What is the good cross platform C++ IDE?

Question

It needs to have good code completion support, debugger, and a nice way to browse code (click to go to documentation).

Since I got spoiled by Java IDEs (Eclipse), it would be cool if it supported refactoring, reference search and some form of on the fly compilation, but maybe I'm asking too much.

So far I tried Eclipse C++ plugin, Qt Creator and Code Blocks. Eclipse plugin feels sluggish, Code Blocks has much worse completion then Qt Creator and Qt Creator is great for Qt stuff, but kinda hard to use for free form projects.

What are other options and first hand experience with them, since trying something for few hours and using something on a daily basis are two different things?

Strangely enough, this question has been asked herec about a million times before. Google for "site:stackoverflow.com cross platform c++ ide" to get a long, long list. — , Jun 04 '09 at 12:49
When I stared typing "suggested questions" list didn't show anything relevant. — Marko, Jun 04 '09 at 13:20
@Marko, "Since I got spoiled by Java IDEs (Eclipse)" well if you like Eclipse... you should use it for your C/C++ development also. That way all your Eclipse skills will transfer. — Trevor Boyd Smith, Jun 04 '09 at 14:03
@Trevor - I already explained that I relied on (badly implemented) suggestions when typing question. If I have to use google instad, why site itself is not using google. You can either vote for close or complain to site owners about better suggestions. Anyways, insulting is not a civilized option used by civilized human beings. I will not close the question since it contains valuable answers. — Marko, Jun 04 '09 at 14:36

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 04 '09 at 12:54

I have been using Code Lite for some time now. It provides support for auto completion. It has a code explorer and outline, though I find myself using "find resource" to open files. It has a plugin for UnitTest++ and some primitive refactoring capabilities.

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score 6 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

I'm very happy with Eclipse. It's not fast, but if you get a good enough workstation, it runs just fine, and considering how much your time is worth, a good workstation is actually pretty cheap. It also has a feature list a mile long (good features, not just bullet points), which I tried to summarize in this answer. It's also being actively developed; CDT 5.0 is a huge improvement over 4.0, and the next version (due out this month) adds even more nifty features (like syntax highlighting that can distinguish between overloaded and non-overloaded operators).

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 16:10

With some tweaking, you can turn VIM into a very good IDE. You can enable tabs for multiple source files in a single buffer, code navigation, and even auto-completion. The example below is for python, but the ideas apply to C++ as well.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/guides/2009/05/vim-made-easy-how-to-get-your-favorite-ide-features-in-vim.ars

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

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recently I did some research for a good C++ Crossplatform IDE:

* Eclipse Galileo with CDT Plugin
* NetBeans 6.7 (which is also the base for the SunStudio IDE)
* CodeBlocks 8.02
* CodeLite 2.x

After all I have decided to use CodeLite 2.x.

Please see this permalink for a Summary: ide discussion

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Nov 22 '09 at 22:44

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 13:57

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Use EMACS. M + / gives you all possible completion from the opened buffers. It has got nice integration with GDB as well.

answered Jun 04 '09 at 13:57

Navaneeth K N

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I prefer XEMACS.... because sometimes selecting text and copy'ing between windows/desktops is much more intuitive with a mouse. – Ape-inago Jun 05 '09 at 02:00
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(setf x-select-enable-clipboard t) – Marko Jun 05 '09 at 08:08

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 18:31

I use plan9port's Acme. It only does a few things itself, but provides a very good interface to let any command-line program process any text from any of the tiled windows. So, instead of building all functionality into the editor (eg Emacs), it outsources just about all of it to command-line programs---actually more numerous and written in languages better suited to the tasks at hand than the editor's language (even Lisp).

http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch13s02.html is "A Tale of Five Editors" (read Wily as Acme), from The Art of Unix Programming by Eric S. Raymond.

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 05 '09 at 01:38

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QTCreator rawks and has a great set of libs that are also cross platform.

answered Jun 05 '09 at 01:38

tim

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Ape-inago · Answer 8 · 2009-06-05T01:57:16.020

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I'm a fan of 'Code::Blocks'

Code::Blocks is a free C++ IDE built to meet the most demanding needs of its users. It is designed to be very extensible and fully configurable.

Finally, an IDE with all the features you need, having a consistent look, feel and operation across platforms. - (the site)

Their latest release has been amazing... For a while it was difficult to get it since they only had the RC on their main site. Now that it's been released proper (not just dev snapshots), its much easier to get.

built in Astyle, code completion, and multi-compiler support, all cross platform w/ wxwidgets.

edited Jun 05 '09 at 01:57

answered Jun 05 '09 at 01:45

Ape-inago

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For quick things, and most of my other programming/web-design stuff, I use notepad++ – Ape-inago Jun 05 '09 at 02:00
I use Code::Blocks I absolutely love it. – wakingrufus Jun 05 '09 at 02:26

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 03 '12 at 07:14

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You can use the Ultimate++ framework It is a C++ cross platform framework with a great IDE you can develop visual UI applications

please visit http://www.ultimatepp.org

answered Jan 03 '12 at 07:14

Mahdi

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 12:53

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Anjuta might have Windows port:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjuta

answered Jun 04 '09 at 12:53

Aiden Bell

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There is a cygwin port, but I prefer native ones. It's a pity, Anjuta is really great :-( – Milan Jun 04 '09 at 13:05
Forgot to add, I usually use Anjuta inside an Ubuntu VM running on Windows XP. – Milan Jun 04 '09 at 13:06
Short of VCS (which is bloated IMHO), switching to Linux is sometimes a good decision for a cross-platform developer. Mind you, I used VIM and occasionally gedit (which is awesome). – Aiden Bell Jun 04 '09 at 13:20

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 12:57

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SlickEdit is quite good and available for most platforms.

answered Jun 04 '09 at 12:57

Viktor Sehr

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Vim doesn't quite meet all of my IDE needs(project management, switching between files/projects, one button builds for rapid iteration, etc) I've found slickedit support these features and has good vim emulation (not great but honestly not even vim has great vim emulation). – deft_code Nov 05 '09 at 00:14

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 13:01

I've recently discovered NetBeans for C++. In the past C++ support in NetBeans has been lacking, but the 6.5 version has improved greatly. If you setup your project following guidelines on the NetBeans site, then code completion and debugging work well in Linux with g++ & gdb. I've not tried using NetBeans for C++ on Windows, but I don't think there would be an issue using DevC++, Ming or cygwin with g++ for compilation.

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 13 '09 at 15:29

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I'm currently giving Geany a try on gnu/linux, and so far I'm loving it! :] I would otherwise be using Netbeans for C++, but there seems to be a few nasty bugs with their most recent release. Geany gets the job done, at least for now.

answered Oct 13 '09 at 15:29

yizzy

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jun 10 '09 at 08:29

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NEdit along with this package:

http://code.google.com/p/nedit-macro-kit/

It's cross platform, cross language and customization-friendly.

answered Jun 10 '09 at 08:29

What is the good cross platform C++ IDE?

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