Starting programs How?

Starting programs How?

[RLB]

          Have been using VisualStudio ( 6  & 8) for several years.   I am 
not satisfied with the stuff that comes out of MSFT.

                I have tried for several years (occassionally) to get into a 
different area -- and I have not discovered the secret to beginning.   At 
present I have Boost; gcc compiler; cygwin; gimp; STAF; STAX; VS6; and VS8; 
in the  hdd that runs WinXP.   I am unable to find a place to start any of 
the programs, projects, or whatever, except the VS6 and VS8.  I have the 
manuals from gcc.   Hundreds of pages, many not be relevant.  And nowhere 
does it tell  how to institute any of the programs.


For example:  How do you get the gcc-4.1.2  to do anything?

Is there a program editor here anywhere?  If so how do you call it up? 
(Other than the VS6 or 8)

How do I get any of this stuff to work together with any of the other stuff?

Basically I have a workable program that XP will not run.   Is there a way 
to move all the files from the VS6  and rework it somewhere else?    Bear in 
mind that the program I have involves some 40 odd files.

Can anyone give me anything that will help -- even the way to institute any 
of these outfits.   I can probably figure how to make the program work if 
there is a starting place.

                                                                             
Thanks,

                                                                    Bob 
Bailey
                            hooksbetty@sbcglobal.net

RE: Starting programs How?

[John (Eljay) Love-Jensen]

Hi Bob,

Here's my recommendation.

Download the Cygwin SETUP.EXE (www.cygwin.com).

Run the SETUP.EXE and make sure you install GCC (whichever languages you want).

If you want to target Windows, install the MinGW facilities.  If you want to target the Unix-like Cygwin environment, you don't need MinGW.

I use Vim for my editor, and GNU Make for my projects.  If you prefer an IDE type of environment, there are several available, but I'm not familiar with them.

HTH,
--Eljay

Re: Starting programs How?

[Jeffrey Holle]

RLB wrote:
>          Have been using VisualStudio ( 6  & 8) for several years.   I 
> am not satisfied with the stuff that comes out of MSFT.
> 
  Boost; gcc compiler; cygwin; gimp; STAF;

I recommend that you use bjam, the build system of boost.
While I only use bjam on linux, I find it much more productive to use 
that a GUI.  I too have spent years using Microsoft's Visual Studio 
products and found they were always a maintenance problem.

Bjam is a make replacement that allows the programmer to operate at a 
higher level of abstraction than both make and Visual Studio.  This 
hopefully will allow you to remain blissfully ignorant of your "cross 
compiler" tool chain.

Look for example Jamfile in the boost directories.  There is a separate 
mail list for bjam users, (gmane.comp.lib.boost.build)

As for editors, I recommend investing in good one.
Personally, I like the Visual Slick Editor.