Re: [Plplot-devel] Comprehensive testing

[<p.d...@gm...>]

I must confess that I use msvc and visual studio them interchangeably. But can't visual studio do visual basic and c# too? I sort of assumed msvc was the c/c++ bit of visual studio. But I'd be happy to learn different.

I always though the visual bit referred to fact that you could draw windows and visual studio would generate code for you. But I only ever tried this once (in visual studio 6 I think) and don't know if that feature still exists.

Phil

Sent from my Windows 10 phone

From: Alan W. Irwin
Sent: 21 December 2016 19:25
To: Arjen Markus
Cc: PLplot development list
Subject: Re: [Plplot-devel] Comprehensive testing

On 2016-12-21 11:04-0000 Arjen Markus wrote:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Alan W. Irwin [mailto:ir...@be...]
[...]
>> I have additional questions about terminology.  Is MSVC an IDE? (That is implied
>> by the wikipedia article about it.) Just out of curiosity is the "Microsoft C/C++
>> optimizing compiler" the compiler used by that IDE?  However, if I recall correctly,
>> you use the command line and not an IDE.  So does that mean you are using
>> nmake on the command line? I believe I have often described your tests as MSVC
>> +ifort, but it appears that is not correct, if MSVC is an IDE that you are not actually
>> using.
>>
> Well, MSVC (MicroSoft Visual C++) is the compiler and it is usual to use it in combination with the MicroSoft Visual Studio IDE, but it is perfectly possible to use it from the command-line. And that is what I do in the case of PLplot. One reason is that it is easier to automate things (if you use the Visual Studio generator - and you have carefully selected the right version - you get a complex or at least extensive set of projects, each to build a single component of PLplot). Another is that I like working from the command-line. It gives me more control :).
>
> So, the concise description is correct.

Hi Arjen:

Thanks for the additional information you gave about your test
conditions and also your clarifying explanation above that MSVC is not an IDE but
often used in conjunction with one.  Which is not consistent with what
the wikipedia article <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_C++> says
(for example, in their summary box they say MSVC is an IDE), but I
suspect they got it wrong this time.

One naming convention still has me confused.  You reported

> C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Composer XE 2015>cl -v

> Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 18.00.40629 for x64

There is no mention there of "Visual" so is this some different
compiler than MSVC?

My working hypothesis to explain this difference in nomenclature is
MSVC is actually a suite of products including this compiler, a
debugger, and a lot of machinery (which you don't use) to make it all
work with the Visual Studio IDE.  But I would appreciate your
confirmation of that hypothesis.

If that hypothesis is correct, it might be better to use the shorthand
(and more recognizable) description MSVC to describe your compiler as
opposed to "C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 18.00.40629", but I
would need to know your MSVC version number in that case.

Actually, what I need here is your advice on the best way to designate
your C/C++ and Intel Fortran compiler versions in a way that Windows
developers will instantly recognize, and I will follow that advice.

By the way, it is even more confusing in the free compiler world;
"gcc" is the name of the suite of compilers for C, C++, Fortran, etc.,
but "gcc" is also the name for the C compiler subset of that suite.
:-)

Alan
__________________________
Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state
implementation for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); the Time
Ephemerides project (timeephem.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting
software package (plplot.sf.net); the libLASi project
(unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of Linux Links project (loll.sf.net);
and the Linux Brochure Project (lbproject.sf.net).
__________________________

Linux-powered Science
__________________________

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