Open Watcom C/C++....

I've downloaded Open Watcom C/C++, and I'm having a bit of trouble....

1) I've no idea how to use the graphics library.
2) I want to call a DLL file, but I dunno how...(the help ennunciates on this pretty good, but you'd have to be a guru to understand) :(
3) Are Watcom's .LIB files the same as VC++'s .LIBs?

I was using MinGW(Dev-C++) but I switched to this, hoping for better.... er......... results. But all I've found is that most source/people don't support Watcom.... So along with these questions, should I even continue to use Watcom?

:confused:

I suggest you take a look at Digital Mars C++. It has much better compatibility than Watcom C++.

<www.digitalmars.com>

As far as using it (and any other set of development tools for that matter)... no one every said it was going to be easy!

Good Luck!

MingW is based on GCC, which is the most commonly used compiler out there, so that's probably what you'd want to use if you want to make portable code.

I probably should have qualified my statement... Digital Mars has very good source compatibility with Visual C++. If you are only interested in the Windows platform it is worth a good look.

Well, I ditched watcom... lol
I've reinstalled Dev-C++(4, because it has less bugs)...
I guess I'll check out Digital Mars, since we are all MS slaves.

thanks for all your help

I agree with XSquared. It is a good idea to use something popular like Dev-C++ because you are more likely to find someone to help you with it. (You write "portable code" by writing to the ANSI/ISO standard. Then you can compile it on any compilant compiler for any platform... in theory.)

The free Borland compiler is also very popular. I saw a survey once showing it as the most popular free compiler. I assume that MSVC++ is the most popular commercial compiler.

One good thing about the Watcom compiler is that you can download PDF versions of all 8 books that used to come with the packaged-commercial version.

I've used the Watcom compiler a couple of times, but it was pre-installed and configured for the particular embedded-processor system I was compiling for... And, it still took about a day to get it figured-out and working! (So, I wouldn't be any help getting you system configured.)