Hi all,

I recall back in the early 1990s when I did quite a bit of programming in C., via a GUI environment I used a Microsoft compiler and a Borland one. The Borland one was WAY superior the bloated, bug-ridden M$ version, which I quickly abandoned.

Anyway, times move on and there's been MUCH water under the bridge since then. I'm just wondering, which is the current most popular compiler for the C/C++ language? I mean a fully-featured GUI one with all the bells and whistles? Any recommendations?

thanks. cc.

The GNU Compiler Collection is what usually used in Linux. But that's just the compilers.

I think what you're asking about is a development environment, not necessarily the compiler behind it. I don't have much input for that, as I use vi and the make tools from the command line.

You seem to be confusing the terminology compiler and IDE, what you are actually asking about is an IDE. For windows I use Visual Studio and on occasions CodeBlocks, on linux when using an IDE and not just a text editor I use CodeBlocks and occasionally KDevelop and on a mac Xcode.

see below.

Yes, well that's what I meant. The complete deal; the fully monty, the compiler AND IDE. ISTR it was called an SDK at one time? Sorry for any confusion.

I use gcc + eclipse

I'm pretty sure Microsoft Visual C++ is the most popular. It certainly isn't the best. Intel sells a C++ compiler that is better than Visual C++ in both Windows32 and Windows64 (Intel also sells a Linux version).

In Win64, Mingw is, by most reasonable measures, a better C++ compiler than any version of Visual C++.

In Win32, the free GCC compilers (both Cygwin and Ming) are better than the free ("express") version of Visual C++ but worse than the professional version (The Intel compiler is better than all of them).

I hate every C++ IDE I've ever used. MS Visual Studio is the most full featured. It is also loaded with bugs, poorly documented and a constant source of frustration as I use it every day.

KDevelop is the one I've used second most. I have used it enough to see it isn't very beginner friendly and it is especially rotten about telling you either what packages its various features would depend on before you try to use them, or what packages or files are missing when you try to use a feature that breaks for lack of something. But I don't know whether after using it as much as I've used Visual Studio, would it still be a constant frustration as Visual Studio is, or would I learn my way around its flaws.

From an even lesser look, I concluded other IDEs are even weaker than KDevelop. But I could easily have missed something.

There is a sticky thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...e-ides-469623/ - choose one from there.

I absolutely loved IBMs VisualAge C++ for OS/2 back in the
day; far more than an IDE, mind you, more like a UML tool, come
IDE, come C++ compiler.



Cheers,
Tink

I seem to remember the debugger on the MS C was better.

well, if you want to relive the past there is
a clone of that good old borland IDE you remember...

xwpe

btw
you may want to look at the ddd debugger front end
which is rather good.

For UNIX Systems, the GNU GCC Compiler is very popular, and I believe, in some distributions, that you can even find it under your repositories. Also, please note that if you're using UNIX/Linux, or any other UNIX based system, a GCC Compiler comes pre-installed in your system.
To verify, Open Terminal, and type: "gcc"
If you get an output looking like this:
Then that means that your GCC Compiler is properly installed.

However, you seem to be asking for an IDE, or an environment where you can develop, compile, and debug your code all in one. Sort of, if that is the case, I have three recommendations, and they all seem to be pretty good once you learn how to use them effectively.

I have three recommendations:
Dev-Cpp.
Netbeans IDE.
Eclipse.

Listed, with some helpful links, here they are:

=======
Dev-Cpp (This one, I think, includes a compiler, and an IDE. However, most UNIX Systems already come with a compiler pre-installed.)
Dev-Cpp Main Website: http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
Dev-Cpp Downloads: http://www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html
=======

=======
Netbeans (This one has the availability of several compilers I think, and you can develop programs in a vast amount of languages with this IDE.)
Netbeans Main Website: http://www.netbeans.org/
Netbeans Downloads: http://www.netbeans.org/downloads/index.html
Netbeans Fully Blown (For Several Languages): http://www.netbeans.org/downloads/st...&version=6.7.1
However, to program in Java, you need to install your JDK's, in most UNIX/Linux Distributions, the Java JDK's are under your repositories.
=======

=======
Eclipse (This one also has the option to work for several languages, currently, I'm trying to use it to learn Objective-C Language, but I'm having problems with it... mostly my fault.)
Eclipse Main Website: http://www.eclipse.org/
Eclipse Downloads: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
And for C/C++ Developers
Eclipse C/C++ Download: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/dow...nux-gtk.tar.gz
=======

Now, I really do hope this info helps, and that I'm not too Off-Track.

Thanks,

MexDeath.

Anjuta and KDevelop are propably the best IDE's for common programming languages. QT has excellent tools, but very specific to QT (obviously). Eclipse has a good renomee, but it's much too large and complex for small projects IMHO. The best IDE on Linux that I've seen on Linux was the MetroWerks CodeWarrior port, but that was over a decade ago and it got abandoned quickly. By now CodeWarrior is completely history on all platforms. These days quite often text editors with project management facilities are also sometimes termed as IDE, but I think that is a stretch in most cases.

Linux

Yes, I use it quite frequently. But it's not suitable for development!
I don't actually need anything too fancy. Just be nice to see some color coding for the source and a nice step-through debugger. I don't plan on doing any window-orientated type stuff; just get back up to speed on the essentials.

Before I begin, lets note what jeromeNP7 said:
Now, back to you, well... a compiler is just a compiler, by itself. Therefore what you would be looking for is an IDE. As I said, there are several, and both Dev-Cpp, NetBeans, and Eclipse come with that color-coded... deal, they also have the nice step-through debuggers. I think the real difference is on preference, IMHO.

And, if you read my last post completely, I believe I covered that point:
There is one thing I'm not really understanding though: What do you mean by:
If you really want to "just get back up to speed on the essentials" all you need is a simple Text Editor, and a Terminal, problem is... you wont have any other nice debugger than the source-code, and your mind. As for the color-coded... deal, well... many Text Editors now come with that option, and they're free too. That's the way I like to do things when I work on something small... which is most of the time; A nice Text Editor, Compiler, and Terminal, I don't like IDE's that much, but they do help from time to time. But, again, since you want a nice debugger and stuff, I really do recommend one of those three IDE's that I showed ye mate.

You could also use Turbo C, but I think you have to pay for that one, I may be wrong. I feel I'm way off-track again. I do hope, however, that if I am, you will help me get back on track so I can help you out in your search. Hahaha.

Thanks,

MexDeath.

At the moment I'm just doing it all in nano. But that's a very minimalist 'environment' indeed. Fine for small chunks of code, of course, but when you start to get into hundreds or thousands of lines of source, really not practicable. That was the level I was at some 17 years ago and I want to get back to it.

Thanks for your steers. A lot of people have made an awful lot of suggestions, for which I'm grateful. It'll take me quite a while to check 'em all out!