LLVM C++ IDE for Windows

Question

Is there some C/C++ IDE for Windows, which is integrated with the LLVM compiler (and Clang C/C++ analyzer), just like modern Xcode do.

I have Dev-Cpp (it uses outdated GCC) and Code::Blocks (with some GCC). But GCC gives me very cryptic error messages. I want to get some more user-friendly error messages from the Clang frontend.

Yes, Clang was not able to be used with complex C++ code, but trunk Clang already can compile LLVM itself. So I wonder if is there any of LLVM IDEs in development or in beta versions.

Yes, I can use Clang as other compiler with GCC-compatible IDEs. But is there any IDE, that are integrated with Clang? Clang have a different output format, so the IDE must parse it. Clang can provide IDE parsing of sources. Clang has an analyze option, which must be supported in an IDE. Take a look, e.g http://iosdevelopertips.com/xcode/static-code-analysis-clang-and-xcode-3-2.html

And the most wanted feature of Clang - is smart auto-completion, so the IDE can suggest only syntaxilly-correct variants, e.g. list only fields of this struct, class.

Results: (merged from answers):

Eclipse with CDT>=8 and with https://code.google.com/archive/p/llvm4eclipsecdt/ plugin, from Petri Tuononen (no smart auto-completion)
Vim with vimrc from the LLVM project (smart completion only?) https://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/llvm/trunk/utils/vim/
Emacs with (smart completion only?) https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk/utils/clang-completion-mode.el
Qt Creator: https://blog.qt.io/blog/2011/10/19/qt-creator-and-clang/
CodeLite: http://www.codelite.org/LiteEditor/ClangIntegration35

I wonder if in the future, Emacs gains support for Clang. Btw there is an emacs minor-mode here https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk/utils/clang-completion-mode.el though I haven't tested it myself. — ustun, Jul 10 '10 at 11:22

Petri Tuononen · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-07T11:52:59.787

LLVM is supported in Eclipse CDT via plug-in (llvm4eclipsecdt). It is the only Windows supported IDE supporting LLVM as far as I know. I am the main author of the plug-in so you can ask any questions related to it.

The plug-in offers the basic functionality for Clang and llvm-gcc compilation and support Linux and Windows (w/ Cygwin & MiNGW). LLVM tools such as assembler, archiver, linker, and static compiler (llc) are configured and can be customized via UI. The plug-in offers all the benefits that IDE can offer such as easy configuration and building with one action.

The only drawback is that it is not ready yet as it lacks of some of the advanced features that LLVM can offer such as Clang analyze and smart auto-completion. The plug-in is also not tested well and may not work perfectly therefore I hope I can get user feedback via mailing list found from Google code development site (listed below). I wish I had time to develop it further. I only develop it in my spare time, which is very limited. I welcome any developers to participate and contribute to the project.

Development site:
~~http://code.google.com/p/llvm4eclipsecdt/~~
https://github.com/TuononenP/llvm4eclipsecdt

Eclipse marketplace (100% free & open-source):
~~http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/llvm-toolchain-eclipse-cdt~~

UPDATE: The plugin is deprecated. Instead install "C/C++ LLVM-Family Compiler Build Support" under Programming Languages using the official Eclipse update site e.g. http://download.eclipse.org/releases/mars

Hi. Glad to see you here! You say "MinGW binaries are provided for LLVM and front-ends" - can you add (here or on google-code site) a link to mingw binaries of LLVM? — osgx, May 12 '11 at 14:07
Also, about thesis from your blog. clang is not for ada or fortran: "For other languages, including Java, Fortran and Ada, LLVM remains dependent on GCC" — osgx, May 12 '11 at 14:19
You can get mingw binaries for LLVM 2.9 from here: http://llvm.org/releases/download.html#2.9 — Petri Tuononen, May 13 '11 at 07:58
Good note: you're right that LLVM-GCC is for other languages. I should have written that "LLVM compiles" with no specific front-end mentioned but I will remove Fortran and Ada from the abstract. — Petri Tuononen, May 13 '11 at 08:03
You can also integrate the LLVM compiler with the Microsoft VS. Here is the link http://llvm.org/docs/GettingStartedVS.html. hope this helps. — Krishna Oza, Aug 27 '14 at 05:09

score 21 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 02 '11 at 15:48

LLVM contributor Dan Gohman recently added Clang code completion to vim.

http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/llvm/trunk/utils/vim/vimrc is intended for use in developing LLVM itself and helps with the LLVM coding style, but the code completion portion should be easy enough to extract.

Yeah, yeah, vim isn't an IDE, but it may be useful to know about.

[edit] https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk/utils/clang-completion-mode.el provides a similar option for emacs.

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 01 '17 at 09:53

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Qt Creator works also with Clang...

edited Apr 01 '17 at 09:53

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 25 '12 at 09:46

Kokizzu

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Thanks, added to question. Can you say, from which version of QTcreator there is the support of clang? – osgx Mar 25 '12 at 22:15
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2.4.1 would do.. on linux, you don't have to add clang tool chain manually.. here's the info how to add the toolchain if you're using windows: http://doc.qt.nokia.com/qtcreator-2.4/creator-tool-chains.html – Kokizzu Mar 26 '12 at 01:47
but it is only using it for auto complete and parsing – James Harper Aug 26 '14 at 06:51

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 10 '13 at 09:28

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Now they are adding support for Visual Studio link. It can be downloaded here.

answered Sep 10 '13 at 09:28

relaxxx

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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 16:33

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Also, CodeLite has Clang backend for smart code completion. See Using clang code-completion with CodeLite.

CodeLite is available for Windows, however, I haven't tested it under Windows yet.

answered Sep 04 '12 at 16:33

Michał Wróbel

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Paul Fultz II · Answer 6 · 2010-12-24T14:59:16.190

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There isn't one for windows. But if you want smart auto-completion, netbeans has one of the best code completions for C++. It parses macros, generic containers, and smart pointers. Plus it provides refactoring, code insertion of constructors and getters and setters. It works really well. However, since it still uses a separate parser for C++, it doesn't catch as many errors as the compiler does.

Netbeans for java is integrated in with the compiler, so it gives errors and warnings as you type, as well as syntactically correct code completion. So, netbeans will very likely in the future integrate with clang to provide the same kind of features for C++.

edited Dec 24 '10 at 14:59

answered Dec 24 '10 at 04:48

Paul Fultz II

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how does netbeans parse the source? Which C/C++ frontend does it use? – osgx Dec 24 '10 at 05:01
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Yes netbeans parses the source itself for code completion. Perhaps in the future they will use clang for parsing, but that hasn't been integrated in yet. You can select different compilers for netbeans gcc or clang. I havent tried it with clang yet. – Paul Fultz II Dec 24 '10 at 14:45

score 5 · Answer 7 · edited Nov 02 '11 at 15:52

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LLVM support has been added to Eclipse: http://marketplace.eclipse.org/node/28778

edited Nov 02 '11 at 15:52

osgx

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answered Mar 14 '11 at 08:09

Leo Hippeläinen

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Good, but is clang auto-completion integrated with eclipse too? – osgx Mar 14 '11 at 12:50

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 08 '12 at 09:26

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May I add SublimeText 2? It already has a plugin SublimeClang that supports clang based smart code-completion.

answered Jul 08 '12 at 09:26

Hindol

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About plugin: "providing auto complete suggestions for C/C++/ObjC/ObjC++. It'll also optionally parse the code as it's typed and show errors and warnings." – osgx Jul 08 '12 at 14:41
***DISCONTINUED*** – Johan Boulé Apr 26 '16 at 00:46
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[EasyClangComplete](https://packagecontrol.io/packages/EasyClangComplete) for Sublime 3 instead. – sunny moon Nov 16 '18 at 04:29

Paweł Bylica · Answer 9 · 2014-01-28T08:21:48.277

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LLVM provides Windows snapshot builds - a clang toolset for Visual Studio as Windows installer. Currently it should integrate with Visual Studio 2010, 2012 and 2013. More information can be found on LLVM's blog post A path forward for an LLVM toolchain on Windows.

edited Jan 28 '14 at 08:21

answered Sep 29 '13 at 23:11

Paweł Bylica

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score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 22 '17 at 09:08

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KDevelop for Windows is another option. While still in early stages there (you currently need to set up the environment to be able to use MSVC/MinGW compilers yourself), it's usable and brings the awesome code comprehension of the IDE to Windows.

https://www.kdevelop.org/features

answered Nov 22 '17 at 09:08

kfunk

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KDevelop works well with the llvm-mingw compiler in my winlua toolchain but I am still working on debugger support: http://winlua.net – Dinsdale Feb 15 '21 at 07:46

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 21 '10 at 19:10

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Clang has a driver that's (at least supposed to be) a direct substitute for gcc, so essentially any IDE that can use gcc as its compiler should be able to use clang as its compiler as well (though I haven't tested it personally, so I can't really vouch for how well it works).

answered Mar 21 '10 at 19:10

Jerry Coffin

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But won't be able to use any features that are in addition to the standard toolset, such as code-analysis and tab-completion. – Mooing Duck Sep 04 '12 at 16:48

score 3 · Answer 12 · answered May 07 '10 at 06:41

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No.

Only xcode has minimal clang support currently. If you want to use clang static analysis on windows you'll have to do it through the CLI.

answered May 07 '10 at 06:41

Arelius

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This kind of answer/questions should have a timeout.. ( meta topic ) – Hernán Eche Nov 02 '10 at 18:58
Hernán Eche, yes, but I can change the accepted answer anytime. You can ask me if you feels that situation is changed and the answer is "Yes" – osgx Nov 08 '10 at 17:22

sunny moon · Answer 13 · 2019-11-27T13:25:03.620

Not quite an IDE, but kind of a crossover between IDE and plain editor, a usable alternative for those who don't mind writing configs by hand: a combo of Sublime Text 3 editor and EasyClangComplete plugin (plus Clang Format to keep your code neat and tidy). Works well on Windows thanks to recent efforts to make LLVM MSVC-compatible (Clang-cl is also capable of generating compatible .PDBs as of 2018, which is crucial for debugging).

Update: As of 2019, a much better and future-proof alternative to EasyClangComplete is using Clangd via LSP plugin.

LLVM C++ IDE for Windows

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