I'm not sure, will the visual c ++ compiler express edition work for compiling c and if not can someone link me to an easy c compiler to use. Thanks in advance.
+3
A:
Yes, it will work. C is a subset of C++ (for all but a very small number of exceptional cases). Any C++ compiler should work with valid C code.
See the answers to this question for some of the rare examples of C code that isn't valid C++.
Bill the Lizard
2008-12-02 17:33:40
I wouldn't call it a subset. Those small number of exceptional cases are more than you might think. In any case it just so happens that VC++ is *also* a C compiler. Just save the file with the .c extension, and it will by default to C code. Alternatively you can pick the language in project settings
jalf
2008-12-02 17:44:53
In a strict mathematical sense, no, C isn't a proper subset of C++. However, well-written C tends to be valid C++.
Bill the Lizard
2008-12-02 18:22:26
"Some" C++ compilers lack C99 features (but who needs them in *2009*؟)
J.F. Sebastian
2009-02-24 11:58:22
+5
A:
To add to Bill The Lizard's answer - any C++ compiler will compile a file using C language rules if the file has a .c extension. This can be overriden to force a file to be compiled as C or C++ using command line options.
This is done with MSVC using the /Tc or /TC options to compile as C, and the /Tp or /TP options to compile as C++.
Michael Burr
2008-12-02 17:36:43
"any C++ compiler" may be effectively true, but it's not required to be true by any standard.
Darron
2008-12-02 17:57:17
@Darron - understood, but this is not really a standards question, it's a tools question.
Michael Burr
2008-12-02 18:00:23
+1
A:
http://www.bloodshed.net/compilers/index.html
maybe there's something to your liking there.
also there's always gcc: http://gcc.gnu.org/
Ariel Arjona
2008-12-02 17:43:24
A:
Depends partly on what C you're talking about. Visual C++ will happily compile C programs (make sure they've got a .c extension, and make sure the "Compile As" option in the "Advanced" part of the "C/C++" property pages is not set to C++ only), but is missing a whole lot of stuff in the C99 standard. If you're interested in the original standard C, Visual C++ will work very nicely.
David Thornley
2008-12-02 18:01:47
A:
Just small clarification - Visual C++ is not a compiler rather an IDE. The compiler will be cl.exe and as many sad there is no problem to compile C code with cl.
But there is other options like Windows ports of gcc or Watcom compiler
Ilya
2008-12-02 19:41:38
+2
A:
You can download a free copy of the Digital Mars C compiler.
Walter Bright
2008-12-04 19:52:08