i have programmed/scripted in basic, assembly, pascal, visual basic, html/css/javascript, sql & vba in the past but not at any particular advanced level) but looking for any recommendations on the best book & freely available compiler/ide to learn c++ (not visual c++)?

ta

I've dabbled Visual C# and Objective C but not C++ so I'm afraid I can't offer any help. Why do you want to do C++ then?

There's the GNU C++ compiler which I haven't really used - but it's free. I don't think it has an editor though. And Microsoft has the free Visual C++ 2010 Express, which is an IDE and compiler in one.

C++ is a proper programming language, not like that fancy-pants C# which does all the work for you.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
cout << "Hello world" << endl;
}





...now I'm just showing off...

why not:
??

Varoistus... You have just bought back memories of c+ + in a level computing... I'm scratching my head to remember what program we used though.

Never misplace a semicolon... That was something learned early...

I don't miss working with c+ + tbh.

You can do it with the .h form, but I think it's 'more c++'-ish like that. There's probably a technical reason for it but I don't know what it is. And you need the .h form for most of the standard library header files - only a few can go without the extension.

(And I've just realised I missed 'return 0;' from my hello world program, before anyone pulls me up on it.)

Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel is pretty nice. Freely downloadable from his website at http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html.

The answer to your question about #include <iostream> vs #include <iostream.h> is on page 102 of volume one (Of the PDF version)

I'd have a look if G++ (the GNU C++) compiler is available for Windows; not sure if there's a Windows IDE for it though.