What operating system are you using? I personally like g++ the best, but if you use Windows you may want to go another route.

Dev-C++ for me.

you might want to try MS visualC++ 2008 express

haven't tried it yet though.

I am on windows.

Which is the compiler most widely used in the industry ?

I haven't done much programming on windows, but when I did I used a compiler called mingw. I haven't had any problems with it, but like I said I haven't done all too much programming with it.

For MS-Windows, Microsoft compilers are naturally the most widely used by professional programmers because, for one reason, MS-Windows was written by Microsoft compilers. Here is one testimonial to that statement. Professionals rarly use the Express version, which is intended for learning. The Professional version is probably the most popular versions of Visual Studio 2008 series.

I use Microsoft Visual Studio Professional

if you are just starting out i would recommend the express versions.

I've dabbled around in other IDEs and with other compilers but i happen to like the MS Vis-studio IDE /Compiler the best.

The MSDN Library microsoft offers is very compiled as well.

Microsoft all around has taken very good care of it's programmers.

> which compiler is the most popular
the two mainstream c++ compilers are g++ (part of gcc) and vc++ (microsoft). and it is probably a good idea to stick to one of these; they are the most popular and attract the best support from third-party library and tool developers. both are also good as far as standards compliance is concerned. both (the express version of microsoft; the compiler is identical to that in the professional version) are free (well, neither is really free in terms of what you can do with them; but both are free in that you do not have to pay for them).
if you do not mind paying for a compiler, the comeau c++ compiler http://www.comeaucomputing.com/ would be a good option.

> if it can be used with .net so that once I develop an application I would like to to be portable to different platforms.
the notion of portability in standard c++ is source code portability; all these compilers would give you that.
the only c++/CLI compiler (that generates CIL which could run on many platforms) is the one from microsoft. other CLI implementations (like mono) do not provide c++ compiler support.

I use Bloodshed Dev c++, for its free but work well, I have bit problem when using .dll and such but probably its because I'm new with c++. Beside i can always find the solution from net.

But if .net compability is what you want then I guess visual c++ from visual studio is for you.

I used Dev C++, and sometimes it doesn't compile functions. I would suggest Visual C++, whatever version you want. I use 2005.