Visual Studio: Create a Hello World app in C?

Question

How can I create a basic C app in Visual Studio, be it 2010 Ultimate or 2008 Professional? I have searched through the project templates, and can find plenty for C++, but none for C.

(I'm hoping that the compiler and debugger will be built in.)

Answer 1

Visual Studio doesn't have a separate compiler for C, it uses the C++ compiler for C code. You can tell it to restrict itself to legal C syntax by using a compiler switch or by renaming the .cpp file to .c

Edit: I'm still using 2005 on this machine, so it might not be in the same place, but try this

• Right click on the main.cpp in the solution explorer pane (on the right).
• Choose Properties (bottom of the menu)
• Open up the C/C++ group of properties
• choose Advanced page
• Change "Compile As" property to "Compile as C Code (/TC)"

Answer 2

New project/Win32 Console Application/Empty project.

Add a file called "hello.c" (important that it's .c)

Type out a basic hello-world:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    printf("Hello world\n");
    return 0;
}

Compile, execute... PROFIT!