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Getting Started on Windows for C/C++ Beginners

This article gives step-by-step information from software installation to the completion of a Hello World program.

Install TDM-GCC (the compiler)

http://tdm-gcc.tdragon.net/download

Choose the 32bit (No -w64 suffix), bundled, sjlj version.

Install it with default options unless you know what you are doing.

Make sure that GCC is accessible in PATH

You should get something like this in your CMD

C:\>gcc
gcc: fatal error: no input files
compilation terminated.

Otherwise, you should add appropriate PATH manually.

Install Geany (the IDE)

If you are not sure, download and install the version comes with GTK runtime.

Hello World for C

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main( void )
{
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}

Hello World for C++

#include <iostream>
 
int main( )
{
    std::cout << "Hello, World!\n" << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Finish Your Hello World Program

  • Click “New” in toolbar.
  • Type above Hello World program according to your language (C or C++).
  • Save the program with proper extension (Use .c for C programs, .cpp or .cxx for C++ programs)
  • Click “Build” in toolbar. It should say “Compilation finished successfully.”, otherwise check your code.
  • Click “Execute” in toolbar. It should popup a console window and you should see “Hello, World!” displayed.
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