Free C++ Compiler Available

In a break from past practices, Microsoft is making its optimizing C++ compiler available for free from its Web site. The Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 contains the same optimizing C++ compiler, standard C and C++ libraries, and .NET Framework Common Language Runtime as the Professional Edition of Visual C++. It does not, however, include the integrated development environment or debugger of Visual C++. The move appears designed to blunt one of the appeals of Linux to students and other developers: the availability of free, high-quality C++ compilers such as the GNU C++ Compiler.

Optimizing Compilers Key to C++ Developers

Compilers are used by developers to translate the human-readable, text-based, source code of an application into a series of processor-specific, low-level instructions. Optimizing compilers go beyond directly translating each line of source to a corresponding set of binary instructions—they analyze sections of code and seek to rearrange, restructure, or rewrite those instructions to maximize the performance of the resulting application.