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cnlohr/CNLohr's Guide for Windows C Apps in 2021.md

Last active November 14, 2022 04:48
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How to Set Up a Windows Computer to Write C applications in 2021
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CNLohr's Guide for Windows C Apps in 2021.md

Building C apps on Windows in 2021

This document was written on April 3, 2021. The procedure may change over time. This is a companion gist to the youtube video here, where I go through every step of both options

Youtube Version Of This Document

The code for that was written before is here: https://gist.github.com/cnlohr/6e452dc6cc2df7f48d5ade66059358d9

OPTION 1: TCC / Notepad++, the non-IDE solution

TCC

  • Visit http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/tinycc/ and download tcc-0.9.27-win64-bin.zip and winapi-full-for-0.9.27.zip
  • NOTE: I place TCC in "tools" but you can place it in any folder
  • Make a new folder, C:\tools
  • Unzip tcc-0.9.27-win64-bin.zip to C:\tools
  • Unzip contents of winapi folder from winapi-full-for-0.9.27.zip to C:\tools\tcc ontop of existing files, overwriting them
  • Press [Windows]+[Pause] click Advanced System Settings
    • Alternatively on the start menu you can search for "advanced system settings" or "environment variables"
  • Click Environment Variables
  • Double-click Path in System variables. It is usually the bottom option
  • Add C:\tools\tcc to your environment path
  • Click OK to the dialogs

Notepad++

Run!

  • Open a command-line terminal by holding [Windows] + R and typing cmd and pressing enter. Or by pressing the [Windows] button and typing cmd
  • Type notepad++ hello.c into the prompt
  • You want to create a new file when prompted
  • Type the following in
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
	printf( "Hello, World!\n" );
	return 0;
}
  • Back at terminal, type: tcc hello.c
  • Run your application hello.exe

Extra Credit

  • Make compile.bat because building inevitably gets complicated
  • notepad++ compile.bat
  • Paste tcc hello.c -o hello.exe into compile.bat
  • From terminal, type compile then hello to compile and test your application

OPTION 2: VS Code + GCC

VS Code

GCC

Setup your project in VS Code

  • Make a folder on your drive, for instance C:\projects\hello
  • Open VS Code
  • File -> Add Folder to Workspace...
  • Select C:\projects\hello
    • Alternatively, from a command line prompt say code hello from C:\projects
  • Create new file by clicking the {files} button on the left
  • Right-cick on the project name on the left (right of the files button)
  • New File -> hello.c
  • Write the hello world application from above in there
  • Add the following two addons, by clicking the {addons} button on the left side
  • Click the {run and debug} button on the left hand side
  • Click Run and Debug
  • Select gcc from the dropdown list
  • BE SURE TO SELECT hello.c again! You must have the app you want to run up
  • Press [F5] and it will run your program in a debugger
  • You can add breakpoints by pressing on the margin on a given line, and step through your code
  • You may need to modify the build. [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[B] select g++
  • Feel free to edit tasks.json

Hybrid note

  • You can modify your tasks.json to execute compile.bat then you can arbitrarily make your build system
  • You can access tasks.json by holding [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[B] and selecting gcc from the tab
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