Question Compiling on Windows?

As I understand it, the main ways people compile and run TBA on Windows is either through ws/cygwin and Microsoft Visual Studio.
I'd prefer not to use such a massive, bloated IDE as MSVS, and I'd also prefer to build native executables if possible.

What is the best C compiler to create a native executable, aside from VS?

This might be an option if you haven't seen it yet. It uses Visual Studio Code for the editor and GCC in MinGW for the compiler. An alternative editor that I've used before is UltraEdit. It's not free, but it is pretty good. Visual Studio Code is pretty good too and its free.

code.visualstudio.com/docs/cpp/config-mingw

Currently I use the Windows subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu. This gives me GCC as the compiler. Then I use whatever editor I choose. To me this is a lot easier than using MSVS and creating a windows executable.

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/