Re: [Mingw-users] how to get start

[Oscar F. <of...@wa...>]

"Zulfa Zakaria" <ala...@ya...> writes:

> I have just installed MinGw ver 2.0.0-3. My question is how to get
> start because I want to write programming in C and also C++. Which
> folder should I execute to get the screen and type the programming?

If you want an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) where you can
write, run and edit your programs, there are some available. This one,
for instance:

http://www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html

Now, assuming you are an absolute beginner on programming:

It comes with the MinGW toolset included. As far as I know, the gcc
version it uses is 2.95, which is ok to learn C, but not for C++ (its
C++ library is quite outdated and incompatible with the C++ Standard).

You can work without an IDE, though. Simply write the code on a text
editor, save it, open a Console window (also known as "DOS box" or
"DOS window"), 'cd' to the directory where you saved your source code
and compile it. For C code:

gcc mySourceFile.c -o myExecutableName.exe

should work for projects of just one source file. It compiles a file
containing 'C' source code named 'mySourceFile.c' (replace it with the
name you used when saved your file) and generates an executable named
'myExecutableName'. For C++ use 'g++' instead of 'gcc'. If you didn't
added the directory where the MinGW executables are to your PATH
environment variable, do it, or write

c:\folderWhereMinGWWasInstalled\bin\gcc mySourceFile.c -o myExecutableName.exe

If you don't understand the steps explained above, feel free to ask
for a clarification on this list, although it may indicate that you
need to learn some basic concepts about how Windows and DOS works.

Have fun!

-- 
Oscar