Setting Up Your C++ Environment

Before you can start writing and running C++ programs, you need to set up your development environment. This includes installing a compiler, an editor or IDE, and configuring your system for development.

What You’ll Need

  • A C++ compiler (e.g., GCC, Clang, or MSVC)
  • A code editor (e.g., VS Code) or an IDE (e.g., CLion, Code::Blocks)

Installing on Windows

Option 1: Install MSYS2 + GCC

  1. Download and install MSYS2.
  2. Open the MSYS2 terminal and run:
pacman -Syu
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc
  1. Add the path to your compiler to the PATH environment variable.

Option 2: Use Visual Studio

  • Download Visual Studio and install the Desktop development with C++ workload.

Installing on macOS

Use Homebrew to install the latest version of GCC or Clang:

brew install gcc

You can also use the pre-installed Clang compiler by default.

Installing on Linux

Most distributions already come with a compiler. To ensure it's installed:

For Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential

For Fedora:

sudo dnf install gcc-c++

Setting Up VS Code (Optional)

  1. Install Visual Studio Code.
  2. Install the C/C++ extension by Microsoft.
  3. Configure your tasks.json and launch.json files for compiling and running code.

Verify Installation

To check if your compiler is working, run:

g++ --version

Or for Clang:

clang++ --version

You’re now ready to write your first C++ program!

Next Up

👉 Your first C++ program