THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED
On 08/05/2008 at 12:11, xxxxxxxx wrote:
It would actually be cool if they did what one of the other plugin developers is trying to do currently - implement some platform-independent scripting language like Python , Java, Ruby, etc. You are actually using the C++ SDK but it would be through a VM or interpreter running your script - no building, no IDEs, just a text editor.
Depending upon the expanse of the linkage between the C++ SDK and the scripting language, there would no longer be a need for COFFEE and you could use the language's general coding practices and methods (and libs and so on). 
Unfortunately, there are currently two options: COFFEE and C++. C++ requires build environments. On MacOSX, Xcode is free. On Windows, you can use the Express Edition of VS 2003/2005 as long as you don't need to support Windows 64-bit. Otherwise you will need to purchase a version which has a 64-bit target (Enterprise, Pro editions).
As for coding your own post effect plugin for Cinema 4D, get the SDK documentation (at the PluginCafe root there are links), search posts in this forum (ask questions), and look at the plugins:cinema4dsdk:source examples.