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What Is The Best C++ Compiler For Windows In 2022?

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C++ is one of the most powerful programming languages as well as being one of the world’s most popular. It has many pre-defined variables, functions, and libraries. Using a fast and reliable C++ compiler for Windows is very important for beginners and professionals since it helps C++ developers in remembering which language features exist, how to use them, and even detect errors when we get it wrong.

If you are on the hunt for the best C or C++ compiler available today, this article lists the top C and C++ compiler for Windows 11, 10, and 8 with their features. It’s very hard to identify which C++ compiler is the best for you, as this is mostly about what you want to achieve with your code. If you want to implement small projects for analysis and calculations without GUIs and many other features, most small compilers will do just fine. If you want to migrate from building simple exe files to complex professional applications, we highly recommend using a professional C++ compiler with an advanced IDE from the start.

Let’s start with understanding IDE, Compiler and CLANG terms.

What is a C++ IDE?

An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is a software application that provides a complete set of features for application development. Code is generally written in text format, and you can easily edit or modify your code using text editors like Notepad, etc. For a developer, beginner or professional, however, a good C++ IDE is really important because of powerful tailored features like error highlights, auto code completion, and help system which help with the process of writing the code plus the opportunity to run, test, debug, deploy, merge or transform code to run on other platforms (multiplatform coding) are also important. All these capabilities require a powerful compiler and IDE which is a specialized tool to help developers create and test their code.

What do we mean by a C++ Compiler for Windows?

There are two types of programming languages: Interpreted and Non-Interpreted (Compiled). All computers (CPU/GPU) work with machine code (code that can be directly programmed by assembler codes) that tells the computer what to do (exe files are this kind of file). This is the most native and fastest code, but it requires writing many lines for simple things and is hard to generalize for all kinds of machines. A Compiler (C or C++ Compiler, etc.) is a computer program that converts one programming language (i.e. C/C++ codes) written with text into executable machine code with a linker. Such code may not be as fast as assembler code, but the difference in speed is very small because both machine code and compiler-based code in text form are much more compatible with other CPU/GPUs and/or with other Operating Systems when you compile them on a machine. This is one reason why C++ is the fastest and most powerful programming language. Interpreted programming languages run inside executable applications like Java, Python, or Visual Basic. This is why they are slower when executing operations, as they need to use compiled libraries for faster operations. Again, they mostly use C/C++ compilers to build these libraries. Using an interpreted programming language is like being carried by a runner, while a compiled (non-interpreted) programming language is like running itself. This subtle difference turns into a huge gap when you run the same routine (i.e. for face recognition) millions of times a millisecond.

CLANG is a standard for professional compilers, so the best C++ compiler should be a CLANG compiler.

What is the CLANG C and C++ Compiler?

In Windows application development, native C++ compiler and IDE that supports the latest Windows features are very important. Some of the IDEs are not specifically designed for C++ development. Some IDEs are designed only for console application developments. Some are supports with few features, generally, you must install a C++ compiler with a lot of options changes, etc. In modern application development, professional developers use much stronger C++ IDE.

If the IDE development company also develops a compiler, these both together work well in integrity. Be sure that your C++ IDE comes with a CLANG-based compiler. Be sure that your IDE also supports, other C++ libraries and standards like Dinkumware standard library, MSBuild/CMake/Ninja support, and popular libraries like Boost and Eigen.

CLANG is considered to be a production-quality C, Objective-C, C++, and Objective-C++ compiler when targeting X86-32, X86-64, and ARM. It is a new C/C++ compiler standard (C++98, C++11, C++17, C++20, C++23 ..) supported by The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure Project, and has been a default compiler in recent years for most C/C++ compilers. This means that if you code for a CLANG compiler, most other IDEs, Compilers of Platforms will support your code without any changes. The latest C++17 standard is supported by most C++ compilers. More information about core language features can be found here. C++ 20 is new and needs adaptation time.

We highly recommend you start with or to move to a CLANG Enhanced compilers like Embarcadero’s C++ Builder, which supports the CLANG (C++11, C++ 17) standard and has its own C++ Compiler, IDE, GUI Designer, and more. The C++Builder Standards and Clang Enhanced Compiler features can be found here.

WHAT IS THE BEST C++ COMPILER FOR WINDOWS AND CROSS PLATFORM APPS?

In my opinion, if we combine all these above, the best C++ Compiler and IDE for Windows 8, 10 and 11 is the latest version of RAD Studio or C++ Builder,

Embarcadero C++ Builder 11.1 – Patch 1 is the best C++ Compiler that supports CLANG

This year, C++ Builder is celebrating its 25th anniversary. You can read more about the product history, on this great blog post by C++Builder PM David Millington on “Celebrating 25 Years of C++Builder!” There is another very interesting blog post by David I on “The C++Builder 25th Anniversary: Visual Development, the Power of the C++ Language and 2.5 decades of Continuing Excellence“.

C++ Builder is the easiest and fastest C and C++ IDE for building simple or professional applications on the Windows, iOS & Android operating systems. It is also easy for beginners to learn with its wide range of samples, tutorials, help files, and LSP support for code. C++ Builder comes with Rapid Application Development Studio, also known as RAD Studio, and C++ Builder is one of the most professional IDEs that work under RAD Studio. It is the oldest IDE (it began as Borland TurboC in 1990 and was later renamed Borland C++ Builder). Under the Embarcadero brand, it comes with new versions, features, updates, and support. RAD Studio’s C++ Builder version comes with the award-winning VCL framework for high-performance native Windows apps and the powerful FireMonkey (FMX) framework for cross-platform UIs. There is a free C++ Builder Community Edition for students, beginners, and startups.

Welcome Screen of The RAD Studio 111 Patch 1

Here are the features of the RAD Studio / C++ Builder 11.1 Patch 1 version;

The latest version RAD Studio 11.1 has customizable Welcome Screen with a colorful background. You can add your own images as a background feels me more stunning and professional IDE: Here is the screenshot from the RAD Studio 11.1 Alexandria,

Welcome Screen of The RAD Studio 111 Patch 1

What are the main features of RAD Studio and C++ Builder?

Embarcadero’s C++ Builder CE is a shared free C++ IDE and Compiler for the community of freelance developers, startups, students, and non-profits, C++Builder Community Edition is a full-featured IDE for building iOS and Windows apps from a single modern C++ codebase (limited commercial use license). C++Builder Community Edition includes a code editor, powerful debugging tools, built-in access to popular local databases with live data at design time, Bluetooth and IoT capabilities, and a visual UI designer with support for pixel-perfect, platform-specific styling.

Here are the features of the C++ Builder 11 version;

WHAT IS NEW IN RAD STUDIO 11.1?

1. General IDE Improvements

2. IDE High DPI quality

3. Welcome Page

4. ToolsAPI support!

The Welcome Page now has full support for creating Welcome Page frames using the ToolsAPI! Our own frames use the same API, meaning that anything our frames can do, yours also can.

We provide two Welcome Page demos showing simple and advanced usage, which are available on our public Github.

In its simplest form, you can create a TFrame descendant and display it with a caption. That frame can contain anything you want. However, we have more complex functionality that you can also make use of:

5. GetIt Dialog Improvements

6. Both Delphi and C++ Compilers and Toolchains Improvements

ASLR, DEP/NX, and TSAWARE

In both Delphi and C++, the Windows linkers now offer better support for platform security configurations: For Delphi:

For C++:

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For both Delphi and C++:

Delphi Debugger for macOS ARM and Android

We have a new debugger when running macOS applications on an Apple ARM device. This debugger is not used if you are using an Intel machine.

This new debugger is a recent build of LLDB, and its key technology is a Delphi parser that understands a subset of Delphi syntax. (For example, it understands Delphi expressions, though you cannot define a new class. It should understand enough Delphi for all debugger expressions you need to use.) This syntax should be truly Delphi-like: case-insensitive, and able to evaluate complex expressions in Delphi syntax.

We have also enabled this debugger for Android 64-bit. This debugger is much less likely to cause ‘disconnected’ errors or freezes.

C++ Compiler and toolchain

Check out the improvements to import libraries on this OMF com/offer article.

7. LSP Improvements (Delphi and C++)

Delphi LSP

Other improvements include:

C++ LSP and cquery

In the new LSP Behavior tab, we have two options that control how the cquery LSP server indexes files, which is how it stores the info it uses to fulfill code completion, navigation, etc. Restart server each time a project is activated and Index only files that are opened in the editor.Note: Indexing can be very CPU intensive and you usually cannot use Code Insight until it’s complete. Note that restarting the server, such as when platforms are changed, also clears the index.

Other improvements include:

Other C++ features:

Performance Improvements

8. Libraries Improvements

To help sharing code among projects build with FMX and VCL, we added framework specific predefined symbols:

Delphi RTL

Optimization Work

New TURLStream class

constructor TURLStream.Create(const AURL: string;

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Additional RTL Improvements

TMemIniFile and duplicate sections

VCL

We primarily addressed issues related to recent features, like enhanced TTreeView, TRichEdit, TEdgeBrowser, and TNumberBox.

FireMonkey

Improved Android SDK integration

TWebBrowser

Additional FMX Quality

9. Database Improvements

General

FireDAC

10. Other Internet Related Improvements

WebBroker on Android

DataSnap

RAD Server

Others

Official features of the latest RAD Studio C++ Builder 11.1 can be found here : https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Alexandria/en/What%27s_New

Why RAD Studio 11.1 – Patch 1 ?

RAD Studio 11 comes with a lot of new features as listed above. There were some important issues and they released a new update called RAD Studio 11.1. This update had many bug fixes, it had some important issues on the C++ side. In few weeks, they released a new patch which fixes C++ Builder LSP features and some other issues. Thus, RAD Studio / C++ Builder 11.1 Alexandria – Patch 1 is the best IDE and compiler version. If you have any earlier version, we highly recommend you update to this version.

Here are some official posts about RADS 11.1 and 11.1 – Patch 1 versions

Where can I download a C++ compiler for Windows (and cross platform too)?

You can download the free C++ Builder Community Edition here: https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder/starter.
Professional developers can use the Professional, Architect or Enterprise versions of C++ Builder. Please visit https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder.

See What’s New in RAD Studio 11

Download RAD Studio 11 Now

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