Good C++ Linux/Unix Terminal in Windows XP Professional

I need to know a good Linux/Unix terminal that can run on Windows XP Pro so I can start coding in C++. Does anyone have any suggestions??

I do NOT want anything like Visual C++ or anything similar to that. I like the command line terminals, something like puTTY without the internet connection so that I can use Vi editor or pico or etc.

I have no idea how this works, if I'm not making any sense please feel free to teach me a thing or two about how terminals (not even sure if that is the correct word) run on the OS and such... Thanks.

All compilers for Windows that I know of can be invoked through the command prompt, which is Windows' CLI/terminal. I haven't the foggiest idea why you would want to use a CLI-based text editor, but I'm sure there is one available for Windows.

Anway, why not just install Linux? Most Windows developers have embraced GUIs as a less masochistic way of interacting with a computer, so you won't find many CLI-based tools for Windows that aren't ports of POSIX applications.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hermit

All compilers for Windows that I know of can be invoked through the command prompt, which is Windows' CLI/terminal. I haven't the foggiest idea why you would want to use a CLI-based text editor, but I'm sure there is one available for Windows.

Anway, why not just install Linux? Most Windows developers have embraced GUIs as a less masochistic way of interacting with a computer, so you won't find many CLI-based tools for Windows that aren't ports of POSIX applications.

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I liked Visual C++ but became more accustomed to pico/nano/v editor with PuTTY.

Can you suggest something better than Visual C++? Better as in compatibility and most recent compilers and such. I guess I'll try the GUI type of applications.

Visual C++ (2005) provides one of the better C++ compatibility up there for Window environment.

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Originally Posted by STLDude

Visual C++ (2005) provides one of the better C++ compatibility up there for Window environment.

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I actually didn't like Visual C++ because every time I wanted to use a datastructure and use cstdlib, I would get errors and the programs would not compile.

I think it wouldn't recognize:

#include <cstdlib>

return EXIT_SUCCESS;

I would get errors for trying to do this. Am I missing some kind of library??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onlycuriouscpp

I actually didn't like Visual C++ because every time I wanted to use a datastructure and use cstdlib, I would get errors and the programs would not compile.

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This is not an answer. There always will be problems with setting up compiler environment and it has some steep learning curve. Changing to other product might not solve anything.
Also, you will have issues later when there are compiler errors, so you have to learn how to deal with those.


This is not valid C++ code, so no wonder that did not compile.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onlycuriouscpp

I think it wouldn't recognize:

#include <cstdlib>

return EXIT_SUCCESS;

I would get errors for trying to do this. Am I missing some kind of library??

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This is minimum:

Code:

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int main()
{
}

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by STLDude

This is not an answer. There always will be problems with setting up compiler environment and it has some steep learning curve. Changing to other product might not solve anything.
Also, you will have issues later when there are compiler errors, so you have to learn how to deal with those.


This is not valid C++ code, so no wonder that did not compile.


This is minimum:

Code:

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int main()
{
}

---

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I said it didn't compile when I used cstdlib, I was not giving you the code.

I was trying to use cstdlib for EXIT_SUCCESS, which does not work in Visual C++ from my past experience.

EDIT: Now that I read my post I can see it is a bit ambiguous... Try using cstdlib and try returning EXIT_SUCCESS at the end of the program, it doesn't work in VISUAL C++.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onlycuriouscpp

EDIT: Now that I read my post I can see it is a bit ambiguous... Try using cstdlib and try returning EXIT_SUCCESS at the end of the program, it doesn't work in VISUAL C++.

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What version of Visual C++ are you using? It compiles fine with Visual C++ 2003.

If you're using Visual C++ 6.0, that is a pre-ANSI standard compiler, and shouldn't be used for testing whether ANSI C++ code is valid.

Also, here is the real code:

Code:

---

#include <cstdlib>

int main()
{
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

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Edit: BTW, the code compiles on Visual C++ 6.0 also.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

Use cygwin. It contains most of the tools that you accustom to (vi, emacs, gcc, gdb, etc). It is basically a linux like environment that runs on a windows platform.

I think that this is exactly what you are looking for.

***... it does work... it didn't work for me about 1 year ago when I tried to do this 10000 times. But the exact code worked in PICO/g++. Weird.

Anyway, thanks everyone.

As far as I know, there are two Linux-like POSIX compliant environments that you can use on Windows.
1. Cygwin
2. MSYS

I haven't really tried nano with them but that text editor should work.
Also, if you are looking for an alternative to MSVC, try KDevelop, Anjuta or Code::Blocks for Linux. I use KDevelop and its a really nice IDE. Hope this helps. :)

I think you want to install cygwin and spend some time setting up the X-Server and xterm. In fact I am using an xterm as my main command prompt in WinXP, and I use vi and g++ to compile quick and dirty tests.

See the picture for what I mean.

I think you want TerraTerm

Windows terminal is so poor it doesn't do tab tab enumeration. Fortunatly it does the single tab completion.

VIM is great :).