Setting up C++ in Eclipse on Windows

Although Eclipse works most naturally as a Java IDE, it doesn't do too
badly for other languages, and has the advantage that you don't need to
learn multiple IDEs and can keep all your code together in a single
environment.
Steps in setting up C++ in Eclipse, on Windows:
* If it's not already installed, get the CDT plugin - this is available
as part of the standard Callisto bundle from the Eclipse website.
(help/software updates/find and install/add new remote site
http://download.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/releases/callisto)
* The CDT doesn't come with its own compilers etc - you'll need to
download them separately. One option is to install Cygwin, making sure
that you're ticked all the boxes to get make and gcc. Important: don't
forget to add cygwin/bin to your windows path. The problem is, that any
executables you then make will need the cygwin1.dll to be bundled with
them, which is hardly ideal.
* An alternative, mentioned in
http://wiki.fredlackey.com/pmwiki.php?n=HelpfulInfo.DevelopmentEclipseCppCofnig
and others is to install MinGW from
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/MinGW-5.0.3.exe?download which
will produce exes with no dependencies. Again, make sure it's on your path.
* Managed vs Standard projects. If you create a managed project then
Eclipse will generate a simple makefile for you, otherwise you are
expected to create a makefile yourself, and will spend many happy hours
hitting the "build" button and wondering why nothing happens.