Re: Best free C compiler for Windows?

From: Michael Wojcik (mwojcik_at_newsguy.com)
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: 29 Mar 2005 15:39:15 GMT

In article <19qd41hhbs02pvnjkk38uprtbggn7h0uds@4ax.com>, Alex <ad3569@bris.ac.uk> writes:
>
> I was referring to the version of 'make' MS ships, which uses a
> totally different type of makefile from that recognised by most other
> 'make' applications.

It does not. Microsoft's nmake's makefile syntax is not tremendously
different from that of, say, vanilla BSD 4.3 make's, though it doesn't
distinguish between tabs and spaces (a glaring design error in the
original make; Microsoft got it right here). I have makefiles which
are compatible with both nmake and GNU make, and should work with
anything even vaguely related to the original.

Basic rule syntax is the same. Dependency syntax is the same. Macro
syntax is the same for simple macros. Implicit rule syntax is the
same for simple implicit rules. Multirule-target syntax is the same.

And like most MS development tools, nmake doesn't care what line-end
convention you use in its makefiles either, so you can in fact use
Unix makefiles verbatim with it.

> IIRC, quite a few of MS's compilers are built
> into the development environments, so you're dependant on the dev
> environment to recognise the makefile.

You remember incorrectly. They run from the command line.

The Microsoft Visual Studio *debugger* is part of the development
environment, but the compilers aren't.

> If I'm wrong about this it's probably because I haven't used MS dev
> software in a long time. I got sick of the GUI.

You shouldn't have used it, then. I build from the command line
myself, and only use the GUI when I need the MSVS debugger. (MS
does supply CUI debuggers as well, and of course there are third-
party ones, if even that is too much.

I'm no great fan of the Visual Studio family, but let's complain
about its actual deficiencies, not the ones we fantasize. 

-- 
Michael Wojcik                  michael.wojcik@microfocus.com
Ten or ten thousand, does it much signify, Helen, how we
date fantasmal events, London or Troy?                    -- Basil Bunting

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