows
IfyouaredevelopingonLinux(oryouaredevelopingonWindowsbutwanttowriteprogramsthatyoucaneasily
porttoLinux),werecommendCode::Blocks.Code::Blocksisafree,opensource,crossplatformIDEthatwillrun
onbothLinuxandWindows.

Windowsusers,makesuretogettheversionwithMinGWbundled.
Alternately,somepeopleprefertouseBloodshedsDevC++,whichalsorunsonbothWindowsandLinux.
MacOSX
MacuserscanuseXcodeifitisavailabletoyou,orEclipse.EclipseisnotsetuptouseC++bydefault,andyou
willneedtoinstalltheoptionalC++components.
Movingon
OnceyourIDEisinstalled(whichisoneofthehardestthingsthistutorialwillaskyoutodo),youarereadytowrite
yourfirstprogram!

0.6Compilingyourfirstprogram

Index

0.4Introductiontodevelopment

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122commentsto0.5InstallinganIntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment(IDE)
Grant
January18,2008at12:22pmReply
IwillbeinstallingXCodeonmyMacASAP!
(doesanyonereadthesethings?)

Alex
January20,2008at8:55pmReply
Ireadallthecomments.

jestuart
February19,2008at11:40amReply