I'm aspiring to work in real-time 3D graphics. I work almost exclusively in C++, with a healthy smattering of win32. Realistically, do I have any sane alternatives?
+2
A:
Very possible, Qt is your friend. Qt Creator is in RC stage too so something to look forward to. Until then you can use it with something like Code::Blocks. Code::Blocks itself is a great environment alone, and also has a lot of support for wxWidgets. If you're just looking for an IDE change, as previously mentioned, Code::Blocks can use compilers from other IDE's as well.
-John
John T
2009-02-16 01:44:30
+4
A:
Depends...
Cygwin/Mingwin gives you a compiler. Qt or wxWidgets gives you a GUI toolkit that's easy to use and both are portable.
I agree with the question though. Visual Studio is a pig. Its debugger is pretty nice, but the rest is a pig to work with (particularly coming from a OSS background where the tools don't generally try to lock you in).
You could also look at nmake and calling the VC++ compiler tools directly from the command line.
Adam Hawes
2009-02-16 01:49:16
I dont understand what you mean by: "try to lock you in". I have the feeling I can let VS do whatever I want, to me VS seems very flexible and moldable.
Emile Vrijdags
2009-05-07 14:26:18
VS is great, so long as "whatever I want" fits with "whatever Microsoft wants". It can be customised but you're stuck with its interface, its project file format, its compiler, etc, and it's a lot of work to build your software if VS isn't available. Makefile-based projects using standard compiler tools make a lot more sense, particularly if you ever forsee taking your program away from Windows.
Adam Hawes
2009-05-11 00:11:36
+12
A:
You can use the MSVC compiler without the IDE. That's probably your best bet. It's a good compiler, and it is the de facto standard for Windows development.
That said, your question does sound like prejudice (or at least, like you haven't tried to learn to use the IDE) ;)
But there is definitely nothing wrong with ditching the IDE and simply using the compiler.
I believe the MSVC compiler can be used from the Code::Blocks IDE with no problems. Alternatively, invoking the compiler from the command-line is a tried and true approach too.
jalf
2009-02-16 01:49:42
+1
A:
Absolutely, but it's just a lot easier to use Microsoft's IDE to develop for a Microsoft operating system. When in Rome...
Eclipse is a good alternative.
Chris Ballance
2009-02-16 01:56:27
+7
A:
Eclipse: http://www.eclipse.org/
Code::Blocks is pretty cool: http://www.codeblocks.org/
Harold
2009-02-16 01:56:48
+2
A:
The Code::Blocks IDE comes with the MinGW C++ compiler and support for wxWidgits. The IDE is pretty minimalist which may or may not be what you are looking for - I really like it.
anon
2009-02-16 01:58:21
+4
A:
We use VC++ as a compiler / linker but use Jam to drive the builds. The actual Visual Studio is only used as a debugger. The benefit is that once we set up Jam to build a project in Windows, it takes minimal effort (frequently none) to get it working for Unix.
Graeme Perrow
2009-02-16 02:18:34
+1
A:
SlickEdit (or a number of other editors that support ctags or something similar) makes for a pretty decent 'IDE'.
You can use these editors with makefiles (or other build tools) to drive pretty much whatever compiler you want (MVCS, mingw, Comeau, Digital Mars, whatever).
A couple employers ago, that's exactly what we did. We used MS compilers driven by makefiles and the main editor used was SlickEdit. We used the Debugging Tools for Windows package for debugging (a lot of what we did was kernel-mode). Worked out pretty well.
Michael Burr
2009-02-16 03:47:32
A:
Wascana Desktop Developer is a distribution of Eclipse CDT configured specifically for developing on Windows.
Mike Kucera
2009-05-07 14:13:30