problem with string input

Hi
I've just started programming in C++ today and I'm already encounting a problem. Well when trying to create a simple program to reading a string a output it, there's a lot of errors. Here is my program:

Code:

---

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
        cout<<"what is your name?"<<endl;
                string first;
        cin >> first;
        cout<<"hi,  "<< first;
        return 0;
       
}

---

well after compiling it says that std , first and string are undefined indentifirers. Why is it telling me that???
can anyone help me.

Drop the .h off of your includes. Most of the header files with the .h extension are the old C libraries and not the new C++ libraries.

but if I drop the .h they the compiler will say:
Fatal error cannot open input file iostream and string. So what should I do?

You tried this code, right?

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
        cout<<"what is your name?"<<endl;
    string first;
        cin >> first;
        cout<<"hi,  "<< first;
        return 0;
}

---

If the above doesnt work, then either you're doing something wrong (e.g. not using a project or some equivalent if the development environment requires one), or you should get a newer compiler.

what compiler do you recommend?

Any that is reasonably standards compliant. For free ones I can name G++ (from GCC, could be MinGW port) and MSVC8 (from Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express).

Of course, there's still the possibility that you've just overlooked something, and fixing that is better/easier than getting a new compiler/IDE.

ok thanks for the tips!!! I'll try to see if i've over looked something.