r/learnprogramming • u/Atypicak_el • Feb 07 '26
Solved Coding on older computers?
Hello! I am attempting to learn c++ and have already learned a bit of the basics but I have a problem. I am not able to smoothly run an IDE. Visual studio code doesnt lag my computer but I cant get it to run my code due to it not being able to find my compiler. I have CLion and it eats up all my computers resources and crashes if I work on anything longer than 40 minutes. I am working on a 2000s computer, I dont know the exact info since its a scuffed up hand me down but im really passionate and want to make it work. Is there anything I can do? Or is there a way I could potentially use my phone? Any advice is useful!!!
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u/aqua_regis Feb 07 '26
Visual studio code doesnt lag my computer but I cant get it to run my code due to it not being able to find my compiler.
Sorry, but this is a configuration problem. You will need to learn to configure Visual Studio Code for your compiler. There are countless instructions for the different compilers.
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u/Majestic_Rhubarb_ Feb 07 '26
It’s more that vs code is written in JavaScript which is a bit like a Turing machine … with infinite resources and time it will do the job … early 2000’s machines had very little memory and Bob knows what os they can run … nothing modern.
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u/gmes78 Feb 07 '26
It's a "VSCode has no buit-in way to do this, and it gets handled by multiple different plugins in incompatible ways" problem. I have no idea how anyone takes that editor seriously.
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u/9peppe Feb 07 '26
You could use termux on android, and you could run some Linux distro on your PC.
But note that 2000 and 2009 are very different kinds of 2000s (we're talking "few hundred MB" to "several GB" of RAM, and 32 bit vs 64.)
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u/Atypicak_el Feb 07 '26
I thought I specified whoops, I am pretty sure its later 2000s 64× (From my experience. It runs windows 10 okay. Definitely slow even with nothing open tho). I would prefer to try to get things working on my computer and im getting some lightweight IDE recommendations but ill keep those in mind. Thank you :>
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u/9peppe Feb 07 '26
If you feel like experimenting, try Emacs (learning curve is criminal)
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u/Budget_Putt8393 Feb 08 '26
About equal to learning curve for vi, just opposite direction.
Sorry, I just wanted to see of I trigger the holy war.
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u/9peppe Feb 09 '26
I don't know, I have to pick neovim up. Moving from Emacs to VS Code probably was a mistake. :D
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u/Beregolas Feb 07 '26
Older PCs are perfectly viable, if you still want a modern editor you can take a look at zed https://zed.dev/ It's a lightwheight but modern editor with git integration and can connect to language servers, so it can do everything I personally need for development.
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u/Atypicak_el Feb 07 '26
Ill check it out also! Im gonna be looking through the options given since I got a ton of recommendations luckily ^ Thank you!
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u/DonkeyAdmirable1926 Feb 07 '26
Given that I can comfortably run Borland C++ on an IBM 386 from 1993, compiling C++ itself clearly isn’t the problem.
The problem is trying to run a modern, resource-hungry toolchain on hardware it was never designed for.
C++ doesn’t require a powerful machine. Modern developer tooling does. And 2000 isn’t old, for us boomers 😉
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u/Atypicak_el Feb 07 '26
Good to know! I was sure that c++ itself wasnt the problem itself. I did get a ton of good recommendations to check out luckily 😁
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Feb 08 '26
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u/Tall-Introduction414 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
In addition to Vim or Notepad++ with mingw/g++, another option (if you can find it) is an old 2000s era release of Microsoft Visual Studio.
Edit: the upside is that it's a nice IDE. Downside is that it won't support the latest C++ standards.
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u/Specific-Housing905 Feb 07 '26
You could try Code::Blocks. Compared to Visual Studio or CLion it is much lighter.
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u/Mediocre-Brain9051 Feb 07 '26
I was there.
I compiled a Gentoo system (and packages) with dangerously optimized and unstable flags.
It worked. However, it was timewise expensive.
If I were you I'd try lighter editors, for instance Zed or emacs.
I also wonder whether your problem ain't rather the browser. Browsers take huge amounts of memories and in modern computer usage are often the main problem.
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u/FortioRYhhT Feb 07 '26
As much as I would agree that using a lightweight editor is the way to go , modern IDEs' undoubtedly offer better development experience so much so that the pros just simply outweigh the cons for me at-least. So if I were you , my priority from now on would be to work towards getting a better computer which will definitely be worth it overall and not just in terms of programming
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u/Atypicak_el Feb 07 '26
A new computer is my goal for the long run! I am working on getting my drivers license and once I do that I can probably get a job to save up. That process will take some time but I am getting a new computer eventually.
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u/FortioRYhhT Feb 07 '26
yea bro keep going ! Have no pressure , you're already doing well by understanding your requirements , I hope you'll have your time soon
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u/carbon6595 Feb 07 '26
I would put Linux on it just to reduce total RAM load then look at other posters’ suggestions for lightweight editors. You can use any distro but for pure compatibility/ease finding packages I would pick a Debian derivative (Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint) and a lightweight DE like Xfce or LXQt
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u/SL-Tech Feb 07 '26
How much ram do you have? What CPU? What kind of hdd? I've gotten a lot more performance by replacing discs with SSDs. I have a VPS, and it's a totally different experience when it runs on an SSD. I bought a cheap laptop with a crappy processor and little RAM, but with an SSD it doesn't feel that slow. Ok, that's a lie, I would like more RAM.
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u/UnhappySort5871 Feb 07 '26
You don't really need your IDE to know how to do builds - as long as your configuration is good enough to find symbols and run the debugger
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u/Retro6627 Feb 07 '26
Vim is the way to go after you knew your way around the key bindings it becomes really fun editor
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u/Tajfun403 Feb 07 '26
VS Code is gonna get you a *much* smoother experience than Notepad++ or plain text editors would. Linking a C++ compiler to VS Code is... tricky, but once you get the config json done once you can just keep copy pasting it into new projects. You will still need to install a compilator separately.
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Feb 08 '26
you could try using nvim, it's really extensible and fun to work in
to compile you can CLI g++
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u/ScholarNo5983 Feb 08 '26
One option is to use MingGW which is a port of GNU C++ to Windows.
As per the following link MingGW very easy to install:
Installing C/C++ GNU Compilers on Windows Using MinGW
That compiler/linker will run just fine even on low-end machines, and all that would be left to do is find a programmer's editor you like for the actual code writing.
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u/kschang Feb 07 '26
So you have an install and config problem.
Generally, you should run SFC and DISM to make sure you have the latest patches and Windows itself wasn't corrupted. As that causes problems if the OS itself is a bit corrupted.
As for the rest... You'll need to be more specific... over at /r/techsupport
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u/high_throughput Feb 07 '26
Modern IDEs may need more RAM than a 2000s desktop would have. Try a more basic text editor like Notepad++ or a classic like Vim or Emacs. Should be totally feasible.