I downloaded gcc 4.4.0 and unzipped it to C:\Program Files\gcc
forgive me for being a novice, but...now what? I read the install readme file but it's over my head. how do i get it to work?
I downloaded gcc 4.4.0 and unzipped it to C:\Program Files\gcc
forgive me for being a novice, but...now what? I read the install readme file but it's over my head. how do i get it to work?
If you're new to gcc and want to start using it on Windows, I highly recommend the MinGW GUI installer.
If it were me, I would just start with cygwin in the first place. If you do, most of the Unix/Linux/BSD faq's and tutorials will "just work".
If you want to Install, you can install Dev C++, which is actually MinGW with GUI. Dev C++ can probably be clubbed wth cygwin too though I havn't tried it out ever.
Even if the name says C++ in Dev C++, don't worry. I have tried and it does compile C programs as well. I am recommending Dev C++ because most people on Windows have a habit of using GUI for everything in contrast to be people from *nix background.
You can download it from here
It also includes GDB which is the debugger you can use. If you are don't know how to use gdb this tutorial can come handy.
Another aspect of Dev C++ is that it's development has probably ceased as no new versions have been released since Feb,2005 which is more than 4 years. People still use Dev C++ as it does it's job right. The latest version has GCC 3.4.2 bundled with it.
If you are interested in running the most latest or using newer versions of gcc, then you should try out wxDev C++ is an extension of Dev C++. The latest RC was made available somewhere in 1 yr back. It even has in built CVS support
Now since you require GCC 4.4.0 , it is available on MinGW site. Try to replace the older gcc dll in Dev C++/wxDev C++ with the newer one from this site.
If you want to do C/C++ programming for fun, Mingw is the simpler way to go about it. You'll also need some libraries to get you started.
Try: http://nuwen.net/mingw.html
It's a Mingw distribution based on GCC 4.3.3
It also contains: binutils, boost (with compiled headers), SDL, libbzip, libjpeg, libvorbis, freetype, and many other libraries.
EDIT: I'm not sure if any of the precompiled stuff will work on Vista. I've only tried it on WinXP.