Good C IDE for Mac?

Question

I've just started a job where I'm programming in C on a Mac, which is my first experience using a Mac for development. For now I'm using XCode as my editor, then using make/gcc/svn at the command line for compiling and source control.

Is there a good, full featured IDE out there for Macs that will compile C code (something comparable to VS would be ideal), or should I stick with these low level tools?

EDIT: so I called XCode a "low level tool" because I was under the impression that it was just a text editor for code, like gvim. I will definitely look into it's compiling/source control features.

Answer 1

Xcode can manage project and compile for you as any IDE. But if you're familiar with CLI, I would recommand you to use a good editor and your usual build tools. Emacs and vim are available on os x (using xcode just for its editor is not ideal). Many mac dev love the excellent TextMate editor, but it is not a free (as in freedom) software.

Answer 2

You can also try Eclipse with the CDT plugin.

Answer 3

Good ide: Xcode

Good non-ide option: vim/make/gcc

Answer 4

Remember that Objective-C is a superset of C (a pretty pure one, if I recall correctly). You should be able to use XCode for editing, compiling, and debugging.

Here's one solution (which tells you to create a C++ project, then rename main.cpp to main.c)... http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~s70201/C%5FIn%5FXcode/Xcode%5FTutorial.html

Answer 5

Textmate == Awesome

Answer 6

I think it would make the most sense if you explained what you felt you were missing with Xcode; Xcode meets all the requirements you have stated. It has an editor, debugger, the target configuration is extremely flexible. It doesn't have all the high level VS 'wizardry' - but it sounds like you don't need it.

For C based work, I use Xcode, TextMate, and Eclipse the most.

Answer 7

Obviously 'good' is a subjective decision, but Xcode 3.2 is certainly up to par with what you can do in VisualStudio (if one considers VS good, is another thing of course).

I have a project with 250000+ lines of codes, 10 dylibs, helpfile, all in an SVN (Perforce) etc. and hardly ever go outside Xocde.

Xcode has a few peculiar ways to do some things and the debugger is not quite as powerful as the current one in VisualStudio, but overall there's hardly anything you can not do from within the IDE (and the options to adjust the shortcuts within the IDE, Debugger and Editor to your needs are really awesome).