Re: Which GUI IDE &/or Framework for newbie C/C++ Windows Dev?

[David Brown <david dot brown at hesbynett dot no>]

On 05/03/12 00:11, Mel_3 wrote:
> The project will be developed on a Windows machine and it will be the
> development of a normal Windows GUI type Application.
>
> 1 - Which IDE&/or Framework do you guys suggest I start with for a Windows
> Project? Eclipse, Code Blocks, minGW or what?
>
> 1a - Actually that brings up another question... if developing on a Windows
> machine... must I use the minGW port of VCC? I'm a little confused as I
> thought there was a version of VCC that would run right on a MS Windows
> machine... or is that in fact minGW? And, is minGW as developed as VCC?
>
> 2 - Do all of these IDE's have debuggers that can set Break Points, create
> Watches, and have an Immediate Window for evaluating variables or whatever?
>
> 3 - Any pro's&  con's would be helpful as I hate to get started with one to
> &  find out later I blew days or weeks on the wrong one :)
>
> Thanks for the help. I'm excited about working with the GCC compiler.

This mailing list is for gcc, not IDEs or frameworks.  gcc is the 
compiler, and just the compiler - you are looking for an IDE, debugger, 
gui framework, libraries, etc.  These will all use gcc as the compiler - 
but that is just part of the package (albeit a critical part).  You 
might get a few hints about where to look (such as in this post), but 
you'll be better off looking and asking elsewhere.

Wikipedia has some lists and comparisons of IDEs and frameworks.  A lot 
of people use Eclipse as a powerful editor - but others find it too big, 
slow and bulky.  There are others that are more geared towards 
development with particular frameworks (and come with built-in tools for 
them), and there are some that come with minGW in their windows packages 
to make life easier for windows users.

I don't know what you mean by "VCC", but there are two main ports of gcc 
for Windows.  One is part of cygwin, which aims to be an as complete as 
possible posix compatibility layer for windows, and comes with a huge 
range of Linux-style software.  It provides the best compatibility, but 
can be slow and bulky, and always feels a bit alien in windows.  If you 
feel you need a lot of cygwin, you are probably better off switching to 
Linux (you won't look back).  The other port is minGW, which aims to be 
more light-weight and is faster and closer to "native" in windows.  It 
works well with the tools from msys.

Any open-source IDE will use gdb as its debugger, but provide a nice gui 
interface.  It will support all the features you are looking for.

mvh.,

David