C++ development on linux - where do I start?

Question

I decided to leave my windows install behind and am now running Debian as my default OS. I have always coded in Windows and specifically with Visual Studio. I am currently t

Answer 1

Just a note to go with MandyK's answers.

Creating make files by hand is usually a very unportable way of building across linux distro's/unix variants. There are many build systems for auto generating make files, building without make files. GNU Autotools, Cmake, Scons, jam, etc.

Also to go more in depth about configure.

• Checks available compilers, libraries, system architecture.
• Makes sure your system matches the appropriate compatible package list.
• Lets you specify command line arguments to specialize your build, install path, option packages etc.
• Configure then generates an appropriate Makefile specific to your system.