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[Martin v. Loewis]

> I'm curious to know exactly the differences between the c/c++ compilers
> you get with various versions of VS and those you get with the (command
> line only) Windows SDK (formerly called the platform SDK). 
> 
> The windows sdk is a free download. Is the compiler you get the same as
> the one you get with the full paid version of VS?  This web page seems
> to suggest it might be
> <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb980924.aspx>

The primary "difference" is the CRT version that it ships with. Also,
one difference is whether it ships with a compiler at all. For a long
time, the SDK didn't include a compiler at all. Then, for several years,
 it included an Itanium compiler and an AMD64 compiler, but no x86
compiler. Now it does, and I don't know what CRT version it links with
(at some point, the SDK would link with crtdll.dll, then msvcrt.dll,
but it's some other version now).

In any case, AFAIK, the SDK binaries will be linked with one specific
version of the CRT, which may or may not be the same as the one used in
one specific version of Visual Studio.

HTH,
Martin