On Apr 27, 11:09 pm, "Martin v. Loewis" <mar...@v.loewis.de> wrote: > > I'm curious to know exactly the differences between the c/c++ compilers > > you get with various versions of VS and those you get with the (command > > line only) Windows SDK (formerly called the platform SDK). > > > The windows sdk is a free download. Is the compiler you get the same as > > the one you get with the full paid version of VS? This web page seems > > to suggest it might be > > <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb980924.aspx> > > The primary "difference" is the CRT version that it ships with. Also, > one difference is whether it ships with a compiler at all. For a long > time, the SDK didn't include a compiler at all. Then, for several years, > it included an Itanium compiler and an AMD64 compiler, but no x86 > compiler. Now it does, and I don't know what CRT version it links with > (at some point, the SDK would link with crtdll.dll, then msvcrt.dll, > but it's some other version now). > > In any case, AFAIK, the SDK binaries will be linked with one specific > version of the CRT, which may or may not be the same as the one used in > one specific version of Visual Studio. > > HTH, > Martin
If one relies on the Express Editions, you're basically limited to the X86 compiler and missing certain things (biggest gripe: profiling). I believe that the Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK) has X86, AMD64, and IA64 compilers included. Last time that I looked, it appeared to be a build similar to Visual C++ 2008 but I didn't have enough spare time to inspect it's license and general suitability for applications development. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list