Thread: A few questions

Hello,

Ok. I have a few questions, so hopefully one of you will be able to answer some of them.

1. Does MSVC++ and/or Windows have a limit of command line arguments (Cpp1.exe 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. .. ..). I made a program that worked with 6 arguments in windows and crashed on 7, but compiled the same source in bsd (g++) and it worked with 30 and/or more numbers. Just curious.

2. By using #include <iostream> and manually (using std::cout;) save any filespace when compiling, or is there no advantage?

3. In conjunction with #2, which is the best windows compiler for creating the smallest executable possible. I noticed that w/ MSVC++ everything is always 200k+ and with Dev-C++ 4, I can get the files down to 70k.

4. In an MFC Appwizard application, is it not possible to create your own function
i.e., void function(void);
When I tried it, it said I was missing a function header and it said possibly old formal style, I have no clue what it ment.

Thanks for any answers, I appreciate it.

- Chris

I would think that argc and argv would be stored on the stack just as it is

in linux and probably bsd too, I think. So the number of arguments would be determined
by the amount of memory unless the operating system sets a limit.

2. By using #include <iostream> and manually (using std::cout save any filespace when compiling, or is there no advantage?

no filespace advantage that I can tell. By avoiding using the c library and the c++ library you can save alot of space, also you can get very small executables if you use dynamicaly linked c/c++ libraries however this is supposed to be slower.

sorry. here's what you can do.
go
build -> Set Active Configuration
switch it to release.
then go to
project -> settings -> C/C++
then either set the category to general or optimizations
then set the optimizations menu to mininum size.
that reduced a 201kb Direct3d program to a 36kb one.

Thanks.

I think Windows 2000 must have some limit, but I cant find an answer anywhere.

Also,

Those tips for small file sizes are for mfc apps and such, I couldn't seem to get those options enabled for a simple console application.

Thanks,

Chris

I don't do much console stuff anymore but I recently helped a friend with her program and I compiled it both ways and it worked just fine.

original console size: 209kb
after min size setting: 52kb

the new executable will be in a Release folder in your project not the Debug folder as usual.

Like I said,

Those options aren't even enabled when compiling a console program or ansi c.

If you're not too sensitive about your code, post an attachment here and I'll compile it and see what I can do. I didn't have any problems setting the configurations in console, win32 apps or mfc apps so I'm not quite sure what you're doing that's not working. We are talking about VC++ right?

I created a new console project (the hello world that windows will make for you) and got these results:
153kb default debug settings
28kb release settings optimized for minimum size

make sure you set the active config to release or it won't compile correctly for minumum size.

All I am doing is opening a blank .cpp file, and trying to set the options w/ that. I don't use any of the microsoft generated stuff.

first create a blank application then add your source code to the project and all the options should be available to you.
Sounds like you're neglecting to create a project space for it.

It worked, Thanks.

I didn't know console applications could have workspaces, my teacher neglected to show us. Thanks for the help.