A Good IDE
Community Forums/General Help/A Good IDE
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| Just wondered what peeps like in an IDE for coding - or don't like. |
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| ease of use |
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| Code Folding |
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| ease of use Definitely! Code Folding I guess so, but not such a requirement if people split their projects over multiple files...depends on project size I guess. |
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| Simple project management (basically I love the way IDEal does it, with just one level of files controlled by a config rather than automatically detected). I really hate tools that make the projects (or "solutions") so ludicrously overcomplicated that you couldn't build the project yourself from the command line in a few commands if you wanted (I don't necessarily want to actually do so - what I want is to have a complete understanding of the build process, which some environments try to deny you). Autocomplete's also An IDE can also make up for missing language features by analysing your code in ways the original compiler may not; e.g. IDEal's Strict mode for Blitz Classic, or Eclipse's step-by-step macro expansion (which is amazingly powerful, it can actually unravel extremely deep metaprograms), or case-correction so that you can use a case-sensitive language without fear of typos (optional, of course, so everyone is happy). This sort of thing always wins points for being considerate to the existing language users. A reformatting tool is a big plus, so you can inherit someone else's code and hit one button to make it indented and spaced like your own; and refactoring tools are more advanced but extremely useful ("rename" is probably the most useful and it's not much more complicated than basic IDE stuff anyway). A good plugin system is pretty much essential, too, so that the community can add features (even if it's as simple as "syntax highlighting for new languages"). The spirit of it basically is that it shouldn't get in your way. In my opinion you should feel comfortable and able to do anything you would "normally" do without an IDE, but the IDE just makes it easier. If the IDE takes over (gah Visual ***ing Studio), it has utterly failed in its principal task of simplifying your work. Amusingly this kinda implies that an important feature is the 80% of features you never use, because if they can exist but not get in your way, the IDE was designed correctly. |
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| To many IDE's I use these days crash or do something that loses data, all I want is a stable IDE that doesnt lose anything :D |
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| Yes stability, that should always be the case. Yasha, some good comments and suggestions there. A reformatting tool is a big plus, so you can inherit someone else's code and hit one button to make it indented and spaced like your own Now that is a good idea! What about the visual look and feel? |
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| likes: auto correct code folding code tree syntax highlighting file viewer auto spacing code2comment minimalist IDE author/version information support ability to add your own syntax/compiler support for gcc/g++ dislikes: bulky interface (toolbars, buttons everywhere, etc) MS VS++ restrictions dislikes: non-commercial/personal-use only editors (some GPL editors) please don't trash me for making lists like this. :) |
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| Speed. A good IDE should handle large source files with little or no keyboard lag. There's nothing more annoying especially when trying to cut and paste. |
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| lol lists are welcome CaptainWicker :) And yes I particularly agree with your first dislike - a bulky interface (toolbars, buttons everywhere, etc). Well I think speed and stability are the top 2 priorities for an IDE. |
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| I cannot stand Microsoft VS nowadays. It's so bloated with all the extraneous eb-content and so on. Plus the way how any project likes to hoard over media files means that any external alteration to those media files and the whole project is affected, even if code changes reflect the file changes perfectly - if they haven't been altered in and via VS then VS wont allow you to easily update. I love simplicity but with some HELPFUL features, such as IDEal's popup list for Functions/Variables, Being able to jump to declarations and an intuitive Find/Replace. Highlighting of errors such as mismatched brackets and text colours are nice too - I like to be able to make my own mistakes, and be shown where they are rather than have something try to force its corrections. Essentially, I would say that a buggy and/or awkward IDE is counterproductive. The purpose of an IDE is to help efficate development, providing the tools and environment suitable for development processes - not to introduce complexity and difficulty but to alleviate such |
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| CodeBlocker is simple IDE as all he should go for Speed Stability Documents - Very Important to look what Commands are with Code example does help! Indent Code(which mean will tidy the code up for ya if you being so LAZY! Amos did have that!) |
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| i think you mean code::blocks, not codeblocker.. :) |
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| code::blocks? That Correct Mr Captain Wickerrrrrrrr :-p |
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| Code blocks is awesome. Indent Code(which mean will tidy the code up for ya if you being so LAZY! Amos did have that!) I think some programmers really need this lol. Useful feature...and Amos does sound like a powerful and well thought out language from what I've heard. |
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| I like the way IDeaL works for Blitz3D and BlitzPlus in one package.Plus it is FREE,which is always good for everyone. |
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| BLIde. Nothing else matters. |
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| BLIde. Nothing else matters. Isn't it Blitz only? |
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| IDeal does look good, BLIde - why specifically Gfk? Isn't it Blitz only? I'm not writing an IDE for Blitz. |
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| I'm not writing an IDE for Blitz. I know. :) |
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| BLIde is a great IDE for BlitzMax. If you need more than just BlitzMax support, then you may need something else. But BLIde seems to do everything you might need for BlitzMax only. |
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| I have all the free IDEs installed on my PC. IDEAL Blitz IDE: http://www.fungamesfactory.com/ PROTEIN Editor: http://www.nullcity.com/Posts/Show/ProteanIDE (Runs just fine in my Windows 7, despite their warning that "..note that Protean IDE crashes under Windows Vista/Windows 7".) CollIDE BlitzMAx IDE: http://code.google.com/p/blitzcoderide/  ( I don't use this, both because I don't use Blitzmax much, and I don't understand German. ) My favorite B3D IDE remains the simple IDE that is the original; It's color theme and fonts are nice. The drawback is that it won't automatically reload your last files, you've got to remember them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Related Topics:] old free beta version of the Visual Blitz IDE http://www.blitzmax.com/Community/posts.php?topic=99230 What's the Best Blitz3d Ide? (post started 8 years ago) http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=41798 |
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| I mainly use Eclipse(Java), monodevelop(C# on linux/osx & for unity), visual studio(C# on win) and codeblocks(C++), Netbeans (php/html/js), visualBlitz (b3d) & jEdit(monkey). I would say my -must- haves include full intellisense, refactoring, tools like encapsulate fields & fast implementation/extraction of field/method/class/interface etc..., fast component navigation, code coloring (both code items and themes.. i like a dark theme) and integrated debugging. Oh and code/region folding and code beautification is nice too, but not essential. :) |
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| Code::Blocks is a nice full-featured IDE. Delphi had a great one too IIRC. Simplicity in the project properties(if possible). Simplicity in general, a lot of IDEs seem to add screen clutter over time? Good multi-file support. Toolbar and keyboard customisation. Code folding is nice. Not strictly the IDE but a good context sensitive help system, with links to each command, params, with a short description, long description, an example source snip-it and links to other relevant commands. BTW what language so to intend to support Steve? |
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| BTW what language so to intend to support Steve? Just my own :) |
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| Ah cool, GL with that! :D |
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| If we're recommending existing IDEs, either for use or as examples, I'll step back in and add a couple: -- Eclipse is the god of IDEs. You should seriously consider whether your language would benefit from an Eclipse plugin rather than something standalone. Eclipse does pretty much everything. Its main drawback is size, though; "everything" does come at a price. -- For lightweight work, I really like the minimalist editor Geany. Reminds me of the fun times had with the old Blitz3D IDE. It does very little, but maybe you only want - or need - very little. I tend to find that if I can't keep mental track of my C code in Geany it probably wasn't worth keeping anyway. -- For JavaScript an interesting newcomer to the game definitely worth taking a look at is VMWare's "Scripted". Lightweight, but extremely useful. |
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| I lean towards the minimalist approach - well my language is based on that very philosophy. So Geany seems like another I need to try Yasha (thanks). Although your other recommendation...I'll take a look. I was taken aback by trying notepad++ for the first time recently and how remarkably it looks like what I have. Code blocks is what I use to code, so yes, I agree there. Ian, I've yet to code any GL lol. The books and code I'm familiar with is DirectX 9. On the plus side, Opengl does seem to run quicker, but sometimes some glitches on Windows systems. And also it's just a render system, and a bit cobbled together. For instance, a coherent model load structure seems to require another library or write your own? At least DirectX gets you up and running out-of-the-box with a built-in .x model type to load...But something for next time perhaps...Currently I'm working towards Windows and later Android. |
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I have Eclipse, CodeBlocked, and NetBeans installed, but I don't know how to use any of them.  |
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| For the sake of pronunciation, it's CODE::BLOCKS!!!! hehe ;) |
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| I also like WXDevC++. |
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| Since I've been looking at this hard the past couple of days, I'm very surprised there aren't more options available. Code::Blocks seems pretty flawed to me and I'm not sure they are still updating it (at least for Windows). When I import a solution, it generates a bunch of files in the same folder. If I try to import again, it asks if I want to overwrite them - one at a time - no 'overwrite all' option! Also, I installed Code::Blocks in Win 8, then uninstalled it and installed again and my 'recently opened files' were still there - meaning the uninstall didn't clean up after itself! Having said that, I really don't know of a better option. :( |
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| Code::Blocks seems pretty flawed to me and I'm not sure they are still updating it It's still being update check out the nightly builds. Not sure when the next stable release is due.Comparison of integrated development environments |
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| It's still being update check out the nightly builds. Only for Linux. That comparison is interesting, though. EDIT: Okay, maybe "flawed" is a bit harsh. It's generally pretty nice and you can't beat free. I'd be willing to pay for it if there were more frequent updates and they fixed a few things. :) |
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| For the sake of pronunciation, it's CODE::BLOCKS!!!! Potayto tomato potato tomayto! |
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