C++ Compilers

Alright I've been programming in Java for over 3 years now and feel it's time to switch to C++.  In Java I used an assortment of IDEs, but stuck with Eclipse once I found it.

So, I've gone through about 5 different C++ compilers (Dev C++, Turbo C++, to name a few) and was only to get one Hello World compiled without any clue how I got it to work.  I also tried the Eclipse CDT but that also didn't compile.

I'd hate to say it, but Eclipse making it so easy to compile Java code has made me very dull when it comes to these things.  So what I'm asking is if someone can suggest a compiler and go into the process of compiling in C++.  I hear things about makefiles and .o files, but I'm not really sure what it means.  Any help would be grateful.

Thanks in advance.

>>23
Win32 API is a huge mess in general. Just about every operation requires filling some obscure data structure originally meant for Windows 1.0 but later extended by creating things like  PEFGSTRUCTWINDOWHANDLEFORMATDATAEXTENDED to replace the PEFGSTRUCTWINDOWHANDLEFORMATDATA struct while retaining some backward compatibility. Also, since the structs don't fill themselves in unlike decent objects would with constructors there's shitloads of NULL and bizarre #define constants all over the place in any code that actually does something. Vista probably adds yet another layer of shit on top.

It's almost tolerable when used through .NET and its Windows.Forms but it's still not platform-independent (fucking retarded given it's a high-level API).

Personally I just use wxWidgets and C++, not very pretty looking code (and since there's no standard way to do unicode with C++ I have to write unicode wrappers and other shit by myself), but at least it'll compile and work on most operating systems out there with minimal fixing once written.