Beginning C++ Compilers

This book focuses on how to install C/C++ compilers on Linux and Windows platforms in a timely and efficient way. Installing C/C++ compilers, especially Microsoft compilers, typically takes quite a lot of time because it comes with Microsoft Visual Studio for the vast majority of users. Installing Visual Studio requires usually about 40 GB of disk space and a large amount of RAM, so it is impossible to use weak hardware.

The authors provide an easy way to deploy Microsoft C/C++ compiler: with no disk space headache and hardware resources lack. The method described saves significant time since software can even be deployed on removable devices, such as flash sticks, in an easy and portable way.

It is achieved by using Enterprise Windows Driver Kit (EWDK), single big ISO image, which can be mounted as virtual device and used directly without any installation. EWDK contains everything from Visual Studio except IDE. EWDK also allows to use MASM64 (Microsoft Macro-Assembly) and C# compilers.

With the aid of the MSBuild System, one can compile Visual Studio Projects (.vcxproj) and Solutions (.sln) without even using Visual Studio! Similarly, MinGW compilers can be deployed from 7z/zip archives, simply by unpacking into appropriate location. Both Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers can be used as portable software—an approach that does not require administrative privileges at all.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

* Rapid installation of modern Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers.
* How to prepare reusable and portable Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers suite on removable media (flash stick, CD/DVD).
* How to use Microsoft C/C++ and MinGW compilers even on old/slow computers without standard installation.
* How to build under Windows the libraries originally designed for Unix-systems.
* Learn to run multiple versions of these compilers at the same time.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

Reader of all skills who wants to save time and efforts to start to work with C++. Also useful for scientists who are not familiar with software installation.

BERIK TULEUOV is a Senior Lecturer at L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. He’s a researcher and mathematician who uses computers for scientific computations and designing algorithms. He runs a topic on The AIFC Tech Hub (a meeting point for global startups, entrepreneurs, investors, industry’s top experts and talent pool) about Microsoft C/C++ compilers. This forum has more than two million registered participants. He regularly takes part in academic and industry conferences, mainly on computer science topics. Interests include programming languages, algorithms and data structures, concurrent (parallel) programming, scientific programming, (La)TeX Typesetting System, and data visualization.

Ademi B. Ospanova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Security at L. N. Gumilyev Eurasian National University. She is the author of many courses in the field of IT technologies. She is developer of educational programmes of all levels of the university on information security. In the educational process and projects she uses her own software and libraries in C/C++, C#, Java, Prolog, R, Python, Solidity, works in Mathematica, Maple, Sage packages. She also has her own website, including hosting on her own server. She manages grant and initiative research projects, and her Masters and PhD students are winners of national scientific competitions. Ademi also gives courses and consultations on cryptography and programming to specialists from various companies."

Part I. Operating Systems and Platforms

Introduction

Chapter 1. Files and Devices

Chapter Goal: General Information on Files and Devices

File types and formats

Executable and batch files

System commands

Mounting Devices

Virtual Devices

Chapter 2. Software Installation

Chapter Goal: Description of Software Installation Ways

Installation packages (msi)

Installing with archives

Installing from sources

Portable Installation

Overview of Installation Methods

Best Software Installation Practices for Windows systems

Chapter 3. Programming Languages and Software

Chapter Goal: Overview of Programming Languages

Programming Languages

C/C++

Fortran

Assembly

Part II. Programming Environments

Chapter 4. General Build Information

Chapter Goal: Description of Software Building on Various Platforms with Various Compilers

Unix systems

GNU Autotools (GNU Build System)

Windows systems

nmake Utility

Visual Studio .vcxproj and .sln files

MSBuild Build System

Cygwin

Cross-platform topics

Chapter 5. Some Useful Open Source Utilities

Chapter Goal: Overview of Handy Tools

Far Manager

Default Installation

Easy Installation

Usage

7z

Default Installation

Easy Installation

Usage

Notepad++

Default Installation

Easy Installation

Usage

lessmsi

Easy Installation

Usage

WinCDEmu

Easy Installation

Usage

Chapter 6. Command-Line Interface

Chapter Goal: Description of Important Shell Environment

Command Interpreter

Environment Variables

Access management

Chapter 7. Integrated Development Environments and Editors

Chapter Goal: Various Visual Development Tools

Microsoft Visual Studio

Qt Creator

Code::Blocks

Geany

Kate

Chapter 8. Minimal Systems

Chapter Goal: Overview of Handy Build Subsystems

MSYS

Easy Installation

Some Tips

MSYS2

Default Installation

Easy Installation

CMake

Default Installation

Easy Installation

Chapter 9. Compilers

Chapter Goal: Various Ways of Compilers Installations

GCC/MinGW

Default Installation

Building from the sources

Easy Installation

Microsoft C/C++

Default Installation

Easy Installation (without Visual Studio) with EWDK

Intel C/C++

Part III. Building and Using Libraries (A. B. Ospanova, co-author)

Chapter 10. Libraries

Chapter Goal: Libraries, How to Treat Them

Dynamic and Static Libraries

Building Libraries

Creating User Libraries

Chapter 11. Using Libraries

Chapter Goal: Overview of Using Libraries

Linking with Static Libraries

Linking with Dynamic Libraries

Using Libraries from Source Code

Chapter 12. GMP (GNU Multiprecision Library)

Chapter Goal: Using GMP Library

Building

Example: Computation of 10 000 000!

Chapter 13. Crypto++

Chapter Goal: Using Crypto++ Library

Building with MinGW

Building with Microsoft C/C++ Compiler

Example: AES Implementation

Chapter 14. Process Hacker

Chapter Goal: Using Process Hacker Utility

Building with Microsoft C/C++ Compiler

Building Driver

Building Utility