Writing & compiling a C program under Windows XP?

Question

Hi,

This is an absolute beginner's question, but per the latest podcast, I understand that no question is too newbie.

I have 0 programming experience and I want to learn C, so I'm starting the K&R book. I am using a Windows XP laptop, and I am planning on using Notepad++ to write, and Code::Blocks to compile.

Here's my question: once I have written the "hello world" program in Notepad++, how should I save it, compile it, and run it?

Edit & new question: When I build & run from Code::Blocks, I get the prompt window with the "hello world" message. It stays open until I close it manually. However, when I double click the .exe file, the prompt just flashes and disappears, why is that?

Many thanks,

JD

Edit: I'm going to use Code::Blocks as an IDE, per the recommendations here.

Answer 1

Try some simpler compiler, like *nix gcc. Visual Studio C++ puts a lot of MS extensions to code files.

Answer 2

You should be able to write C in Visual Studio. You certainly could in older versions of the IDE. Just create source files with the .c extension.

You should be able to build and run the code from within Visual Studio.

Answer 3

Save it as a .c file. And you can use the MinGW compiler to compile the file into an .exe file. But since you have Visual Studio, you should use that compiler.

Answer 4

For just starting I'd recommend creating your project, editing and compiling right in VC. Then start exploring what commands VC actually runs under its covers (I believe that'd be something like "output" tab there.) You can do all that on command line though Windows is not the programmer-friendliest environment.

Answer 5

If you're just learning to program, I wouldn't recommend starting with C. C still has its place today, but there are much easier languages with which to learn basic syntax and technique. As I understand, there aren't that many employed beginner C programmers out there. You can, however, be an employed beginner java, c#, VB, ruby, or python programmer and people will pay you to learn. Then, once you have a solid foundation on structure and technique, you can get closer to the metal with C.

Just my two cents even if it isn't really an answer to your question.

Answer 6

If you DON'T want to use visual-studio, you might want to try something like codeblocks which lets you use the VS compiler... it's much more simple+lightweight if you're just beginning.

Answer 7

As other posters have pointed out, Visual Studio can be a bit overwhelming to the beginner - lots of options, and a lot of fluff required to get a simple "Hello World" out the door.

I personally recommend Bloodshed's Dev-C++ IDE for beginners. It's not being worked on anymore (so get the stable, not the beta version), but it's very simple to go from typing your first program to compiling and running it. If you stick with Windows, you'll move to Visual Studio eventually, but Dev is a nice east place to start.

You can edit files in Visual Studio, (It's an IDE, an Integrated Development Environment, and is supposed to contain absolutely everything that you need to write a program) but you'll notice that most programmers use external editors like Notepad++, as they offer some nice features that you usually don't get in a built-in IDE. Don't worry about that for the moment, but try out an external editor like n++ when you're more familiar with the rest of the process.

Oh, and C in no way whatsoever can be described as "covering the key principles in a small language". It definitely covers the 'key principles' - it's been used for everything under the sun, but is absolutely huge. Whether it's appropriate for a beginner these days is subject to debate; it'll definitely give you some good experience, but won't be the easiest way of starting.

Edit: CodeBlocks is more modern and still under development, so might be a better place to start than DevC++ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeblocks

Answer 8

just in case you haven't realised yet, like visual studio, code::blocks also has an editor built in. you don't need to write in notepad++ (unless you actually prefer npp as an editor of course)

Answer 9

Here's an opinion from someone who used C for years in biomedical research: image processing, data crunching. IMHO, C is a major intellectual achievement, probably the finest distillation of intent into syntax. I would learn C again now, if I were starting out, even if just for the purpose of learning to think.

That said, I have never even attempted to program in C on MS. (All my work was on Suns and SGIs.) To avoid the overhead mentioned in other answers, I have switched to Python on MS XP/cygwin. However, I miss C's terse, expressive syntax rather often, and I miss mucking about with bits and values as stored in memory. Note that even with Python, the back-end is C, and custom extensions are coded in C. Thus, if I wanted to redo my image processing code for Python, I probably would wind up writing C after all.

Sorry that MS imposes such a burden on writing in about the leanest language ever invented. (BTW, as for editors, my personal choice is vim (as gvim), not IDEs.) (Have you thought of setting up a Linux box? Lots to be said for that these days: UNIX without the cost of workstations.)

Answer 10

If you copy the code out of K&R you need to add a system("pause"); before you end main() and make sure you save the file with .c

int main()
{
printf("Hello, world\n");

system("pause");
return 0;
}
I am also a beginner I hope this helps.