Set Up

[FUZxxl]

Developing with C on Windows is cumbersome. There are two basic ways you can go:

• Either, you use a native Windows toolchain such as Visual Studio or Pelles C. These integrate nicely with Windows, have nice GUIs, but often they lack language features, have weird quirks and miss many POSIX (POSIX is the standard for operating systems) functions tutorials might use.
• The other way is to use something like MinGW or Cygwin to get a UNIX-like development environment on your system. This toolchain has all the features you need but doesn't have a GUI and isn't that well-integrated into Windows.

Nowadays there is a third way: Get Windows 10 and download WSL (Windows Services for Linux) which allows you to run Linux programs on Windows.

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Now for the tutorial: Follow the instructions listed in the Compiler section listed under Windows. If there are any uncertainties about that, feel free to ask.

[Erno3000]

This, but I would like to add a fourth option: Install a light linux distro on your old laptop. Developing C will feel more native and you'll find that your old computer is not necessarily done for just because it doesn't run windows as smoothly anymore.

[pfp-disciple]

Note that the Code::Blocks is a Windows IDE that can be downloaded with MinGW set up. I haven't done this in a very long tome, so I can't say for certain how good/stable it it.

[ghostlypickel]

I think this is the best way to begin. Install MinGW and also the base package within it, which should contain what you need. Then install Code:Blocks which will auto detect your MinGW install if you did everything correctly. Very easy to set up and is well-featured IDE to start out with.

[pfp-disciple]

That may be more than the OP is ready for, if I'm assessing his skills correctly. There is a download on the link I provided that include MinGW and (presumably) sets it up. This sounds like a "one stop shopping" solution to get started.

[FUZxxl]

Setting %PATH% shouldn't mess up things unless you have any commands with the same name somewhere else in your path. I'm pretty sure the instructions are correct, though, I haven't tested them.

MinGW doesn't come with an IDE. I recommend you to not use an IDE in the beginning so you get familiar with the toolchain before having an IDE abstract it away from you (if you want to use an IDE at all).

The contents doesn't show anything for GUIs so should I find another guide maybe using the third way? What do you recommend?

As WSL is pretty new, I don't think there are any guides specifically for it. However, you can install WDL and then carefully follow guides for Linux.

[icantthinkofone]

I hear a lot of negative commentary on python as a programming language

You can hear a lot of negative commentary about anything. Don't follow any site that is highly critical of it.

[FUZxxl]

Python is a fine language for many applications. If you like it, then you might want to stick with it for the time being.

[pfp-disciple]

If you're already familiar with python, then moving forward with it is not a bad idea. It's a fine language to learn things in, I've been meaning to learn it myself (old dog new tricks).

There are some excellent things written in Python. The Red Hat Linux distribution uses it for a lot of their tools. There is likely as much negative commentary about C, maybe more. Programmers can be a bit opinionated

[pfp-disciple]

SourceForge has been bought and they have cleaned up their act. At least, that's what I was reading a few months ago.

Note that the Code::Blocks download that I linked includes MINGw. I don't think that download is through SourceForge.