21 replies to this topic

[parthibbiswas93]

i have been using Dev C++ for all college assignments.... but when i use opengl, it gives me errors... there are some people who say that Dev C++ is a shitty IDE... so guys, which IDE is good for opengl? i heard Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 is good...

[jbadams]

there are some people who say that Dev C++ is a shitty IDE

Absolutely, here's my explanation of why -- in it I recommend a few possible alternatives including Visual Studio, Code::Blocks and qtCreator. My personal recommendation would be the Visual Studio Express, but take a look at them all and choose whichever is most comfortable for you.

Note that you're not choosing an editor for OpenGL, you're choosing an editor for C++.

[Acharis]

Switch to Visual Studio Express (if you are doing under Windows), as probbaly around 99% coders would answer. If multiplatform then probably Code::Blocks (althrough it is a bit lacking if you were already spoiled by VC)...
And yes, I join the bandwagon of "no Dev C++" (not that it is so absolutely terrible and you can't make a game with it, but there simply is no reason to use it nowadays).

[TheVirtualDragon]

Dev C++ is rubbish.

Also, code::blocks is not as bad as advertised, especially if you compile the latest source (very easy to do). If you are under windows, VS would probably be the best: but remember that it isn't exactly "lightweight".

[larspensjo]

Dev C++ is rubbish.

Also, code::blocks is not as bad as advertised, especially if you compile the latest source (very easy to do). If you are under windows, VS would probably be the best: but remember that it isn't exactly "lightweight".

I agree, but just wanted to point out that you don't need to compile CodeBlocks nightly builds. They are available for download. CodeBlocks has in practice changed to a monthly release schedule.

[wicked357]

I highly recommend VS I have been using it since VS 2005. You can get spoiled by it as Acharis stated. Although I am not sure why you would get 2008 express when 2010 express is available for download. Just make sure when you start a new C++ project that you choose empty project, start from complete scratch so you are not trying to learn what files were just added to your project that actually weren't needed to start out.

[omercan]

I also suggest VC++ 2010... It is great on windows... the best I know...
But on other platforms (like Linux) I suggest to use QtCreator... It has a really good debugger... and the usability is awesome... but it feels a bit strange to use it for "normal" c++ code

By the way... when you make something big and multi platform. I suggest to use cmake or other build tools instead the internal project management of VC++ or qmake...
QMake is not bad but currently not really useful for non-qt development.

Regards
Ömercan

[CC Ricers]

I'd also recommend QTCreator for the Mac platform as well. Apple supports its own XCode but you may find it too different from the common kinds of IDE interfaces. QTCreator would be the most "VS-like" IDE I've come across for the Mac.

[MichaBen]

I would vote for QtCreator, not just because of the IDE, but also because of Qt, which has OpenGL widgets available that make it a lot easier to create a window and create an OpenGL context with Core profile. While Visual Studio has a good debugger, it's C++ code editor is rather primitive compared to the alternatives, poor syntax highlighting and even under 2010 code completion is known to fail quite often. And the real-time syntax checking that is suppost to underline syntax errors in your code prior to compiling (like a spelling check) is horrible, I turned it off after 2 days because it reported so many false-positive errors. Netbeans and QtCreator are far superior to Visual Studio in this aspect, having used QtCreator for quite some time now I hardly see the syntax checking fail, and code completion works most of the time (only has some problem with templates sometimes, but I think they were fixing that) and updates really fast as well (with VS when I refactor some code I quite often get an intellisense popup that still contains the old parameters of a function).

[Lazy Foo]

Code::Blocks is also nice if you want to go the 100% free route.

[jbadams]

Code::Blocks is also nice if you want to go the 100% free route.

Visual Studio Express and Code::Blocks are both free, even for commercial use.

qtCreator is free even for commercial use as long as you comply with the LGPL licence - otherwise an alternative commercial licence is available.
:-)

[DujekC]

I'm a fairly new C++ programmer and after using Notepad++ while learning the basics of the language I started using Code::Blocks and I really like it. Could someone point out the advantages of Visual Studio Express? Do you think it would be worth switching assuming I'm already fairly comfortable using Code::Blocks? Thanks.

[ppodsiadly]

The best free IDE I've ever used is Eclipse. It has many useful features like better code completion, syntax highlighting, Task List, hundreds of free plugins for connecting with version control systems, etc., profiler integration, even a built-in web browser ;) not available in Visual Studio Express Edition. The only reason for which I would use VS EE is MS's compiler - although Eclipse has integration with it, it isn't able to debug programs built with MS's compiler.

[DARSC0D3]

Most IDE's are already been named in this thread so I will only include those are still missing from the list.

- Eclipse
- Netbeans
- xcode (only if you are on mac os platform)

Like so many said you properly best off with Visal C++ express if you are on a windows machine. I also recommend using above Visual studio which has allot more features but they will only unnecessary slow down you pc.

If you are mac person you might wanna go with Xcode it is not free any more so that is the only downside.

For my self I use netbeans due the fact it can handle multiple languages and is cross platform. I prefer it above the eclipse that is quite similar and has also support for multiple languages but I find eclipse bit slow my self.

[abcdef44]

With Eclipse or Qtcreator you can easily have a similar environment on all OS: Win/Lin/OSX86

@jbadams, I think also with Qtcreator you are free to choose any licence, of course. If not let me know...I know several developers on
Qtcreator which do commercial stuff....I'd be eager to get their code. (evil)

Here's a good tutorial for Qtcreator:
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=48012

Edited by mike4, 23 August 2012 - 03:14 AM.

[jbadams]

Do you think it would be worth switching assuming I'm already fairly comfortable using Code::Blocks?

If you're already comfortable with Code::Blocks there probably isn't much value in switching, unless you'd just like to familiarise yourself with another popular IDE.

[BinaryPhysics]

I though DevC++ had been abandoned. Did the devs pick it back up?

I know you said IDE but have you considered makefiles? I recently got into using NMake and it cuts a lot of the files from the compiling. It also frees you to use any editor you want. I'm using VC++ 2010 for editing.

[abcdef44]

Is Nmake cross platform? I've only used cmake which is very good. But of course it's not an IDE...

@jbadams
quote:
"qtCreator is free even for commercial use as long as you comply with the LGPL licence - otherwise an alternative commercial licence is available."

Oh men, you really must have had a bad day! Any you belong to stuff. I'll report that to the admin.

[Karsten_]

I am a fan of using Vim with a shedload of plugins such as NERDTree and exuberant-ctags to make it into an IDE.

If you need to use Visual Studio, then there are some good vim plugins for it too.

The best thing about Vim is that I can use it on any platform and through SSH and it always looks and works in 100% the same way. Consistency plays a very important part in allowing me to generate acceptable code quickly whereas I find that typical IDEs change too much with each release to be productive.

@mike4,
nmake is akin to make or gmake.
cmake is akin to makefile "makers" such as autotools or bakefile.

If the Makefile is written correctly, it can be understood perfectly by nmake as well as any other make utiity. So yeah it is cross platform. What I tend to have though is multiple Makefiles in a folder.

Makefile.Linux
Makefile.OpenBSD
Makefile.Win32

And then just run it like so...

make -f Makefile.`uname`

Edited by Karsten_, 24 August 2012 - 05:47 AM.

[SIC Games]

Visual Studio Express is best. Finally microsoft put in intellisense for C++ language in Visal Studio 2012.