Think out of the box about that quoting problem: you likely shouldn't be adding slashes by hand (it might waste your time and leave you with code that later you have to re-convert to being "normal c" that gcc will accept)

In[4]:= hello = CreateExecutable[Import["hello.c", "Text"] , "hello"]

Out[4]= "/users/`whoami`/Library/Mathematica/SystemFiles/\
LibraryResources/MacOSX-x86-64/hello"

In[5]:= Import["!" <> QuoteFile[hello], "Text"]

Out[5]= "hello world"

Import["x.c", "Text"]

"#include <stdio.h>\nint main(void)\n{\n  printf(\"hello world\");\n\
}" 

I installed build tools only on my surface pro and V11.3. Run the example code without issue.

I am calling a C++compiler from VS2017 . But getting an error.

Needs["CCompilerDriver`"]
CCompilers[]

hello = CreateExecutable["

    // Hello100.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console \
application.
    //

    #include " stdafx.h "
    #include <iostream>
    // i/o example
    // stringstreams

    #include <string>
    #include <sstream>
    using namespace std;

    int main()
    {
        string mystr;
        float price = 0;
        int quantity = 0;
        int next;
        cout << " Enter price : ";
        getline(cin, mystr);
        stringstream(mystr) >> price;
        cout << " Enter quantity : ";
        getline(cin, mystr);
        stringstream(mystr) >> quantity;
        cout << " Total price : " << price * quantity << endl;
        cin >> next;
        return 0;
       }

         ", "hellomyfirst"];

Import["!" <> QuoteFile[hellomyfirst], Text]

I am getting the following error

In[32]:= Import["!" <> QuoteFile[hellomyfirst], Text]

During evaluation of In[32]:= StringJoin::string: String expected at position 2 in !<>QuoteFile[hellomyfirst].

During evaluation of In[32]:= Import::chtype: First argument !<>QuoteFile[hellomyfirst] is not a valid file, directory, or URL specification.

Out[32]= $Failed

Why am not getting the output ? The code compiled in VIsual Studio ok.

I also needed to add Language -> "C++"

Import["!" <> QuoteFile[hellomyfirst], "Text"] (needs " around Text) seems to hang waiting for input.. It finishes executing if I remove the input code.

I had to remove getline and stringstream lines since they were waiting for input and hanging the kernel. I would look at this post for some info on how to open a pipe as an alternative: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6462275/mathematica-and-c-c-exchanging-data

Jose,

It looks like you need to escape the " and \ symbols (\" and \\)