List of Free Software and Freeware IDEs
 

Updated: new section - programmers' text editors

If I have missed out any other Freeware or Free software IDEs, please let me know.

Software - OS or Platform supported - Languages supported

Free Software/Open Source

KDevelop - Linux - Multiple languages
Anjuta - Linux - C/C++
eric - Crossplatform - Python
MonoDevelop - Linux - Dot Net
BoaConstructor - Crossplatform - Python
Quanta Plus - Linux - Web dev (PHP/HTML)
Eclipse - Crossplatform - Multiple languages
Bloodshed Dev-C++ - Windows - C/C++
Netbeans - Crossplatform - Java
Code::Blocks IDE - Windows/Linux - C/C++
VIDE - Windows/Linux - C/C++
MinIDE - Windows - C/C++
BVRDE - Windows - C/C++ (crosscompiler)
FreeRIDE - Crossplatform - Ruby
Geany - Linux and Windows - Multiple languages
Radrails - Crossplatform - Ruby
Bluefish - Unix - Web dev (PHP/HTML)
Emacs - Crossplatform - Multiple languages
Xwpe-ALPHA - Unix - C/C++
CodeDragon/wxStudio - Crossplatform - C/C++
Open Perl IDE - Windows - Perl
FreePascal IDE - Crossplatform - Pascal
Kile - Linux - TeX/LaTeX
Spe - Crossplatform - Python
PIDA - Linux - Python
Lazarus - Crossplatform - Pascal
SharpDevelop - Windows - .NET Framework

Freeware (License may be restrictive)

JCreator - Windows - Java
MinGW Developer Studio - Windows - C/C++
Visual Studio Express - Windows - Multiple languages
JBuilder Foundation - Crossplatform - Java
BlueJ - Crossplatform - Java
PerlEdit - Windows/Linux - Perl
jGRASP - Crossplatform - Multiple languages
JDeveloper - Crossplatform - Java/db/web development

Freeware and/or FOSS Programming Editors (Not Full IDEs, but useful nonetheless)

jEdit - Crossplatform
Crimson Editor - Windows
Syn Text Editor - Windows
Kate - Unix (KDE)
vim - Unix
CUTE - Unix (QT)
jed - Crossplatform
gedit - Unix (Gnome)
NoteTab Light - Windows
pe - BeOS

This is a great idea; many people seek information about this subject. (This thread should be sticky on the programming forum.) I have some additions for your list:

Free Software / Open Source

FreeRIDE - Crossplatform - http://freeride.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl (requires Ruby)
Geany - Crossplatform - http://geany.uvena.de/ (requires GTK)
Radrails - Crossplatform - http://www.radrails.org/ (requires Ruby & Java)
Bluefish - Unix - http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/download.html (requires GTK)

Also, what about Emacs? Some may not consider it an IDE, but with a little work it can do everything the major IDEs can. :)

Awesome links. All the IDE's I can think of has already been mentioned. I'm kinda curious about the Visual Studio Express so I'm downloading it. I've been watching some tutorials on MS homepage and it looks pretty neat ^^;;

Cheers!

Thanks. Added. :)

This link will be of value here
http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/index.shtml

dmail, thanks for the link. That site literally has *tons* of free stuff. I think we should limit this list to just IDEs or the list will grow unwieldy.

Great idea, I think that it would be helpful if you could categorise them into the languages that they support, for example quanta & bluefish are html editors, BlueJ is a Java, Eclipse is a Java but supports others through plugins.

And let me add some competition to Quanta & bluefish, NVU, a cross platform HTML editor from http://www.nvu.com/download.php

There is also for "non-commercial use" phpedit an windows php IDE http://www.waterproof.fr/products/PH...y-personal.php

Great job, just a small comment: I'm surprised to see NetBeans in the "Licence may be restrictive" group. NetBeans is both Open Source and Free Software, being released under an OSI approved license (the CDDL), so it should be in the first list.

xwpe and grasp?

I thought grasp was dead. I only see jgrasp on the website.

You're right, Emacs certainly is an IDE. It's not the most beautiful GUI ever written (ok, it's one of the ugliest. But in all fairness it was written maybe 25 or 30 years ago...) it sure does work. For people not running X it's an outstanding choice. I run X and it's still my favorite IDE.

bluefish is not an IDE. But it is a very nice editor. Edit: I see graemf already said bluefish was an html editor. Actually it's a pretty good all-around editor, and certainly not limited to html. It has syntax coloring for Python, PHP, and a lot of other languages (I think c/c++ also but can't remember.) And it's a good x-over editor for newbies coming from Windows (you don't have to remember alt-ctl-left-shift-&).

GNU Emacs used to be the ugliest editor, but...

GNU Emacs from CVS can be built using the GTK+ 2 toolkit, just run configure with the --with-gtk option. I've not had any problems with Emacs version 22.0.50.1 (running under FreeBSD 6-STABLE with GTK 2.8.19). It's very cleanly integrated, too; not that I usually use any the GUI elements. One feature about it that is kind of nice is that you can tear off the menus.

Sorry about the Netbeans mistake. I will correct it now. + emacs added now to the list.

How about another column for supported programming language(s)?

Added languages supported. Please correct any mistake if you find it :D

If anybody finds a "dead" or dormant project in this list, I'll be glad to flag it that way.

dead - no update/news in over 2 years
dormant - no update/news in over 6 months
alive - update in about 6 months
active - frequent updates

Obviously this involves more work, but if somebody could help with this, it would be useful ot add this info.

A category "mature" would be good too. Something that looks dead or dormant, but it is really finished and there is nothing to do. I don't think any of this software falls under that category, though

I think Dev C++ is pretty much dead. Although there is news, I don't think anything has come out in a long long time. There was some discussion on the Code::Blocks forums about guys leaving Dev C++.

It's unfortunate, because Dev C++ is a very nice package and they include MINGW and some other stuff to make one stop shopping (for Winbloze users, anyway). I personally feel that Dev CPP is usable (especially for guys starting out in C++ that need a good learning environment and a nice IDE (everything is written in Delphi)) although I don't use C++ for anything serious so I'm not the best judge of it. The user community is also helpful if a little fragmented.

Maybe some other guys have some comments or more info.

That's a good point. Emacs should be in this category (whether they actually do anything or not is not the issue- they should have stopped a long time ago :p)

Clarification: when I meant dead or dormant I didn't mean actual updates, but news from the project. I think we can say a project is dead when the developers don't even bother providing news updates once in a year.

If we get started with tagging this list, can anybody provide any info on the items in the existing list?

How about adding a list of debuggers or degugger interfaces?
Also how about people actually saying what they think of the IDE? I know this is subjective, but so's most things in life.

That's a good question- is there anything available besides GDB, DDD, and GVD? The functionality is fine but the GUI interfaces are all hideous. It would be nice to find something really pleasant looking and easier to use.

The best thing with an IDE (or any app) is just to try it out. If you have problems with certain features or lack of features, ask about it and sometimes people can tell you how to make it work like you want or tell you another way of using it that will be more effective.

Something has to feel right to the guy using it before he gets the most benefit from it. The good news is it's all free and you don't have to make an expensive mistake trying something out.

I'm thinking the same. Are there so many free debuggers to justify an additional list. I don't mind some suggestions as I've never used stand-alone debuggers before.

Hey Taylor,

How much different is the look than the "standard" Emacs? Do you have any screenshots?

Thanks,
Rand

Great!!
And Netbeans is the best Java IDE on earth. With the Netbeans 5.0, NetBeans beat Eclipse in Java IDE although Eclipse might be a better generic IDE framework.

You can add C/C++ to the supported languages by NetBeans
In the freeware section, you can add:
Java Studio Enterprise - Solaris/Linux/Windows - Java
Java Studio Creator - Solaris/MacOS/Linux/Windows - Java
Sun Studio - Solaris & Linux - C/C++/Fortran

Dear All,

This is a real good effort to list the freewares available.
I am relatively new to the Linux and i want some information that as you talk about IDE, we are using the MULTI IDE from the Green hills, but it is a Windows based software and we want the same kind of IDE in Linux, is there any IDE which is compatible to MULTI? i m unable to understand in this case cos i m not aware of the products u r talking in thid thread? can anybody help me?

Thanks,
Nishant

That IDE is probably big money and for sure not open source or "Free Software". Don't they have a Linux version?

Motor I love it :D

You are right Randux, it costs much bludy bucks, but if we gon a purchase its linux version, we also have to spend much more bludy bucks, so the better option is to go with the free IDE, and that is why i am looking for the free IDE.

Do u have any idea about that kind of IDE, which doesn't costs us much bludy bucks.

Thanks,
Nishant

You could first tell us what features makes GreenHills MULTI IDE valuable for you.

RE: Free Languages
 

Hello, all! I noticed no mention of a couple of things, so thought I'd add them.

First, Gambas (gambas.sourceforge.net) should impress most folks. It's a VB-like app for Linux, with most of the same tools. It has support for various databases in the GUI interface, has a nice coding interface, with intellisense-like capabilities, and has a package builder built-in. Overall, very nice. Linux only, though I do think it works with cygwin.

Second, a fairly new project is in the mix. Dabo (dabodev.com, I believe) is a Python RAD tool, written, mostly, by a couple of old hats from the FoxPro community. Windows/Linux, and very nice.

The list here could practically go on forever, so I hesitated (for about 2 seconds) to post this message. But it does give me a chance to introduce myself to the group. I am, for all intents and purposes, a Linux novice, though I have been working with Linux of some sort for several years now. Currently, I am using Ubuntu, and for the most part love it. My favorite distro is SuSE, so will most likely jump back to it before all is said and done. What I love most about Linux is one of the major reasons I love FoxPro: the community.

Anyway ... sorry for being long-winded, and for getting off-topic there. Anyone needs anything from me, don't hesitate to drop me a line. Later.

LEDS: an IDE for the currently infantile D Programming Language. A windows version is in the works, but it is free, open-source and available for Linux as of now. It is under development

jEdit - a programmers text-editor - Crossplatform - Multilanguage (I think)

Watch it for their deb-package though, it failed to install correctly on my system

It would be nice to add Lazarus.

www.lazarus.freepascal.org/ - A crossplatform RAD for Free Pascal.

#develop
 

Visual ide for c#, vb.net, c++.net, ILAsm and windows installer msi with templates for installers and guis and stuff.
Like visual studio express, but open source.
sharpdevelop.net

BricxCC - http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/ - Windows - NQC, LASM, MindScript, NBC, C, C++, Pascal, Forth, and Java ... but only to program your Lego Mindstorms Bricks :D

I've been a C programmer, but now I have to write in C++. And now I need a little more options, supported by my editor. I like vim but I need:

1) Auto completion with Ctrl+Space.

2) When I have an object from some class and I type the name of the object and a dot (.) after it to see a falling menu with all the methods and variables in the class. For example if I have a class Student with a method Print() and an object S from that class, when I type "S." I want to see a falling menu with all the methods from the class including Print().

3) I want to compile fast and easy. Let's say I have a simple C++ file and I want to run it. I don't want to be obliged to create a huge project with 15 files in it, just to compile the .cpp. By the way I have no problem to compile the sorce in the console using g++, but the above two should work!

OK, the third thing is not that important. So, what would you recommend?
By the way, I'm a Kubuntu user.

Kate for small projects and Kdevelop for anything bigger

Nice, but I perfer vim + pmake + gcc.

I was just browsing the links at the top, and it seems that MinIDE has moved homepage, from http://www.spacejack.org/minide/ to http://taubler.com/minide/ (I think).

Eric3 is a good python IDE, at least I thought it was better than KDevelop for making python code.

Question, have any Lispers been able to get Jabberwocky to work for them? The installer just keeps freezing on me after the first screen.

Guys, I'm going to add another category -- programmers' editors (not full IDEs). I'd like some suggestions there as well. :)

Can I get them for my first C-programming steps at the M$-platform?

forgotten ide
 

Hi.

Can anyone help me to remember an ide. I used it around 98-99, I think it ran on aix and/or linux. probably was not opensource, but freeware. quite uglylooking acctually.
I remember that name started with 'C' , but I just cannot find it with googleing..

Codewarrior?

This response is a bit late, but I don't think that
producing news qualifies for a projects livelihood.
TeX has been around for donkeys years, there was no
news regarding it in a long time, but its still very
much alive. Not that I think of it as a programming
language or IDE, but I'm just using it as an example
of a mature product that doesn't do news.



Cheers,
Tink

Emacs 22 GTK Screenshot
 

With great apologies to Randux for having not seen that post much earlier, here's a screenshot of Emacs 22.0.94.1 from CVS running under Xubuntu Linux 6.10 with GTK 2.10.6 -- as you can see, the modeline and fringe have stayed the same, but the menus and scrollbars are GTK widgets. The toolbar (when you have it enabled; I don't) also uses GTK widgets, though the icons are fixed, not bound to the current GTK icon theme. The menus can be torn off, and the toolbar can be moved. It runs well, and I've never had any problem with GTK integration (although I've only used it past version 22.0.50.1 -- before that I don't know).

Edit:

I also got XFT working recently under Emacs 23.0.0.1 and Xubuntu Feisty, so here is a screenshot of that as well. Variable-width fonts also work as expected; all of which make packages like AUCTeX and preview-latex look and work really cool. One issue I found is that unicode didn't display in the XFT font -- this it turned out was a problem with the fontset used for unicode glyphs and the font I was using on the display. It was fixed by using a different screen font (DejaVu instead of Bitstream) and adjusting the fontset for unicode glyphs to use this font. More on this on my GNU Emacs page.

Im using Ubuntu, and I want to start programming in C/C++. So i tried to install Anjuta from the repositories but i get these errors:
what did i do wrong?