Zeus IDE

I'm trying to give this Zeus Editor a go but no matter what I do, it will not compile my program. I keep getting some message about 'cl.exe' is not recognized and an external command or batch file.

I've never even heard of 'cl.exe" before. I am not using Microsoft Visual Studio. There is no Visual Studio installed on my laptop. All I did was I downloaded MinGW and installed that along with Zeus.

From what I have read on the web, 'cl.exe' is a Microsoft compiler or compiler driver or something. Why do I need that when I have MinGW installed?

I also went into the MinGW directory and then the Bin folder and copied that address and pasted it into my Path Variable. Still no luck.

I can't figure out where I am going wrong.

Can you help?

I am not using Microsoft Visual Studio. There is no Visual Studio installed on my laptop.

Zeus is language neutral meaning it can be made to work with any set of compiler and linker.

But naturally being that flexible it also needs to be configured by the users.

All you are seeing is the default configuration.

All I did was I downloaded MinGW and installed that along with Zeus.

To get that compiler to work with Zeus all you will need to do is make a few configuration changes to the C/C++ Document Type.

The Document Type is central to the Zeus configuration model I would also suggest reading this short topic for details on how it works: http://www.zeusedit.com/zBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31

As to how to setup MinGW, here are two links that will show you how to make the configuration changes needed:
http://www.zeusedit.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6957
http://www.zeusedit.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6959

FWIW when I did this testing of MinGW and Zeus, while it worked fine, I did run into one or two strange MinGW errors.

One that I remember was a hard coded path in MinGW and when I search for the error, I found it was a known issues with no current fix available.

In the process of doing that search I also came across TDM-GCC compiler, which is a MinGW clone, and it did not have that error.

So I would also suggest you try out that compiler and if you do, details on using that compiler with Zeus can be found here: http://www.zeusedit.com/zBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7423

Performing those configuration changes should get you up and running.

But if you run into any trouble just post another question.

Why do I need that when I have MinGW installed?

As as said Zeus can work with any C/C++ compiler.

All you are seeing is Zeus assuming that you do have the Microsoft compiler installed as it made that guess only because the Microsoft compiler is a very common compiler.

So you could indeed download the Microsoft Community addition, and it will come with that compiler, but that is also a 1+ GigaByte download

Now if you are wanting to learn C or C++ I would recommend sticking with MinGW or TDM-GCC, only because:

1) They are actually more compliant to the C++ standard than the Microsoft versions.

2) The download is so much smaller.

3) They work very well.

I also went into the MinGW directory and then the Bin folder and copied that address and pasted it into my Path Variable. Still no luck.

That is the correct thing to do and this is in fact the second step of the setup link that I posted above

It is good that you have an understanding of the PATH variable as that is critical when working with Zeus.

Zeus also has a utility to help check the PATH as described here: http://www.zeusedit.com/zBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7556

Cheers Jussi

Thank You So Much. I figured out what I was doing wrong and now it works beautifully! Is this Zeus something new in the marketplace? I never heard of it until today.

I figured out what I was doing wrong and now it works beautifully!

That is good to read

My next suggestion to you would be to tackle a Zeus workspace as that will get you code navigation and some basic autocomplete.

There is also a clang based auto-completer macro for C++ but I find it's a little too slow for my liking

Is Zeus something new in the marketplace? I never heard of it until today.

No Zeus has been around for a very many years and over those years there have been very many releases: viewforum.php?f=6

Zeus is quite popular for long time Brief users and I suspect it is also more popular with old school developers who like to get their hands dirty tweaking the compiler at the command line level.

It is not a popular as some other modern day editors only because it is a Windows only editor and as you have found, it can seem a little tricky to get working.

For something like Notepad++ I would assume to setup MingGW all you would do is download and install a few packages.

For Zeus, other than downloading the compiler, there are no other downloads, just user configuration changes.

At first, that type of setup can seem a little more complicated, but after a while you will find those configuration changes are actually quite easy.

You also get the advantage of not having to need any special package downloads.

If you have any compiler for any language, after a few Zeus tweaks it will be possible to use Zeus with that language.

Cheers Jussi