How do I invoke the .NET C++ compiler from the command line?

[Sim Nanda]

Hello,
When I used to have MSVStudio 6.0 on my old machine, I
could just use:
cc somefile.cpp -o somefile.exe
to invoke the compiler from the command prompt.
Which I found very helpful for quick little test
programs.

Recently, I've moved to a new machine
at work which came with MS .NET pre-installed. I can't
seem to find a way to invoke the C++ compiler from
the commandline. I've searched the .NET directory for
executables, and Help isn't very helpful.

Does anyone know if there is a command line executable?
It sure is annoying to have to start up the IDE and
create a project for just a single little C++ test file.

bye,
Slarty

 

[Jonathan Turkanis]

Hello,
When I used to have MSVStudio 6.0 on my old machine, I
could just use:
cc somefile.cpp -o somefile.exe
to invoke the compiler from the command prompt.
Which I found very helpful for quick little test
programs.

This is defintely the wrong group for this microsoft-specific
question. The command-line compiler is called cl.exe. Before using it,
you need to set environment variables, which can be done with
vcvars32.bat in the bin directory.

Jonathan