"Ziggi" <on*******@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cb**********@jura.cc.ic.ac.uk...
Hi. I want to get a C++ IDE, but I dont know whether to go for Bill
Gate's solution or Borland's. Could any kind folks detail the relative strength
and weaknesses of both, and also tell me which you yourselves prefer.
Thanks in advance.
Ziggi
BCC's VCL has very fast learning curve and development is very rapid.
BCC is very tolerant comparing to MSVC, the code with no warnings from BCC
may compile with a lots of warnings by MSC
BCC's settings are very simplistic, MSC offers more flexibility
Optimized MSC (i.e. /Ox or /O2) produces faster code than Release version
from BCC
MSC compiles faster than BCC
MSC compiles inline assembly, BCC requires TASM for that (i.e. extends
compilation time).
MSC accepts platform SDK as downloaded, but Borland ships with header files
modified for Borland compiler
BCC has quite cumbersome ActiveX, for more complicated interfaces sometimes
compiler does not even compile its own imported header file
Talking about developing commercial apps: Borland's price is unfriendly.
Standard version of Visual C++ was comparable with BCB 5 Standard (around
$100), but BCB5 is not available anymore; and BCB6 does not have Standard
version.
Borlands free command line compiler also does not allow commercial apps. On
the other side, one who needs MSC compiler (even for commercial apps) can
get it from various sources:
Windows DDK ($20 for shipping) w/ optimizing compiler
Visual Toolkit 2003 (free download)
Yes, and did I mention that IDE is way better, I personally like functions
like outlining, tabify and untabify and reformatting (CTRL-K F I think).