IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

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Breakable
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IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by Breakable »

Hi,
I used to try to open up the vegastrike code from time to time to try to add or understand something. Recently I renewed my efforts using Ubuntu as a workstation. I tried to import the project using Eclipse, but failed, so as usual I installed the KDevelopeer (repository), and started analyzing code using grep.
It is really hard to work this way, when there is no reference search. I tried to debug the code using KDeveloper, but failed to attach the program, and when starting with it, it just crashes in the end. Also VS itself tends to crash/hang the system/gobble all the resources, and does not like to work when sound is enabled.
Today I tried to use Visual Studio. It seems a thousand times easier to build and debug. The system does not hang (using XP). Maybe its the extra 1 gb RAM?

I wonder what kind of IDE other developers use for VS? I also noticed one bug, that
<var name="unit_collision_docks" value="true"/>
<var name="only_hangar_collision_docks" value="false"/>
seems to work on windows, but not linux. What are your experiences?
Last edited by Breakable on Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
RedAdder
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by RedAdder »

I used Code::Blocks to compile VS on windows but it doesn't work as a debugger on that platform, so for debugging it is either back to plain g++ and gdb, or Visual Studio.
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by pheonixstorm »

Normally I would say whatever MS produces sucks.. but Visual Studio is one of the best enviornments to work in IMO, at least for windows development... Mostly it will depend on what you are trying to do. Cross-platform gui apps I would say go with QT since it started on *nix and has a nice interfact for windows as well as a nice ide that works as well as VS.

But, since this is compiling for VS (game) then its up in the air.. The only linux platform I used a lot was Gentoo and I compiled everything on it. Manual builds.. well, I didnt have enough time to get deep in make and all the other command line tools. I think thats why so many developers shy away from working off windows (other than pure market share)

I can't stand windows and would rather go back to linux but unfortuanately all the games i play don't play nice with wine :( and too few developers spend the time making a linux version (does DragonAge or NWN2 have a linux version?) For awhile I did play NWN on my gentoo setup and loved it. I have a older P4 that is currently dual boot.. may have to get an upadted copy of gentoo and tri boot. win2k xp and linux on one box :mrgreen:

Does anyone know if there is a visual studio type suite that will run on nearly any OS? If not I think its time someone made one... I know Devcpp runs under mingw and works real nice on windows but I dont know if there is a mac or linux build since its done in pascal.

Its a shame Borland and Watcom lost the compiler wars long long ago. Oh well, just my rantings... ignore if ya want! 8)
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by safemode »

Ubuntu likes to use pulseaudio, which is probably the source of your problems when using VS with audio enabled in linux.

As for a GUI development environment, i dont think you'll find any one answer that's going to make a Visual Studio user feel at home on the unix side of things.

I just use mc and a couple xterms (or xfce terminals ...whatever) to edit and compile and ddd to debug. Never liked ide's.
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by charlieg »

I guess this is a bit of a problem for VS, as many open source game enthusiasts tend to run Linux, so it raises the entry bar for code contributions because the project is so complex that without an IDE it can be very daunting.

From what I know, the options are:
- Anjuta
- Eclipse CDT
- KDevelop

It could just be a case of taking the plunge and somebody with C++ ability (er, safemode) makes VS 'happen' in one of the IDEs to make it easier for others to get into it.
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by safemode »

I mostly oppose using IDE's for my own work because i dont want to become dependent on a particular editor that may only exist supporting a certain version or subset of backend programs.

Basically, I dont want an IDE that has it's own build setup (they should use cmake or autoconf and build the program the same as if you were in a terminal doing it without the IDE)

I dont want an IDE that generates code for your convenience.

I dont want an IDE that would require a whole set of project files that would have to be maintained as the base code changed. We have that already in the autoconf/cmake files, any IDE worth using would be able to grep these files and generate "project files". "Projects" should simply be the various targets available to cmake and autoconf.

This way, if one person wants to use the IDE, it doesn't effect the build in any way different than if they used any non-IDE method, or another similarly neat IDE that doesn't try to shoehorn you into supporting it.

Basically, give me an editor that syntax highlights, numbers lines, identifies line number of closing / opening block markers (brackets, parenthesis, quotes etc) and ties that to something similar to DDD (or just opens DDD during runtime when needed, as ddd is awesome as it is) and I'll be happy. You can stick a little "compile" button in there that just executes make and maybe a little console window that lets you do any other configuring task manually (since recreating all the cmake/autoconf options in gui would be annoying) and set the current working dir. Find an IDE that does that.

I just use mc-edit (mc's internal editor) ...a bunch of terminals of that to support half of what i want ...and DDD for debugging (if you know your way around gdb, ddd is easy and powerful). No additional files that need to be supported, no vender lock in.
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by pheonixstorm »

If multi-edit and notepad++ ran under linux I would suggest thoose. I used to use multi-edit a lot for editing source files then hitting compile. I can't remember if it had its own make util or not.. and Notepad++ can be compiled with mingw though I have never looked to see if there is a source ditro for linux. I spend too much time on a win box to keep myself up to date on how things work linux side... :(
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by Deus Siddis »

RedAdder wrote:I used Code::Blocks to compile VS on windows but it doesn't work as a debugger on that platform, so for debugging it is either back to plain g++ and gdb, or Visual Studio.
Damn, how long has Code::Blocks' debugger been broken on window for? Is it something that's being worked on by its dev team?

I have been looking for a good cross platform open source IDE to start dabbling in C++, and Code::Blocks and MonoDevelop were the two that looked the best, but I guess this would count against the former.
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Re: IDE for linux? Is visual studio the best?

Post by TBeholder »

Code::Blocks is good, in that it does all basic functions and utilities (like search-in-files) and got a lot of plugins. I didn't quickly find how to make a project from SVN (rather than start new one) there, though (actually, simply adding files works, but you may want to keep the project file somewhere close to the local copy since that's the only base path it knows).
CodeLite is also good, except its strange relationship with clipboard.
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