Wow. I had never even considered C++ Builder until a month or so ago. Lately, all I''ve seen is immense positive feedback, though. I''m too damn lazy to learn MFC or the Win32API, so I''m never going to be able to write GUI stuff in VC6, but I''d still like to be able to turn out quick and dirty GUI apps every now and then. I''m going to have to get a copy of C++ Builder, every time I hear about it, it sounds better and better. Thanks for all the info guys...

-Brian

PS: No, I''m not the person that asked the question originally. (:

Here's the specific page to start the download process. You have to register as part of the "Borland Community" first. I haven't done it yet.

http://www.borland.com/bcppbuilder/freecompiler/cppc55steps.html

Thanks for the info, btw. I do have what may be a dumb question - some of your responses (in particular, C++ freak) make it sound as if Borland outputs proprietary code. Is this true?

I know that when writing web pages, I use Homesite. Frontpage automates a lot of things, but most of them are done with little proprietary Microsoft widgets. Some of them only work in Explorer, and I can't figger 'em out when they break. So, I'd like to avoid that sort of experience with a compiler, which is 10x as complex.

Thanx again for all of your advice,
Chris

Edited by - gollum on 3/23/00 11:08:44 AM

In order to shoehorn the VCL (which was written in Object Pascal) into C++ Builder, they needed to add a few proprietary keywords to the C++ language. However, you can change the compiler flags so that it will compile in pure ANSI. Or even K&R if you''re feeling self-abusive.

If you use the drag-and-drop GUI building, then you won''t be able to use the code in another compiler. However, DirectX or OpenGL programs will most likely compile fine in other compilers, especially if you tell the compiler to work in ANSI standard C/C++.