Help me choose an IDE for C++

Mike Mayo · 2011-06-26T09:43:39

Student in college, free access to Visual Studio for (at least) the next three full years. I've also been using Visual Studio since VS2003, so I'm extremely familiar with it and not much else. Honestly, I've been using the (absolutely incredible!) plugin/extension Visual Assist X for a while, typically finding "ways" to get my trial period back every time it runs out, and I'm getting sick of the run-around. I don't have a lot of money or else I'd just buy a student license; so that, coupled with an increased desire to move towards multi-platform solutions has driven me to check other IDE's out... Main things drawing me to Visual Studio: Nice environment. Exceptional debugger. Previous experience. Visual Assist X Main things drawing me away from it: No (simple) multi-platform support. Visual Assist X is pricey. Mediocre out-of-box code completion/syntax highlighting That's where I'm hung up at the moment. I love Visual Studio and I almost can't imagine using it without Visual Assist X, so it's going to be a tough decision to make. I've used Eclipse a lot in the past 3 or 4 years for Java stuff at school, and I know it supports C++ to some extent so that's in the cards but I'm not familiar enough with the code completion, syntax highlighting and debuggers involved to decide on my own. I also am not too too fond of the Eclipse environment itself, although if its C++ features stand up to its Java features I might have to reconsider. Another IDE I've heard a lot of good things about is NetBeans. This is one I haven't used at all, and have very few opinions about. I've heard that for a C++ IDE it's exceptionally good for people used to Visual Studio, but maybe someone here who's made the transition in one direction or the other can give me a little more insight into that. So it seems my main three choices are to stay with Visual Studio 2010, or move to either Eclipse or NetBeans. Any suggestions? (Telling me I should just stick with what I know is acceptable, I'm still just thinking about it)

ChugginWindex

187

Author

June 22, 2011 09:41 PM

Bear in mind though that VS Express (the free one) doesn't support plugins so if you are that hung-up on Visual Assist, you are out of luck.

That said (and also without yet trying Qt Creator) I don't think there is an IDE that comes even close for Windows even without VA, and I would also point out that Intellisense has got unbelievably better in VS 2010. For me personally, it is as effective as it has always been for C# in VS now.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that this was a futile attempt. All I have at the moment is a laptop and I don't like dual-booting so Linux was sort of a backseat idea...I just like the idea of cross-platform development (plus I AM looking for a reason to go to linux full-time, VS is one of the few things besides games that holds me back). While I did say I was too poor to afford the student license of VA. the student part still provides the advantage of free licenses to VS 2010 Ultimate, so plugins are not a problem and I am certainly aware of how good the intelisense has gotten! It's hard to find a decent answer through google, so I was just hoping maybe someone would have something I'm not aware of that would help cope with the loss.

It's just....well for those of you who've experienced Visual Assist I need not say this but, it's really hard to go back!

Edit: What about CodeLite? Anyone have an experience with that? A lot of these seem like just vanilla IDEs that offer next to nothing in terms of incentive to switch from other vanilla IDEs, it's no wonder I haven't heard of most of them.

ChaosEngine

5,385

June 22, 2011 09:53 PM

What do you want to develop? Does it have to be cross platform? Are you sure that C++ is the best tool?

These are all questions I'd be asking before looking at a C++ IDE.

if you think programming is like sex, you probably haven't done much of either.-------------- - capn_midnight

ChugginWindex

187

Author

June 22, 2011 10:13 PM

What do you want to develop? Does it have to be cross platform? Are you sure that C++ is the best tool?

These are all questions I'd be asking before looking at a C++ IDE.

I'm have roughly 7 years of experience in C++, use managed languages all day every day at work and have no desire to work with C#. My hobby activities have been mostly centered around computer graphics and I'm just now getting comfortable with some of the more advanced aspects of OpenGL. C++ is just my favorite language and this is purely for my own enjoyment. I also love Linux and feel there aren't enough cool things made on/for it and would love to contribute sometime in the future. I've got no real reason to go cross platform other than the idea of developing on linux intrigues me more than run-of-the-mill Windows.

Thanks for the input tho! If this were a time/success-critical endeavor I'd certainly be taking your questions into consideration more

WavyVirus

885

June 22, 2011 10:23 PM

I'd also go for VS when it comes to C++ - Eclipse is a great Java IDE with tons of indispensable features and plugins, but I never quite liked the interface and the feel of the thing enough to use it for C++ projects.

A quick look at NetBeans after installing it seems to indicate that I'll need to install Cygwin or something similar to get a compiler working on Windows, which is something I'd prefer not to do...

As a side note, Cygwin can be an incredibly convenient tool to have - I also swear by Puttycyg if you're on a Windows box interacting with *nix machines

ChaosEngine

5,385

June 23, 2011 12:30 AM

[quote name='ChaosEngine' timestamp='1308779580' post='4826604']
What do you want to develop? Does it have to be cross platform? Are you sure that C++ is the best tool?

These are all questions I'd be asking before looking at a C++ IDE.

I'm have roughly 7 years of experience in C++, use managed languages all day every day at work and have no desire to work with C#. My hobby activities have been mostly centered around computer graphics and I'm just now getting comfortable with some of the more advanced aspects of OpenGL. C++ is just my favorite language and this is purely for my own enjoyment. I also love Linux and feel there aren't enough cool things made on/for it and would love to contribute sometime in the future. I've got no real reason to go cross platform other than the idea of developing on linux intrigues me more than run-of-the-mill Windows.

Thanks for the input tho! If this were a time/success-critical endeavor I'd certainly be taking your questions into consideration more

[/quote]

Those are totally legit answers. The reason I posted that is that we see a lot of people here who just assume that C++ is the only viable tool for whatever it is they're doing.

As to your question, I don't think you'll find any better C++ dev environment on any platform than visual studio. VAX is actually pretty reasonably priced for hobbyist devs ($99), but as pointed out earlier it won't work with the express edition of VS. From the project you've described, it sounds like you wouldn't benefit much from the priced editions of VS (the features are mostly geared towards LOB apps).

Ultimately, it'll come down to how much x-platform work you want to do. There'll be a trade off between using the best tool on one platform (VC++) or the ease of using the same tool across multiple platforms.

if you think programming is like sex, you probably haven't done much of either.-------------- - capn_midnight

ChugginWindex

187

Author

June 23, 2011 12:51 AM

Ultimately, it'll come down to how much x-platform work you want to do. There'll be a trade off between using the best tool on one platform (VC++) or the ease of using the same tool across multiple platforms.

That's a good point. I came here looking (hoping) for a miracle-app that I somehow hadn't heard of in all this time. I'm not at all surprised with the results. Thanks for everyone's input, I guess I'll just cope without VA for a while until I'm truly motivated enough to migrate to linux and find something else.

EJH

315

June 23, 2011 05:42 PM

I guess I'll just cope without VA for a while until I'm truly motivated enough to migrate to linux and find something else.

If you can't cope without Visual Assist in Visual Studio 2010, then you really won't be happy with anything offered on Linux. Going from C++ development in VS/VA to just about anything else (except maybe Eclipse, which is "useable" at best) is like going from Word Processing to Hammer, Chisel, and Stone Tablet ... ;)

DarklyDreaming

367

June 23, 2011 06:06 PM

Microsoft has, with Visual Studio, the best compiler and development suite for C++ - hands down. With Visual Assist it's simply put unbeatable. There are of course alternatives, but really, if you like the VA + VS combo as much as you seem to then there is no other thing that will quite be the same ... and it's a good thing :-)

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[size=1]Antheus

Roots

1,626

June 23, 2011 07:06 PM

If you are looking to get into Linux development you're going to have to abandon Visual Studio to some degree. I've been developing in Linux almost exclusively since 2000 and my editor of choice is KDevelop. Someone else already mentioned KDevelop4 and I have to agree, it is pretty awesome. I don't even need to setup a project file and it just magically knows everything about the source I'm working in. Its really come a long way since I first started using it 10 years ago. I've only played around in VS a little bit and was kind of overwhelmed by the interface and never really got into learning too much about it. When I have to do cross-platform development on Windows, I've used Eclipse. But honestly, I hate that editor. I just haven't been motivated to research and learn about other tools since I only develop in Windows when I am forced to (usually by my current contract). For our cross-platform RPG, our Windows developers seem to use Code::Blocks, but I've never taken a look at the IDE myself so I wouldn't know.

Honestly though, if your goal is to get into Linux development you're going to have to abandon Windows in some form eventually. I mean, you actually have to be in Linux to execute and test your applications. Why don't you try working in a virtual environment for Linux development? That way you don't have to dual-boot and can actually get some genuine Linux experience. I'd recommend Virtual Box + Ubuntu + KDevelop4 personally, but you can use whatever VE/Linux distribution/editor you want.

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ChugginWindex

187

Author

June 25, 2011 03:18 PM

Honestly though, if your goal is to get into Linux development you're going to have to abandon Windows in some form eventually. I mean, you actually have to be in Linux to execute and test your applications. Why don't you try working in a virtual environment for Linux development? That way you don't have to dual-boot and can actually get some genuine Linux experience. I'd recommend Virtual Box + Ubuntu + KDevelop4 personally, but you can use whatever VE/Linux distribution/editor you want.

Yeah, I thought about the VM route before. Despite having an excessively powerful laptop I've never been able to tweak settings in VMs just right so that it isn't laggy during use. It's not unbearably laggy, but just annoying and that's only with simple stuff like browsing the web and generally checking out a linux distro as I typically do. Seeing as my main interests at the moment revolve around OpenGL and computer graphics theory (ray tracers, ray-marching, etc.) I imagine that would get pretty bad in a VM...

Ditching VS/VA was a necessary evil in my mind if I decided to go with linux development in the future. In addition to the reasons I've posted so far, there was a good deal of "well, seeing as my VA trial ran out again and I can't use it anymore, I might as well just make the switch full-force" going on in my head. Linux dev. still interests me greatly, but your comments have been helpful in making me realize I should probably stick to what I know very well until it's truly necessary. Coincidentally I recently tried to get my current project building in Code::Blocks on windows using gcc and ran into a ton of trouble that ultimately made me give up in the short term. It seems that Microsoft's compiler infers a lot more about your code than other compilers (ex.: in VC++ a function/class can be referenced by something even when it's not declared until farther down the file). I'd like to write code that compiled more or less across-the-board, which I'm guessing means GCC rather than MS.

Help me choose an IDE for C++

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