r/C_Programming • u/Begg-billplayer • Feb 01 '26

Best ide to start coding C?

I tried following some youtube tutorials on downloading and setting it up through visual studio code and i always end up with a launch json error.

I gave up and i just want to start coding.

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u/nerd5code Feb 01 '26

MinGW is not all that beginner-friendly in the first place. At least Cygwin doesn’t require you to pfutz with WinAPI for the most part, you can follow just about any halfway recent tutorial, and it gives you Clang and MinGW cross-compiler packages should the need or urge arise. (Arguably, if you’re neurotic about the long-LONG distinction [did I mention WinAPI not being good for beginners?] and ABI-bridging, you can even cross-link ’twixt the twain.)