• 0

Why you shouldn't use Dev-C++


Question

Old myths are tough to dispel, and among these, that Dev-C++ is somehow still a good IDE today. Teachers recommend it in universities (yes!) and beginners don't understand why their perfectly legit programs don't compile.

Someone at cplusplus.com'sums posted a good article about it recently, so I thought I'd spread the word. Hopefully the more it'll spread the less Dev-C++ will be used.

  Quote
Why we've deprecated Dev-C++

It all boils down to one reason:

Dev-C++ hasn't been updated since 2005.

From there, there are 3 main problems with the lack of any updating.

The included MinGW is obsolete.

The many known bugs may never be fixed.

The IDE lacks the features of more modern IDEs.

I'll go over each of these in order.

The included MinGW is obsolete.

MinGW is an irregular acronym which stands for "Minimalist GNU for Windows". It includes a various set of tools commonly found on many *nixes including the g++ compiler and gdb debugger, which Dev-C++ makes use of.

A problem with Dev-C++ not being updated in computer centuries is that the bundled MinGW is several years old, and as a result the compiler doesn't work nearly as well on new systems as a hot-out-of-the-oven dish of MinGW's g++ would. It's a whole major version behind... Read the rest at C++ : Forum : Articles : Why we've deprecated Dev-C++.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/986680-why-you-shouldnt-use-dev-c/
Share on other sites

24 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

People who still program in dev-c++ need to just quite programming. It's like still programming in Visual Studio 6. You ain't learning standard C++. Hell you ain't even getting anything beneficial from it. Except hacks to get around pre-ansi C++ standard, that pretty much won't even work on today's standard compilers. If your class still requires you to use Dev-C++. You might as well slap them and quit. Because you are just learning how to programming pre-ansi pre-C++ standard.

  • 0

People still use Dev-C++? Holy outdated moly Batman!

I did actually hear a rumour at one point that Dev-C++ is still active, you just have to download and compile from their SVN repo. This is just a rumour though, Eclipse is still better, so there's no point bothering :p

  • 0

They force us to use it in my university (UWS).

Although most of us in class would prefer to use somethin else, unfortunately all of our assignments and whatnot that we submit are all complied and checked in Dev C++.

To add, they also changed the dedicated computers for the Computing students to Macs. We are advised to virtually boot Windows 7. Why they bought 500+ macs, just to boot a virtual copy of Windows 7 is beyond me.

  • 0
  On 02/04/2011 at 15:53, Majesticmerc said:

People still use Dev-C++? Holy outdated moly Batman!

I did actually hear a rumour at one point that Dev-C++ is still active, you just have to download and compile from their SVN repo. This is just a rumour though, Eclipse is still better, so there's no point bothering :p

Universities in particular can be quite slow to adapt and update what they teach.

When I was at uni in 2006, one of the classes I took was heavily into NetBIOS. What a waste of time.

  • 0

The main reason that it's used in universities I believe is that it's one of the only single-install packages that gets you up and running for standard C programming. No messing with cygwin or minGW, just one installer. Especially for an intro class the ease of setup is important, you don't want to spend weeks out of the semester trying to get everyone set up to compile programs.

I remember trying VC++ Express once to do a C programming assignment, and it seemed to me like it wasn't really set up for that. I ended up just using XCode (which has a standard project template for a plain, no-frills, platform agnostic command-line C application) while everyone else had weird errors with Dev C++.

I witnessed once a program that looked perfectly fine. I read over the whole thing a few times, and it would not compile. Finally they quit Dev C++, loaded it back up with the same project file, and it compiled just fine! :blink:

I'm sure that if there were an alternative free IDE that was easy to install, modern, well supported, and less buggy and had a simple C program template that it would gain usage fairly quickly. Also being GCC-based or at least very GCC-compatible is important. Lots of professors I know code on OSX or Linux systems.

VC++ Express is great, especially for being a free app, but to me it seems pretty cluttered and also overkill for an Intro to C class.

  • 0
  On 16/04/2011 at 10:27, Stetson said:

The main reason that it's used in universities I believe is that it's one of the only single-install packages that gets you up and running for standard C programming. No messing with cygwin or minGW, just one installer.

Well the question IMHO should be: If they are using Windows why do they use cygwin or minGW? If they want to use Unix-tools, why not use a Linux to begin with?

  On 16/04/2011 at 10:27, Stetson said:

I remember trying VC++ Express once to do a C programming assignment, and it seemed to me like it wasn't really set up for that. I ended up just using XCode (which has a standard project template for a plain, no-frills, platform agnostic command-line C application) while everyone else had weird errors with Dev C++.

Personally I never had problems with VC++ Express to do C-programming, but I never did C99, which is not fully supported in VC++ Express - and never will be for that matter?

  • 0
  On 16/04/2011 at 10:27, Stetson said:
I'm sure that if there were an alternative free IDE that was easy to install, modern, well supported, and less buggy and had a simple C program template that it would gain usage fairly quickly. Also being GCC-based or at least very GCC-compatible is important. Lots of professors I know code on OSX or Linux systems.
Code::Blocks?
  • 0

When I took my C++ class last semester they made us use Dev-C++. I absolutely hated it. (Granted, this was at a Community College, but they did have access to Visual Studio 2008 (They wouldn't update to 2010 for whatever reason).

Now whenever I program in C++ I use my copy of VS 2010, but my classes are more focused on VB now anyway.

  • 0
  On 16/04/2011 at 11:15, MFH said:

Well the question IMHO should be: If they are using Windows why do they use cygwin or minGW? If they want to use Unix-tools, why not use a Linux to begin with?

While the professors can use Linux all they want, chances are the 200 kids sitting in the lecture hall have Windows laptops, with a few Macbooks here and there.

  On 16/04/2011 at 20:23, Dr_Asik said:

Code::Blocks?

I believe that still requires you to do your own install of Cygwin or MinGW.

  • 0
  On 31/03/2011 at 03:29, ZekeComa said:

People who still program in dev-c++ need to just quite programming. It's like still programming in Visual Studio 6. You ain't learning standard C++. Hell you ain't even getting anything beneficial from it. Except hacks to get around pre-ansi C++ standard, that pretty much won't even work on today's standard compilers. If your class still requires you to use Dev-C++. You might as well slap them and quit. Because you are just learning how to programming pre-ansi pre-C++ standard.

If somebody builds a working program that does what they intended it to do in Dev-C++ then they have succeeded in what they set out to do and certainly don't need to "just quite programming." :rolleyes:

  • 0
  On 17/04/2011 at 07:46, ZekeComa said:

I wouldn't suggest using Code::Blocks, it's a crappy IDE. If you're Windows use Visual Studio 2010, Linux use KDevelop4, Mac OS X, use XCode.

Care to elaborate why Kdevelop would be better than Code::Blocks on Linux? I've used both and Code::Blocks seemed more intuitive and robust. Although now I'd probably use Monodevelop.
  • 0
  On 17/04/2011 at 07:46, ZekeComa said:

I wouldn't suggest using Code::Blocks, it's a crappy IDE. If you're Windows use Visual Studio 2010, Linux use KDevelop4, Mac OS X, use XCode.

Visual Studio 2010 C++ doesn't have Intellisense for CLI projects, so it's better to use VC++ 2008 for Windows Forms.

  • 0

What kind of uni would force you to use a particular IDE? That's bizarre :/ I guess I was really fortunate, we used whatever we wanted on whatever OS we wanted after the first few weeks (when they baby'd those who needed it). The uni itself had both Windows and Linux machines, too. Good teachers and choice ftw!

As for Dev-C++, I had forgotten it existed :p Not sure I've used it for about five years.

  • 0
  On 18/04/2011 at 13:37, Laura said:

What kind of uni would force you to use a particular IDE? That's bizarre :/ I guess I was really fortunate, we used whatever we wanted on whatever OS we wanted after the first few weeks (when they baby'd those who needed it). The uni itself had both Windows and Linux machines, too. Good teachers and choice ftw!

At my College, for anything MS Based we had to use Windows XP. We also had to use Visual Studio 2005, last year of college we got to upgrade to 2008 for VB, C#, And C++. Any database stuff was all MSSQL with the standard MS IDE for MSSQL. For Java we could use any IDE however the Teacher wanted us to use NetBeans and all examples he did would be in NetBeans.

We had a couple web-design classes which aside from the DreamWeaver and Photoshop requirements, we could use any text-editor for PHP, HTML. However all ASP websites had to be written in Visual Studio 2005.

We got to do minor Linux work.. however it was for Linux, and for the purpose of learning, not as an everyday sort of thing (was for a networking/security course). Our School was one of the MS based Schools so we had the Full MSDNAA and Dreamspark and all that.

  • 0
  On 18/04/2011 at 13:27, TechFreak:) said:

Visual Studio 2010 C++ doesn't have Intellisense for CLI projects, so it's better to use VC++ 2008 for Windows Forms.

Agreed, this is completly ridiculous though. I'm lucky enough to be using VS2010 Ultimate but there's no freakin intellisense at all for C++/CLI, and stuff like Go To Definition is flaky at best. That's what you get for a product that costs thousands of dollars?
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Is it though?  I built a new rig a few months ago and it was literally impossible to get one without RGB, but within 10 minutes of setting it up, I turned all that crap off.  It was REALLY distracting, and who needs additional heat INSIDE a PC? It's popular on YouTube for sure, it's neat looking and whatnot, but it's about as practical as a coffee cup with a hole in it. As for the price, a non-enthusiast would just see something priced way above what they can get from a retailer brand new...
    • RollBack Rx Pro 12.9 Build 2710971022 by Razvan Serea RollBack Rx is a robust system restore utility that enables home users and IT professionals to easily restore a PC to a time before certain events occurred. In essence, it turns your PC into a Instant Time Machine. Regardless of what happens to your PC your can quickly and easily restore your PC to a previous time. Making it easy to rescue you from any PC disaster - saving time, money and PC trouble. Windows System Restore only restores Windows system files and some program files. In addition, if Windows crashes to a point were Windows itself can not boot up (ie. BSOD*) you would not be able to access your Windows System Restore points. In contrast, the RollBack Rx technology works at the sector level of the hard drive and restores everything! - right down to the last byte of data. It sits below Windows. So even if Windows crashes, there’s a sub-console (mini OS) that boots prior to windows. This allows you to access Rollback Rx and go back to a point in time when your system was working trouble-free. Key Features Go back to any previous point in time within seconds. Go back minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months to any previous snapshot. Does not affect computer performance, uses minimal system resources. Supports unlimited snapshots. Creates a complete system snapshot without having to restart the system. Reverse any system crash within seconds (even if Windows cannot startup). Back out of any failed program, OS updates, and botched updates. Recover from any malware or virus attack within seconds. Works with VMWare and Virtual Machines, both as a host or within the virtual machine as a client. Supports Multi-boot, Multi OS workstations. Lock snapshots to prevent deletion. Intuitive GUI based snapshot manager. Explore, browse, and retrieve files and folders from any snapshot. Drag and drop them into your active system. Roll backwards as well as forwards to any available system snapshot. Allows users to safely test any software. Fast, 100% complete uninstaller. Retrieve files from a crashed PC, even if Windows cannot boot. Access control – manage levels of multiple user and administrative privileges. Automatically schedule snapshots to be taken on a fixed schedule or upon execution of specific files (ie. setup.exe) as well as manually. 256 bit AES snapshot encryption. Prevent unauthorized data theft in case of a stolen laptop. Group Management and Enterprise Network Administration Control (FREE utility). Comes with Stealth Mode where you can hide the RollBack Rx tray icon and splash screen (seen during bootup) Change the startup hotkey for sub-console access (default is HOME). Built-in snapshot defragmenter which will optimize system resources and recover free space. Option to keep files and folders unchanged when you roll-back. Advanced setup configuration wizard for system administrators which will set deployment options and predefined RollBack Rx settings. Offers detailed program operation logging. Supports all industry-standard deployment options including silent installations and pre-installation configuration. Explore RollBack Rx Pro with a 14-day trial, fully functional on Windows 11, 10, 8, and Windows 7 SP1** (32 and 64-bit). RollBack Rx Pro 12.9 Build 2710971022 changelog: General Add PnpLockdown in shieldm.inf Fix registry exclusion problem in Windows 11 24H2 release Add detailed logging for file filter driver Add detailed logging for Windows update Add time stamp to kernel drivers Change kernel driver and Win32 IRP structure Other small bug fixes / typos reported through tech support Endpoint Manager Add client report dashboard Add sound effect when receiving a EPM message. Keep EPM message history Fix bug that oversized Windows symbol files cannot be downloaded Download: RollBack Rx Pro 12.9 | 61.0 MB (Shareware) View: RollBack Rx Home Page Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Universal Media Server 14.12.1 by Razvan Serea Universal Media Server is a DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server. UMS was started by SubJunk, an official developer of PMS, in order to ensure greater stability and file-compatibility. The program streams or transcodes many different media formats with little or no configuration. It is powered by MEncoder, FFmpeg, tsMuxeR, AviSynth, MediaInfo and more, which combine to offer support for a wide range of media formats. Because it is written in Java, Universal Media Server supports all major operating systems, with versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. To see a comparison of popular media servers, click here. Universal Media Server 14.12.1 changelog: General Added status page to readme Fixed videos not being marked as fully played (#5373) (thanks, @Fredo1650!) Fixed adding YouTube channels from handle URLs (URLs with @ in them) Fixed handling special characters on Linux (#5100) (thanks, @LaTeteDansLesEtoiles!) Fixed directory browsing crash (#5189) (thanks, @jt-gilkeson!) Fixed FFmpeg on Linux x86_64 and arm64 (#5465) (thanks, @KanjiMonster!) Fixed logspam like "Could not hydrate device or its services from descriptor" (#5292) (thanks, MTOakey!) Fixed broken YouTube video playback Fixed web interface E2E testing on CI using outdated code because of overeager caching Fixed broken video playback when burning subtitles to H.265 via FFmpeg (#5486) Improved logging Translation updates via Crowdin Chinese (Simplified) (59%) (thanks, 無情天!) Dutch (41%) (thanks, Matthias!) Hungarian (86%) (thanks, Zoltán Rózsa!) Japanese (69%) (thanks, Yukihuru!) Download: Universal Media Server 14.12.1 | 203.0 MB (Open Source) Download: Other operating systems View: Universal Media Server Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • You sign your rights to reddit when you write on their platform. Free labour for them to make money. The AI companies should also take advantage of that free labour.
    • Brave 1.79.123 by Razvan Serea Brave Browser is a lightning-fast, secure web browser that stands out from the competition with its focus on privacy, security, and speed. With features like HTTPS Everywhere and built-in tracker blocking, Brave keeps your online activities safe from prying eyes. Brave is one of the safest browsers on the market today. It blocks third-party data storage. It protects from browser fingerprinting. And it does all this by default. Speed - Brave is built on Chromium, the same technology that powers Google Chrome, and is optimized for speed, providing a fast and responsive browsing experience. Brave Browser also features Brave Rewards, a system that rewards users with Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) for viewing opt-in ads. This innovative system provides an alternative revenue model for content creators and a way to support the Brave community. Brave 1.79.123 changelog: Leo Improved citation UI. (#45761) General [Security] Fixed missing DDNS navigation throttle for subframes as reported on HackerOne by newfunction. (#46703) Fixed crash which occurred when clicking on the “View site information” icon in the address bar while having “Don’t allow sites to scroll and zoom shared tabs” enabled. (#46566) Fixed crash which occurred with the “Save autofill” prompt in certain cases. (#45546) Upgraded Chromium to 137.0.7151.104. (#46712) (Changelog for 137.0.7151.104) Download: Brave Browser 64-bit | 1.2 MB (Freeware) Download: Brave Browser 32-bit View: Brave Homepage | Offline Installers | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      somar86 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      somar86 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Apprentice
      Adrian Williams went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • Reacting Well
      BashOrgRu earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Collaborator
      CHUNWEI earned a badge
      Collaborator
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      510
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      260
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      190
    4. 4
      +FloatingFatMan
      175
    5. 5
      snowy owl
      133
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!