i am a beginner using eclipse CDT.
usually in DEVc++ or other lightweight IDE\'s we can directly open and edit a single .cpp file from desktop and run it.
I know eclipse has the ability to create a java scrap book, using this you can write a bit of java code and just run that code, with out having to setup any classes or main functions. You might want to look to see if eclipse has C++ scrap book in the New dialog box.