From: Dominique Biesmans <dominique DOT biesmans AT ping DOT be>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Survey of Free GNU Windows Compilers
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 17:53:48 +0100
Organization: EUnet Belgium, Leuven, Belgium
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a small correction here : common controls are in the OS, not in the compiler. In order
to access them you just need the right libs to link to & header to include. So, you can
access common controls in RSXNTDJ as well.

The biggest advantage of lcc-win32 is that it has better header files & is not so picky
about the __stdcall keyword (gcc is), so it has less problems with the platform SDK
headers.

Gautam N. Lad / Vimal N. Lad wrote:

> WARNING: Message is (slightly) off-topic!
>
> Hi,
> Some of you may have noticed my numerous messages regarding the perfect free
> Win32 compiler.   Here is what I reviewed (I've also tried to use latest versions)
>
> RSXNTDJ - Very good with nice IDE and all, but it doesn't support all the
> Common Controls (i.e. TreeViews, Up-down controls, etc.).  AFAIK, the author
> has discontinued development of RSXNTDJ.  It works with (and relies on)
> DJGPP v2.7.2.1, but not sure of DJGPP v2.8.1 (latest release).
>
> RSXNT - The author has dropped RSXNTDJ to work on this compiler.  It has
> same good features as RSNXNTDJ (IDE, etc.), and same draw-backs (not many
> common controls support).
>
> LCC-Win32 - This is my compiler of choice now.  It has a terrific dialog editor,
> and an excellent IDE (not very fond of the editor though - I use PFE instead).
> It's totally amazing, supporting common controls et al, but it has no C++
> support!  And the author has no intentions of implementing C++;
> Arrrrgggghhh!!!!
>
> Mingw32 - Can't say much.  Downloaded most of the files, un-zipped them
> (my PKZIP couldn't handle long filenames, but I managed to use WinZIP).
> Couldn't set-up up the compiler, right away, so I have given up on it.
>
> Cygnus - Since Mingw32 is based on it, I haven't tried this yet.
>
> As you can see, each has its strengths and drawbacks, and I pretty much got
> what I payed for.  I liked these, but couldn't use it in the long run due to missing
> features (mainly C++, and the common controls as in some compilers above).
>
> So for now, I have been sticking to LCC; I can manage with C for now, but I
> imagine it will get really tedious in the future.
>
> So, any comments?  Suggestions?  I cannot afford (right now) to buy a compiler,
> considering I am only making my windows program out of hobby, and I am only
> interested in FREE(WARE) software.
>
> Thanks!
> Bye!
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Gautam N. Lad
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> E-Mail:   gautam AT interlog DOT com
> Website:        http://www.interlog.com/~gautam
>
> POV-Ray Software and Links, 3D Graphics Gallery,
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------