Free Windows 64-bit C++11 compilers

Question

I'm looking for a free compiler that can generate a 64-bit Windows binary from code that uses some C++11 features.

Visual C++ Express doesn't ship with a 64-bit compiler. The classic workaround for this is to download the Windows SDK. However, SDK 7 seems to be contemporary with Visual C++ 2010, which doesn't support C++11, and SDK 8 says it doesn't include a compiler at all anymore. I get the impression Microsoft basically just doesn't provide free 64-bit C++ compilers anymore; is this correct?

There have been 64-bit versions of MinGW, though I get the impression they lag somewhat behind the latest GCC; what's the most up-to-date available version?

Are there any other options I'm overlooking?

I'm fairly sure that MingW is up to 4.7.2. While that's not 4.8, it is the current stable release. — Nicol Bolas, Mar 02 '13 at 08:10
@DavidHeffernan: I wasn't aware that Clang could be used on Windows. — Nicol Bolas, Mar 02 '13 at 08:10
@DavidHeffernan Oh, I have Visual C++ 2012 installed, but looking at the command line options with cl /?, I don't see any mention of 64-bit. How do you run the 64-bit compiler? — rwallace, Mar 02 '13 at 08:13

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '13 at 08:20

8

All of the mainstream compilers that are freely available can meet your needs:

VS 2012 Desktop Express ships with an x64 compiler.
Mingw is open source and easy enough to build. So you can be as up-to-date as you like if you cannot find a binary distribution that meets your needs.
Clang is also open source and what I said above for Mingw applies equally.

answered Mar 02 '13 at 08:20

David Heffernan

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Yep, thanks! Specifically, the batch file to enable the 64-bit VS2012 compiler turns out to be `C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\bin\x86_amd64\vcvarsx86_amd64.bat` – rwallace Mar 02 '13 at 08:31

Free Windows 64-bit C++11 compilers

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