what's the best stable editor & compiler for c++ with gui & under linux? [closed]

Answer 1

I'm going to put my two cents in here. I really enjoy KATE (part of KDE). It's the editor used in KDevelop, but doesn't serve as an IDE. Rather, it has a built-in command-line, so you can issue the build commands yourself. On a project with Make or Scons or Bjam or something else set up (very easy to write a short Bjam file for your project), you can just issue the build command directly.

I like KATE because it has features of an IDE without the bloat. It doesn't have refactoring support, unfortunately, but it does have a symbol browser which I don't use enough.

Answer 2

I like to code with Emacs. It has a nice gui also for gdb. I recently made a snapshot while i worked on some code snippet (see below, it doesn't look like 1980 at all :).

That said, there are a lot of other fine IDEs. I like Eclipse for Java development, and heard it has a nice C++ plugin too (CDT). Netbeans also works for C++ since recently. KDevelop, an IDE for KDE supporting many languages, is currently being rewritten for KDE4: KDevelop Blog. Looks promising. Then there are some others where i cannot tell you how they are since i've not tested them, including Anjuta (for the Gnome desktop) and Code::Blocks (written with wxWidgets it's quite cross-platform). If all you want is a GUI for the compiler and a symbol browser, you could also use geany, which is very fast and includes an embedded terminal like KDevelop.

All of these have their ups and downs. Best try each out and then decide. From the stability point of view, i've found Emacs is very stable and never crashes, Eclipse is also very mature. Netbeans gets the third place. It sometimes hangs but overall it's also quite mature. KDevelop likes(ed) to crash from time to time, but big progress was made in this regard. Especially version 3.5 did make a big step forward and felt more mature than any version before.

Emacs editing some code:

Emacs debug session:

Answer 3

SciTE is a good "programmer's editor", and it was especially written for that purpose. The engine behind it, Scintilla, has also widespread use in IDEs. The de-facto compiler on Linux is GCC, and it's a very powerful and stable one, too. You should go for GCC 4 or later for better C++-Performance.

SciTE has basic support to integrate the compiler (push a button and see the compiler's output, rudimentary code completion,..), too. The most important thing about SciTE is, that you have to edit it's own config first to make it a comfortable editor. Many important features like line numbers, file tabs, restoring sessions, are disabled by default.

You also need to familiarize yourself with the (admittedly easy) Makefile format, so you can use make for building. SciTE + make are not a subsitute of a good IDE in any way, but if you don't want to use a full fledged IDE, they are surprisingly good at still keeping you productive.

Answer 4

When it comes to development in a Linux environment there are 2 ways you can choose from: If you want to manage your project in a all-in-one fashion, you should go for KDevelop.

It is the most advanced and stable IDE i have worked with so far (in a Linux environment). Code::Blocks, Eclipse CDT, Netbeans are very powerful as well, but from my experience KDevelop has everything the other IDEs have to offer and more. But you should checkout the other IDEs for yourself, since this is my opinion.

The second and more time-consuming way is to get to know the gnu development toolchain Moranar mentioned. gcc/g++, make, gdb/DDD, valgrind,(g)vim/scite ... .For testing purposes its also recommended to familiarize yourself with a scripting language like perl or bash script. It saves hell of a lot time ...

If you want to get the job done fast you should stick to the IDE solutions, but if you want to be a more complete, more capable developer go for the gnu toolchain. I haven't regret it so far.

p.s. if you choose scite as your editor, ask ypnos (the guy above me) for his config. It has everything you'll going to need and its easy on the eyes too :)