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

For someone coming from Visual Studio, all this commandline stuff might seem arcane and messy. Before you turn into a bash shell/vim/emacs junkie, try a few GUI based tools first so you have some transition time...

• QT 4.5 with its QT Creator mini-IDE. This is the best framework, lightyears ahead of the competition.
• Eclipse (C++) - From my experience with this on Windows, I find it's astounding ( This is probably the best Java application ever written )
• KDevelop
• Anjuta
• If you use Delphi, Lazarus/FreePascal is a good alternative.

I'm sure the longhairs will scoff and claim that vim or emacs gives them the best and fastest development environment, but different strokes for different folks. Someone accustomed to an IDE will take some time to switch or may not wish to switch at all. For all their editing prowess, creating GUI apps is certainly not a job for 80x25 tools. It takes years to become an expert with the command line side of things, its more of a transformation of worldview than anything else.