What are your experiences with Code::Blocks?

Question

I looked at Code::Blocks and it certainly looks great for c++ development, I like it's multiplatform capabilities (runs everywhere), but I wanted to get your feedback.

Is it good/stable enough to be used in a professional environment?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi

I have tried Code::Blocks for windows and found below things about -

Pros:

1.) Supports and generates code using many compilers - GNU GCC for x86, GCC for ARM, MS-VS2005 compiler, ... many more(See list in Project Build options)

2.) Has decent source code browser with necessary stuff(syntax highlighting based on multiple programming language supported, Source code file statistics, like code lines, comment lines, blank lines- good for KLOC statistics of code)

3.)Has a decent debugger, in it to step, break, analyse the code and data for debugging

Cons: 1.) Per se i did not find any problems to point but found some glitches in code generation using this and at times faced some problems in executing the generated executable.

2.) The profiling tool is not so detailed and that great.

3.) There isnt a tool which gives a Call graph (caller-callee relation) .

Given all this,

So overall, my opinion is, if its possible, you can start it for smaller and easier projects, and get more familiar with it by finding more about the tool. Because u might have to spend equal time in finding out about the tool settings, plugins/add-ons for the tools, at same time while you are doing your development, so keep your main work of development relatively easier and less complex.

hope it helps,

-AD

Answer 2

I have used it in an environment where we were writing high performance text-parsing apps. Since we were trying different things with different compilers, It worked very well as and IDE.

And even with more complex and large projects it seems to work very well. I would recommend it for any standard library stuff, or if you want to develop on any of the big three (mac/windows/linux) it's supported on all of them.

Answer 3

You might want to know that they don't have an automatic way to convert their project-organization file (.cbp) into a makefile. There's supposedly a plugin for this but it's not part of the main package, and it looks like it hasn't been maintained for years. You could get Code::Blocks to use your own makefile, but then you would have to manually edit it for every new source file you add to your project.

Answer 4

I use it for personal projects and it works well with MINGW 4.4. My only annoyance with it is it will sometimes crash and disappear silently. One minute your are compiling something, the next minute it's gone. No explanation. At least it only happens while compiling so your source files are saved.