DraganSr: 2025-05-24

Outside of Visual Studio, the C/C++ compiler is available form "Developer Command Prompt"
When VSCode is started from there, the complier is available by "cl" command

> cl hello.cpp

#include <iostream>

int main() {
    std::cout << "Hello, C++ World!" << std::endl;
}

> cl hello.c

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    printf("Hello, C World!\n");
}

LLVM: cross-platform, fast, extensive toolchain

llvm/llvm-project: The LLVM Project is a collection of modular and reusable compiler and toolchain technologies.

Releases · llvm/llvm-project

download and install LLVM-20.1.5-win64.exe

it is quite large (2.5 GB), while much smaller than MS VS C++

gets added to PATH system env var, so command becomes available

> clang++ hello.cpp # Compile C++

> clang++ hello.cpp -o hello.exe # Compile with specific output name

MinGW-w64 (the lightweight C++ option):

MSYS2.org

MSYS2 is a collection of tools and libraries providing you with an easy-to-use environment for building, installing and running native Windows software.

Small: ~200-500MB total

Complete: Full C++20/23 support

Fast: Quick compilation

Compatible: Works with most C++ tutorials and books

# Update package database

pacman -Syu
# Install MinGW-w64 GCC
pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc

After installing MSYS2, you should use:

"MSYS2 UCRT64" terminal (not regular MSYS2)
Find it in Start Menu under "MSYS2" folder
Or run: C:\msys64\ucrt64.exe # install path

# In UCRT64 terminal:

gcc --version

g++ --version

which gcc

# For additional tools with UCRT:
pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gdb
mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-make

For Windows Command Prompt/VS Code
Add "C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin" (or selected install folder path) to system PATH (edit environment variables)

then can use
gcc --version
from VSCode terminal

gcc = C compiler, doesn't link C++ standard library

g++ = C++ compiler, automatically links C++ standard library (libstdc++)

to avoid restart of VSCode, when using PowerShell in terminal, use this command to reload path
$env:PATH = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH","Machine") + ";" + [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH","User")

Simplify usage with Windows PowerShell commands

to simplify compile-run workflow with g++ compiler on windows,

can create a PowerShell script like this: gpp-run.ps1

# compile .c or .cpp program, run exe, and delete temp exe
# Requires g++ compiler to be installed and available in PATH
param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true, Position=0)]
    [string]$File,
    [switch]$Keep
)
$name = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($File)
g++ $File -o "$name.exe"
if ($?) { 
    & ".\$name.exe"
    if (-not $Keep) { Remove-Item "$name.exe" }
} else {
    exit 1
}

then run the script with filename of .cpp of .c file, like this

> .\gpp-run.ps1 hello.cpp

or to keep result hello.exe

> .\gpp-run.ps1 hello.cpp -keep

or to for C

> .\gpp-run.ps1 hello.c

While this PowerShell script works, there is a bit more convenient option available:
to register a "function" to PowerShell, and then use this as any other command, no path required.

gpp-run-function.ps1

function gpp-run($file, [switch]$keep) {
    $name = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($file)
    g++ $file -o "$name.exe"
    if ($?) { 
        & ".\$name.exe"
        if (-not $keep) {
            Remove-Item "$name.exe"
        }
    }
}

then need to "register" this function by using "dot space" powershell command, like this

> . gpp-run-function.ps1 # the . is required

and then can just use this registered function name anywhere, like this

> gpp-run hello.cpp

> gpp-run hello.cpp -keep

> gpp-run hello.c

finally, that "register function" can be made permanent by

# Make it permanent - Add to your PowerShell profile so it's always available:
notepad $PROFILE
# Add: . "C:\path\to\your\gpp-run-function.ps1"

Using Docker containers to compiler and run C/C++

Clearly, the full installation of any of C/C++ compilers on Windows is not simple
and it also requires a lot of space, in some cases more than 10GB

One alternative is to use Linux in WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Install WSL | Microsoft Learn

Another, even better and simpler is to Docker containers.
First, need to install Docker Desktop.
Windows | Docker Docs

Then there are already "ready to use" container images with compilers for most programming languages, including C/C++. So this is applicable to almost any other programming language compiler!

With single command can start Linux bash shell with g++ and gcc commands available
and with current folder and files all visible. One line!
Interactive, or better save as PowerShell script.

docker-gcc-bash.ps1

docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/app -w /app gcc:latest bash

then, to compile, run, and delete temp exe file

$ g++ hello.c -o hello
$ ./hello

$ rm hello

or, all in one line

$ g++ hello.c -o hello && ./hello &&

rm ./hello

Now, we can do even better, without even using Linux shell directly.
With this PowerShell script, it is even simpler

docker-gcc-run.ps1

# using gcc docker container to compile .c or .cpp program, run exe, and delete temp exe
param([Parameter(Mandatory)]$File)
$cleanFile = $file -replace '^\.\\', ''
$name = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($cleanFile)
$ext = [System.IO.Path]::GetExtension($file)
$compiler = if ($ext -in @(".cpp", ".cxx", ".cc")) {"g++"} else {"gcc"}
docker run --rm -v "${PWD}:/app" -w /app gcc:latest sh -c "$compiler $cleanFile -o $name && ./$name && rm ./$name"

then, to compile, run, and delete temp exe file we can do with this command

> ./docker-gcc-run.ps1 hello.cpp

the same script works with .c programs, too

> ./docker-gcc-run.ps1 hello.c

to avoid need to each time enter path to PowerShell scripts,
we can register PowerShell functions.

docker-gcc-functions.ps1

# interactive terminal
function docker-gcc-bash() {
    docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/app -w /app gcc:latest bash
}

# compile c or cpp file to exe, run exe, delete temp exe
function docker-gcc-run($file) {
    $cleanFile = $file -replace '^\.\\', ''
    $name = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($cleanFile)
    $ext = [System.IO.Path]::GetExtension($file)
    $compiler = if ($ext -in @(".cpp", ".cxx", ".cc")) {"g++"} else {"gcc"}
    docker run --rm -v "${PWD}:/app" -w /app gcc:latest sh -c "$compiler $cleanFile -o $name && ./$name && rm ./$name"
}

then run "register" functions, or add to $PROFILE as described above.
> . docker-gcc-run.ps1

and then

> docker-gcc-run hello.cpp

> docker-gcc-run hello.c

Finally, we can make docker image even much smaller, by creating custom Docker image

Dockerfile

FROM alpine:latest
RUN apk add --no-cache g++ libc-dev
WORKDIR /app

then build image with command like this

docker build -t gcc-alpine .

then we can replace "gcc:latest" with "gcc-alpine" in all scripts above,
and it all works the same, just faster and takes 5x less space, less than 250MB.

Nice improvement, 10-40x smaller than "default" solution!

AI book: Scary Smart

(possible) scary future with AI...

Amazon.com: Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World (Audible Audio Edition): Mo Gawdat, Mo Gawdat, Bluebird: Books

“Humans will be out of the work force in 5 years” Mo Gawdat on AI, Tech Arms Race With China & UBI - YouTube

In this engaging conversation, Tom sits down with Mo Gawdat, an expert on AI and its potential impact on society. They delve deep into the complexities of artificial intelligence, exploring its double-edged nature as a magic genie that can fulfill our wishes but also comes with unforeseen risks...

Mo Gawdat - Wikipedia

He joined Google in 2007,[7] and eventually rose to the position of chief business officer at Google X.

About Mo Gawdat