Hey folks. I am starting a (very small) web site for newbie programmers such as myself. I have a section on compilers, and going to Borland''s site today, I see that there are two products: - Borland C++ Compiler 5.5 - Free, downloadable - Borland C++ Builder 5 Could someone clear up the difference for me? I know that the compiler is the core of Builder, but does it have an interface? Is it usable? Has anyone tried it? On a general note, I would love any first-hand accounts of your experiences with compilers - likes and dislikes, problems to be aware of, etc. Especially for the small, free ones. You can e-mail (cmccormick@thestate.com) your thoughts to me, and I''ll put them up on my site. The site, by the way, is at http://members.tripod.com/gamenewbie. But there''s not really much up yet. We''ll see... Thanks in advance, Chris

I would imagine the compiler they are giving away has no visual interface. All compiling of source is probably through command line/console window. Kind of like DJGPP without RHIDE or whatever their visual interface is called.

I personally like visual studio. Kind of expensive, but if you are a student, you can pick up the academic edition which is identical to the commercial version for about US$250. It comes with VB, VC++, VJ++, Interdev, VFP, and MSDN Library.

Yep thats what it is.

As for compilers, my favorite is Intel''s C++ compiler... but at $300 dollars (or a free one month trial) its a bit pricey...

As I understand it, the downloadable one can do everything that the Builder can do, but it doesn''t have an IDE, it''s command-line. Basically, it would almost be more worth it to get DJGPP since you can get IDE''s for it and you can''t for Borland''s compiler (that I know of, anyway).

If you code it, they will come...

Commander M
http://commanderm.8m.com
cmndrm@commanderm.8m.com

Yes, it''s just a command line compiler, but I would imagine that many of the free IDE''s for gcc derivatives could be configured to work on BCC as well. (It''s just a matter of changing command line switches and what not.)

Also, I''d like to point out that even though I haven''t really used it much, it seems to have EXCELLENT standard support. I ran it through Blitz''s standard feature set torture test, and it outperformed Visual C++ (not even in the same league) and even g++ 2.95.2. It''s support for templates and some of the more exotic template features looks to be stupendous.

-Brian

Allow me to elaborate, since I am a devoted Borland C++ owner. Every singe compiler I have had or (probably) will have is going to be from Borland.
The Compiler is free, right? That's commandline, like the olden days.
The Builder is different. Imagine VB. change the language to C++. Add to that the fact that Borland actually debugs it compilers. Thats Builder. It's a visual programming enviroment, I use it since I got it from a friend. The point is it automates the creation of windows for free and small cost in performance - very small. You can create a window without any code. It also adds __property keyword. this makes code much simpler:
instead of writing GetBlahBlah() and SetBlahBlah() you use BlahBlah=OtherBlahBlah. This gets rid of more bugs, makes code easier to read...etc..etc.
So:
Commandline is free.
You can still get Borland Compiler with IDE 5x
Builder is something better then both. Ok thats just my view.



Edited by - c++freak on 3/22/00 9:22:43 PM

Could you tell me the URL to the page where it let''s you download Borland C++ for free?

Basically, C++ Builder has a drag ''n'' drop interface which let''s you create windows applications easily... it''s convenient and you can drop all the buttons, edit boxes, and other controls wherever you want.. you can create your GUI of your app in no time... it uses events such as OnClick() for buttons... OnChange() for edit boxes and so on, which are basically call back functions...


the Borland C++ compiler is for 16 & 32 bit applications as far as i know.. i''ve never used it because i dont have it... you can create win32 apps with it but you have to code everything on your own because it doesn''t have an interface to help you develop your app, but instead it uses the command line.. you can use batch files for that... need more help? lemme know...

..-=ViKtOr=-..

I use borland builder 4 in programming class at school, and I don''t care much for it at all.
It does wierd things to the directories when you #include.
Everytime you open it up, it opens up some default project that gets really annoying really fast.

I personally like Microsoft Visual c++. It has a nice ide, doesn''t usually give me dumb problems like the borland products and it seems to be the industry standard.

I personally prefer the Borland C++ Builder IDE to the Visual C++ IDE. The opening of the default project doesn''t bother me, as I always open my projects by double click.

C++ Builder is top notch for tool development and other cases when you need to develop a standard GUI.