Best C/C++
Compiler
Well , Every newbie or an experienced programmer
(sometimes)
seem to be busy with the thought about which is the
Best compiler.There are a lots of them ranging from Borlands
antique
Turbo C++ to hi-fidelity modern Microsoft
Compilers.
Turbo
and
other 16 bit compilers are out of consideration if you
want
to build some real software.Even if you manage to make
one
, newer Micro-processors like Intel Itanium wouldnt
simply
be able to run them as they have withdrawn support for
16
bit
applications.
Now , I chose three
free (or opensource compilers) for
a test.
1)DevCpp(representative for the
gcc compiler),
2)Borlands free command line compiler 5.5,
3)Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1.
The aim is to make a simple "Hello World" application
executable
and find out which one produces the most comapact
code thus giving us an idea of the executables speed and
size.
I compiled and ran the following code on these 3
compilers.
#include
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout<<"Hello World!";
return 0;
}
Now,the Size of the executable with DevCpp comes out to
be
around 470 KB which in my opinion is quite large.
On Borland 5.5 the size came down to a pleasing 110 KB
approx.
And , finally , with Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1 it was
just a
miniature 85 KB.
Figures give the results themselves :)
Conclusion- What I think , DevCpp is best for the
beginners
and Borland 5.5 should be suitable for both beginners
and
developers and Visual C++ 7.1 is clearly the best of all
and suits to a range from a newbie to a big project
programmer.
Although gcc in its original form (for LINUX) is still
the best C/C++ compiler for the *nix platform.Lately,
though
,gcc has been receiving tough competition from the
INTELs
C++
compiler.
These Free versions have been taken as representatives
for the gcc,Borland and Microsofts other variants(both
commercial and freeware).
Published: December 14, 2005
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