Help with C Program I've downloaded.
 

I've recently downloaded an open source program where programmers, developers, and individuals can download the program and modify source code, headers, etc. Basically I've downloaded a Program but when I extract its contents all it is, is a bunch of C source and C header files and some other various files labeled "Install" and "Make" and "Configure" but the problem is..there's no extensions with these files and when I click on them it pops open the windows application selector and asks me what app I want to open the files with but I have no idea which one to use. I've tried opening them with noptepad which works and theres text in there and for instance in a file called "install" it gave me these exact instructions

"The following should be all you need to make soureditorv3.0 work:

./configure
make
make install

Good luck"

I HAVE NO IDEA what to do, to make it work! Any suggestions??

Look for a Windows version of that program.

The trio of a configure script, make, and make install are usually associated with unix derivatives. Note that there is no "make" program on windows. You might still be able to compile it...it depends. Often times, if the program will work on windows at all, there will be a project file for Visual Studio, DevC++, etc. or even just a file saying that it can be built on windows (usually with some brief specifics). In that last case, you may need windows versions of a number of command line utilities, such as those provided by Cygwin.

Actually, you can compile Windows programs from the command line, too. MS has had NMAKE for ages, and Dev-Cpp actually generates a makefile from the IDE, if you use the ide, and runs it. MS Visual can do that, too.

You can possibly use Cygwin
 

The program is a Linux/Unix program. You may be able to compile it using the Cygwin tool kit http://cygwin.com. This installs a Linux type bash shell and most all the GNU/Linux tools. Install the gcc package and the make program. Move the code to your cygwin directory ( usually \cygwin\home\yourname) and follow the instructions by typing into the Cygwin shell. Many Linux open source programs may be used on Win this way and the bash shell window is much more useful than the standard CMD shell. If you include the c:\cygwin\bin path in your environment, the GNU tools will work in a standard CMD window.

The easier way is to create a C/C++ project using VC6 or VS2003 or VS2005 wizard. Move the .c and .h file to the project directory copyiing over the wizard .cpp and .h files. Then include the .c files using 'add existing item' in the project menu. It will usually find the .h files if they are in the same directory as the .c files. You will likely have to add "#include <windows.h>" to the c files and may have to change other "#include" directives to get the program to compile. The trick here is to comment out any includes it can't find and use the Help system to find the include for any functions that are missing or undefined.

I hope this helps,
Mike