Starting out with C - on Windows?

[silentcoder]

Hi!

Background: Started with vb6, then vb.net,c#, asp.net. Long enough to become more and more tempted to switch to Open Source.
Switched to Php,mySQL and whatever goes with it to do webdevelopment.
However I kept developing on Windows, though I made several attempts to switch to Linux (Ubuntu), but every time jumped back due to hectic work schedules.

I got some more free time on my hands the next few months and want to learn C, then C++ then Java. (No advice on how difficult it is required. I want, thats enough)

Should I firstly switch to Linux and learn to use it, or stick to windows? Reason is that some work stuff just run on Windows and I get tired rebooting between OS's.

Do NOT want to use c++.net or any microsoft developement technology.

[McCain]

Stick to Windows if that's what you are comfortable with. All three languages are platform independent. It's not until you start calling platform APIs it would make a difference what OS you are on.

[wossname]

I'd recommend persevering with Linux, simply because the act of programming is so much easier than under Windows (information is much closer to hand, and all the tools are standards compliant on Linux).

$0.02

[Maven]

Hi!

Background: Started with vb6, then vb.net,c#, asp.net. Long enough to become more and more tempted to switch to Open Source.
Switched to Php,mySQL and whatever goes with it to do webdevelopment.
However I kept developing on Windows, though I made several attempts to switch to Linux (Ubuntu), but every time jumped back due to hectic work schedules.

I got some more free time on my hands the next few months and want to learn C, then C++ then Java. (No advice on how difficult it is required. I want, thats enough)

Should I firstly switch to Linux and learn to use it, or stick to windows? Reason is that some work stuff just run on Windows and I get tired rebooting between OS's.

Do NOT want to use c++.net or any microsoft developement technology.

Then you will be interested in GCC.
http://gcc.gnu.org/

If you stick with windows, I would honestly use Visual C++. However if you have an anti-Microsoft thing going on, you can always download one of the emulations for Linux and use gcc.

http://gcc.gnu.org/install/specific.html#windows

[Maven]

I'd recommend persevering with Linux, simply because the act of programming is so much easier than under Windows (information is much closer to hand, and all the tools are standards compliant on Linux).

$0.02

I don't see how you can stand their IDE's, might as well use notepad.

[wossname]

I don't see how you can stand their IDE's, might as well use notepad.

I don't use their IDEs. There's no point using an IDE for C code.

[Maven]

I don't use their IDEs. There's no point using an IDE for C code.

How do you manage a decent sized project without an IDE?

[wossname]

Depends what you mean by "manage".

If you mean "compile" then you use makefiles.
If you mean "source control" then you use CVS, SVN or git.

Everything else I can do with vim, grep, sed and perl.

An IDE is of no benefit whatsoever to me. Actually it's a constraint because I'd need a GUI-enabled server to develop on. Admittedly I don't write GUI applications for Linux (I've had more than my fair share of GUI development in the last 10 years to ever bother with it again ). If I lost my mind and wanted to do a GUI app for linux then there are numerous GUI design tools available (for free, naturally) and all of them can be used independently of an IDE.

[Maven]

Depends what you mean by "manage".

If you mean "compile" then you use makefiles.
If you mean "source control" then you use CVS, SVN or git.

Everything else I can do with vim, grep, sed and perl.

An IDE is of no benefit whatsoever to me. Actually it's a constraint because I'd need a GUI-enabled server to develop on. Admittedly I don't write GUI applications for Linux (I've had more than my fair share of GUI development in the last 10 years to ever bother with it again ). If I lost my mind and wanted to do a GUI app for linux then there are numerous GUI design tools available (for free, naturally) and all of them can be used independently of an IDE.

Perhaps all the templates, class wizards, and function viewers have made me lazy? Eh, so I'm lazy =P