Using MinGW in the CS Labs
1 Introduction
The JMU Computer Science Department's labs currently support C++
software development using the
GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)
under
Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW). This document
describes how to use this development environment. It assumes that
you already understand, in a general sense, how to use: an editor
to create files, the
G++ compiler to compile
and link classes/applications, and the
GNU make utility to manage projects.
You can access the MinGW tools in three ways:
- Using the MSYS Shell
- Using the MS-Windows Shell
- Using jGRASP
each of which is discussed below.
2 Using the MSYS Shell
The MSYS shell is a Unix-like (limited Bourne) shell that can be used
under MS-Windows. The MSYS shell can be accessed from the
Start menu
(under
All Programs-
MinGW-
MSYS).
To use the MSYS shell you need to be aware of the following:
3 Using the MS-Windows Shell
The MS-Windows shell (i.e.,
cmd.exe
can be accessed
from the
Start menu by choosing
run
and entering
cmd.exe
in the dialog box.
To use the MSYS shell you need to be aware of the following:
4 Using jGRASP
jGRASP can be accessed from the
Start menu
(under
All Programs-
jGRASP).
To use jGRASP you need to be aware of the following:
- In order to access the GCC you must modify the PATH
by clicking on Settings, pulling down to
PATH/CLASSPATH, selecting Workspace
and adding
c:\MinGW\bin
and
c:\msys\1.0\bin
to the PATH.