Hi All, Which IDE should I use for Windows OpenGL Games C++ development (MSVC++ or Borland C++ Builder 2007)? Is it true that majority of the professional developers use MSVC++, and that MSVC++ is the preferred IDE used by John Carmack for Quake? Thanks, J

I would have to disagree that Borland "Sucks", as you so elegantly put it. They make a perfectly good IDE and have some great libraries and features to boot. The problem is that they don't enjoy the popularity of MSVC and therefore finding resources about them outside the Borland homepage is a tad difficult (Read: downright impossible).

That said, though, Visual Studio IS, as Promit said, the gold standard in professional development today. I use it at work and at home and really have come to appreciate the little touches they implement (especially when it comes to debugging). Say what you will about Microsoft, but in the IDE world at the very least their dominance is justified.

Of course, if you really want to know which one you should be working with, why ask? Both have trial/express versions. Go play around with them and see which you like better! In my experience, using a product or methodology simply because "famous person XYZ uses it" is the a horrible way to go, and disregards your unique personality, habits, and preferences. THAT, my friend, really does suck :)

Thanks every body for the advice. I will progress with using MSVC++ because it is well supported on the Opengl front and if I am to go for a games dev job someday, I'm sure having MSVC++ on my resume will serve better than CodeGear/Borland C++ Builder 2007.

Regards,
J

Not to put a damper on your spirits there, but I doubt you'll want to put experience with IDE's on your resume.

Quote:Original post by Justin Rebuilt
Not to put a damper on your spirits there, but I doubt you'll want to put experience with IDE's on your resume.

Well, I doubt it would add much to a resume, but if you were a bit light on other things, it probably wouldn't hurt to add you're already intimately familiar with it....

Then again, I see people applying to game programmer/similar jobs saying "Guild leader of super successful X guild on Y realm in Z game" - I always find those particularly funny.

As for Borland... It's handy, and sort of neat. The form interface was really cool when I used to toy around with BCB5/6 eons ago. But I don't suggest it really... If you want to quickly prototype some sort of application, then maybe... But when you really want to get into it, I would suggest using Visual Studio... Considering it has a free counterpart, it is insanely appealing.

Quote:
Then again, I see people applying to game programmer/similar jobs saying "Guild leader of super successful X guild on Y realm in Z game" - I always find those particularly funny.

LMFAO! I see that ALL the time!!! (I don't work for a programming company but I do large scale tech work.)

As for borland back long ago when I knew programming pretty well (high school) I used borland, once, and ill admit I gave up and went to staples and bought visual C++ after borland no matter what I did couldnt compile Hello World!. I mean I understand this had to be user error on my part (although cut and pasted code worked fine in my new visual C++ so it wasnt a code error). I just was never impressed. Not to mention friends of mine with borland couldnt get their programs to run, but if they cut and pasted code into VC++ it would work. I just felt like Borland was sloppy.

Oh and on the resume note, I just saw one where someone listed all of his high school band awards and his boyscout badges lol! Tip to resume writers: include RELEVANT INFORMATION.