For C++ on Windows, I've been preferring development in Sublime Text, rather than Visual Studio. It's more lightweight, there's less magic going on and I've got it configured the way I like. And I really hate VC++'s filtered folder project system. I just want to see my source directory and not have to screw around with the project file every time I want to add a child folder. Also, as someone from a non-C++ background, I feel I am learning more by running my own build script (just a custom PowerShell script at the moment) and having it run CL.exe. CMake is all well and good, but my project is built around a large number of plugins which each have to be built separately, and... well I guess the way CMake clutters up my folders with a million files just irks me a bit. That, and I've read a number of stories from other projects where the developers were complaining about CMake problems that made their lives harder rather than easier on Linux. I like things to be simple and clean.
Even so, I know that maintaining your own set of build scripts can get complicated and be a pain to maintain, particularly when you want to target the other major OS's as well. CMake's not the only show in town. What do you guys think about Boost's build system? I built Boost for the first time a few weeks ago and found the build process to be very clean and straightforward. Still, CMake seems to be what the majority of dev teams gravitate towards, so I'd like to get the opinions of those more experienced than myself with cross-platform C and C++ development. If you know of something else really solid as well, I'd be interested in that as well.