MinGW是什麼

最近我一直迷惑MinGW是什麼東西, 經過這麼一解釋清楚多了 MinGW = Minimalist GNU for Windows.

下面是官網(  http://www.mingw.org/ )的解釋:

MinGW, a contraction of "Minimalist GNU for Windows", is a port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), and GNU Binutils, for use in the development of native Microsoft Windows applications.
Offered in easily installed binary package format, for native deployment on MS-Windows, or user-built from source, for cross-hosted use on Unix or GNU/Linux, the suite exploits Microsoft's standard system DLLs to provide the C-Runtime and Windows API. It is
augmented by additional function libraries for improved ISO C-99 compatibility, and further, by community supported add-on tools and libraries, many pre-built, many more in the form of "mingwPORTs", to be built by the end user.