Setting Up Your C Development Environment

Step 1: Download Visual Studio

Download Visual Studio Community (free for individual developers) from the Visual Studio website.

Step 2: Run the Installer

Run the downloaded installer and select "Desktop development with C++" in the workloads section. This includes all the tools you need for C development as well.

Step 3: Create a C Project

After installation, launch Visual Studio and:

1. Click "Create a new project"
2. Select "C++ Console App" (you'll modify it for C)
3. Name your project and click "Create"
4. Rename your main file from .cpp to .c
5. Right-click on the project in Solution Explorer and select Properties
6. Under C/C++ → Advanced, set "Compile As" to "Compile as C Code (/TC)"

Step 1: Download MinGW

Visit the MinGW-w64 website and download the installer.

Step 2: Install MinGW

1. Run the installer and follow the prompts
2. Choose the latest version and your system architecture (x86_64 for 64-bit)
3. Select a destination folder (avoid paths with spaces)

Step 3: Add to PATH

Add the MinGW bin directory to your system PATH:

1. Right-click on "This PC" or "My Computer" and select "Properties"
2. Click "Advanced system settings"
3. Click "Environment Variables"
4. Find "Path" in System variables and click "Edit"
5. Add the path to your MinGW bin directory (e.g., C:\mingw64\bin)
6. Click "OK" on all dialogs

Step 4: Verify Installation

Open Command Prompt and type:

You should see the GCC version information.

Step 1: Install WSL

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

This installs WSL with Ubuntu by default. Follow the prompts to set up your Linux username and password.

Step 2: Install GCC on WSL

In your WSL terminal, run:

This installs GCC and other build tools.

Step 1: Install Xcode Command Line Tools

Open Terminal and run:

Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Step 2: Verify Installation

In Terminal, run:

You should see information about the Clang compiler.

Step 1: Create a new file

Open your chosen editor and create a new file named hello.c

Step 2: Write the code

Add the following code to the file:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, C Programming!\n");
    printf("Your environment is set up correctly.\n");
    return 0;
}

Step 3: Compile and run the program

Step 1: Install VS Code

Download and install Visual Studio Code from code.visualstudio.com

Step 2: Install the C/C++ Extension

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to the Extensions view by clicking the Extensions icon in the Sidebar or pressing Ctrl+Shift+X
3. Search for "C/C++"
4. Install the "C/C++" extension by Microsoft

Step 3: Configure VS Code for C

1. Create a folder for your C project
2. Open the folder in VS Code
3. Create a new file with a .c extension
4. VS Code will prompt you to configure the debugger, click "Yes"
5. Select "C++ (GDB/LLDB)" and then "gcc" (or your compiler of choice)
6. This creates .vscode folder with configuration files

Step 4: Build and Run Tasks

You can create tasks to build and run your C programs:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the command palette
2. Type "Configure Default Build Task" and select it
3. Choose "Create tasks.json file from template"
4. Select "Others" to create a custom task
5. Edit the tasks.json file to include a task that runs gcc on your .c file

Example tasks.json:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "build",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "gcc",
      "args": [
        "-g",
        "${file}",
        "-o",
        "${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}"
      ],
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      }
    },
    {
      "label": "run",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}",
      "dependsOn": "build",
      "group": {
        "kind": "test",
        "isDefault": true
      }
    }
  ]
}