linux compiler tools for C

[CLIFFORD ILKAY]

At 07:23 PM 23/07/2004 -0400, Anton Markov wrote:
[snip]
>However, if you ARE looking for an IDE on Linux (which does make life
>easier in the beginning), a good IDE I would recommend is KDevelop from
>the KDE project.

KDevelop uses the Qt framework so you must be aware of the license terms 
before you go down that path. Qt is NOT free on Win32 or for creating non 
GPL apps.

>However, it's always good to learn the underlying tools
>such as gcc, gdb, etc. And an IDE can be distracting at times. So choose
>for yourself.

I would stay away from any of the frameworks, GTK, Qt, wxWidgets, whatever. 
It is too difficult for a beginner to distinguish what is part of the 
framework and what is part of the language. I learned C on the Macintosh 
back in System 6 days but until I found Dave Mark's excellent "Learn C on 
the Macintosh" book, which came with the ThinkC compiler, it was a struggle 
and C looked overwhelmingly complex. The C tutorials that targeted the Mac 
were not really C tutorials but MacApp tutorials and as such, were really 
teaching creating applications in C for the Mac OS. Most of the C/C++ books 
that are out there are very much like that. What I liked about Dave Mark's 
book was that one could use a C compiler on DOS or UNIX to follow his 
examples, at least early in the book. That book and the Kernighan and 
Ritchie classic, "The C Programming Language", were a very good combination 
for me.

>As for the differences between the OSs...
>C is a standard, so the basic language (and the standard libraries I
>believe) are the same between Windows and Linux. The differences are in
>how you interact with the system (kernel), certain file I/O and certain
>networking functions.
>
>Of course if you are planning to write graphical applications, the
>difference is huge, but take it one step at a time :)

The differences are huge indeed but there are cross platform libraries, 
like the aforementioned ones, that abstract those differences away for the 
most part.

>As Hooman said, Linux is probably the best to learn the basics of C.

... and you will have no shortage of source code to read:)

>Aaron Sorensen wrote:
> > Hi I got a book to learn to program C (Sam's teach your self C in 21
> > days 5th) and i looked at the CD that came with it and the compiler is
> > called Dev c++ bloodshed or something its under windows and i was
> > wondering if Linux had a good compiler like bloodshed and that was under
> > the ANSI ISO/iec 9899:1999.
> > and a nother question i have is whats the diffrents form windows and
> > linux programing and should i stick to learning in windows and try linux
> > when i get better or should i learn in linux???
> > thanks for helping me out

Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis Corporation
3266 Yonge Street, Suite 1419
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M4N 3P6

Tel: 416-410-3326 

--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml