Celestia Forums

I'm looking for a small footprint C-compiler just for writing some simple text/file processing utilities.
I don't really need or want Visual Studio with all it's baggage. I'm not trying to create any GUI's and I can even do without an IDE as I'm comfortable with command-line compiling and I'm happy, for now, to create command-line executables only.

I'm wondering if anyone can share their experiences and/or make some recommendations of free and reliable "C" compilers you've used or are aware of suitable for this type of task.
(Don't need C++ either, C will do)

Anyone know anything about any of the ones listed below?
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lcc-win32/
http://www.c-compiler.com/
http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/cpp.shtml

Cheers
CC

** bump **

No recommendations?

Surely someone here has used a compiler other than VS.

CC,

your inquiry is indeed not easy to answer. If you were using Unix or MacOS you would be using gcc and never had asked that question, since the compiler is part of the OS. For Windows the VC 2008 Express is easy to install and use, produces good code and MS takes well care of it in case of bugs, libraries etc. And it's FREE. Note that you may do a rather minimalistic install of the VC 2008 which makes it not bulky at all on your machine.

But you don't want it. Apart from that obvious choice, there are others, but few would be tempted to use any of them today. This was quite different before free MS compilers existed.

There is the CYGWIN Linux layer, with gcc included. There are a couple of other compilers that produce native Windows code. But who would want to recommend them to you?? An important aspect of a C/C++ compiler are well maintained run-time libraries...

Probably the best "non-mainstream" option would be MinGW = Minimalist Gnu for Windows (http://www.mingw.org/). It's said to be reliable and exists since many years.

Fridger

Fridger,
thanks for the suggestions..

t00fri wrote:your inquiry is indeed not easy to answer.

Yes, I wouldn't have asked if it was easy...

t00fri wrote:If you were using Unix or MacOS you would be using gcc and never had asked that question, since the compiler is part of the OS. For Windows the VC 2008 Express is easy to install and use, produces good code and MS takes well care of it in case of bugs, libraries etc. And it's FREE. Note that you may do a rather minimalistic install of the VC 2008 which makes it not bulky at all on your machine.

I agree with most of that. It is easy to install but does take a very long time, and I do wonder exactly what you mean by "rather minimalistic". In my experience, by the time you've installed IDE, at least one language, libraries and other required components, you'd be lucky if it usd less than 500MB on disk... (and that's not including MSDN).
BTW...You are aware that I'm only after "C", and not C++?
I'm not sure if there actually exists an EXPRESS version with the standard C language. I believe the EXPRESS versions only include C++, VB, and C# varieties.

t00fri wrote:But you don't want it. Apart from that obvious choice, there are others, but few would be tempted to use any of them today. This was quite different before free MS compilers existed.

It's not that I don't want it, but given the narrow range of tasks I have in mind, I would rather use the disk space for other things.

Cheers
CC

CC,

Have you considered other languages?

Lua, for example, requires no additional installs.

s.

I second Selden's suggestion to try another language. Lua is extremely small, yet expressive. There's the bonus that working with it for other tasks will help you learn more about Celestia scripting. Python or Perl are better suited for writing simple text processing tools. I'd recommend Python, because the syntax and irregularity of Perl infuriates me. Finally, if you want a C compiler, I think that Fridger's recommendations are good ones: either MSVC++ 2008 Express Edition or MinGW. MinGW isn't tiny, but when it comes to compilers, you'd be making a big mistake to choose 'small' over 'well-tested.'

--Chris

This might sound a bit out of left field... but, what about a Knoppix Live CD to boot Linux with, and install gcc on the HD? I don't know what kind of dependency problems would arise out of that though.