C++ compiler Installation

Mac OS X and Linux

You can check at the command prompt to see if you have it with:

c++ --version

If you have it, then version and type of the C++ compiler should be displayed. If not then for Mac install the x-code command line distribution. For Linux it should be pre-installed otherwise consult your vendor documentation.

Windows

To test you have it at your command line use this:

cl

you should see something like this:

C:\Users\eliotmuir\scratch\core\sandbox_c>cl
Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 19.29.30133 for x64
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

usage: cl [ option... ] filename... [ /link linkoption... ]

You might have some trouble getting the Microsoft installer on your PATH. By default the Microsoft Visual Installer doesn’t put the compiler on the PATH. You’ll either need to edit the PATH to do that, or use on the convenient batch scripts that Microsoft provides to give a command prompt with the compiler installed on the path. See Editing the system path for your operating system

For Windows the easiest way is to download the community edition of Visual Studio

Download Visual Studio Tools - Install Free for Windows, Mac, Linux
I forget the exact options but you’ll want to make sure you have cl.exe at the command line by the time you are done. It’s hard to give the exact options since Microsoft keep changing the installer.