I don't know about windows, but both mac and unix come with a c compiler, and the man pages. That is all you need. But that was not what I was talking about - even without going into programming, most computers can do a hell of a lot more than most people care to learn, and yet no-one reads the help pages to learn what has been added since the last upgrade, which is the equivalent of Elliot reading the manual to see if he has got a new variation on the spell he already has.
Grey Wolf