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

Recommendations for code editors? I am currently using nano and I've heard of vim and emacs, but don't know what the benefits of them are over eachother. Are there any others, and why would I consider them over any of the previous three? Note: I am not looking for an IDE.

Vi and Emacs are the two quintessential Unix editors; if you are set on using a text editor rather than an IDE, one of them or their derivatives (vim, xemacs, etc) is the way to go. Both support syntax highlighting and all sorts of features, either by default or via extensions. The best part about these editors is the extensibility they offer; emacs via a variety of lisp, and vim via its own scripting language.

I personally use Emacs, so I can't say much about Vim, but you should be able to find lots of information about both online. Emacs has several good tutorials and references, including this one.

EDIT [Dec 2014]: There seems to be a trend of cross-platform and highly extendable editors recently. This could be a good choice if you'd like something less than an IDE, but more graphical than vi/emacs and native-feeling across multiple platforms. I recommend looking at Sublime or Atom; both of these work across Windows/Linux/Mac and have great communities of plugins and themes.