[EpicBlackCrayon]

This specifically installs the Visual C++ Compiler and the Windows headers so that you can get a command prompt with all that in your PATH. It is not a full-fat VS install. The difference is something like 20-30GBs for the full VS install vs 1-2GB for these specific components.

[svnpenn]

Meanwhile, LLVM-MinGW is 108 MB:

https://github.com/mstorsjo/llvm-mingw/releases

[npn]

now you are just arguing for the sake of argument. unzip the file and it will expand to a 400MB folder.

[svnpenn]

Have you ever installed Visual Studio? I have. Even just the build tools DOWNLOADS 1-2 GB, as other user mentioned, which is still 10 times what you get with other options.