Best UNIX/Linux C++ Editor

[kuphryn]

Hi.

The fall semester began at my college this week. I registered for a "special" class that is not about learning C++, but it is about working in teams to solve problems using C++. We enter into competitions statewide against other universities. So this is a pretty serious journey I am traveling.

We code in the UNIX environment. I have had previous experience with Linux including Red Hat and Debian. I do not have problems managing the OS. However, I have been using Visual C++ 6 and .NET only. I began using UNIX vi C++ editor this week. It is quite easy, but is tedious when it comes to coying and pasting.

Anyways, what is the best UNIX C++ editor?

Thanks,
Kuphryn

[sans-hubris]

Vim and Emacs both have some nice features for C/C++ coding.

[Gnu/Vince]

Vim is THE way to go:
- it has syntax highlighting for almost every language in existance
- it has automatic indentation for a lot of popular languages (C/C++, java, Ruby, Python, etc.)
- You are very likely to find help here
- The fact that it's a mode editor makes it that it doesn't use weird key combination like Emacs, and they are easier to remember
- The editing capabilities of Vim exceed those of Emacs

[sans-hubris]

Originally posted by Gnu/Vince:
<STRONG>- The editing capabilities of Vim exceed those of Emacs</STRONG>
Hmm... Not from what I could see. I'm not an Emacs fanatic or anything (I use Vim more often), but Emacs has so many things that cater to coders that even some Microsoft coders use it.
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/

Proof that Microsoft coders use Emacs: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnmag01/html/c0104.asp?frame=true (scroll to the bottom)

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: sans-hubris ]

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: sans-hubris ]

[Gnu/Vince]

I said editing, not actual features. With vim, you can combine edition commands (delete, change, yank) with a movement feature. This way, in vim you can delete 5 words this way: 5dw and you can change unil the end of that double quote with: ct"

[evilcartman]

Anjuta (http://anjuta.sourceforge.net) is a good choice too ;-)

[jemfinch]

Originally posted by Gnu/Vince:
I said editing, not actual features. With vim, you can combine edition commands (delete, change, yank) with a movement feature. This way, in vim you can delete 5 words this way: 5dw and you can change unil the end of that double quote with: ct"

You can give counts with emacs, too -- just C-&lt;a number&gt; and then your command.

Vim is a good editor, but emacs generally provides more IDE-like features, more features in general, and undoubtedly supports more obscure languages far better.

I, personally, use emacs in viper-mode, where it emulates vi but still gives me all the features of emacs.

Jeremy

[Gnu/Vince]

Originally posted by jemfinch:
<STRONG>
Vim is a good editor, but emacs generally provides more IDE-like features, more features in general, and undoubtedly supports more obscure languages far better.
</STRONG>

Yeah, but C/C++ are not too obscure :)



I, personally, use emacs in viper-mode, where it emulates vi but still gives me all the features of emacs.


I tried that, but two things bothered me:
1. Level: what's this thing?
2. There are some neat features in vim, like folding, scp editing, etc. which I like a LOT.

[kuphryn]

Thanks.

I see equal recommendations for gVIM, emacs, and nEDIT.

Kuphryn

[kmj]

Originally posted by sans-hubris:
<STRONG>
Hmm... Not from what I could see. I'm not an Emacs fanatic or anything (I use Vim more often), but Emacs has so many things that cater to coders that even some Microsoft coders use it.
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
</STRONG>

I'm willing to bet you'll find that MS coders use vim, too. In fact, doing a search for VisVim should find you a plugin so that you can integrate visual studio with vim.


I suggest you use vim, but that's only because I think it's the coolest thing ever, so I guess I'm biased.

[sans-hubris]

BTW, I've played around with KDevelop, and must say that it's Not Bad(TM). It works just like MSVC++, sans IntelliSense (but they're working on this, so give them a little time, and it will be there eventually.)

If you really, really, really liked MSVC++ under Windows, you'll like KDevelop, I promise.

Even if you're moving from Borland Builder, KDevelop lets you set it up so it will have an interface that's very similar to Borland's IDE (which I liked better than MSVC++, but their compiler sucked, IMHO.)

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: sans-hubris ]

[Dru Lee Parsec]

I use Jext from www.jext.org (http://www.jext.org) It's a very nice editor that looks a lot like the full GUI editors you're use to. It runs in Java so you will have to install either the Java Development Kit (JDK) for Linux or the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Linux. THe JRE is smaller. You only need the JDK if you're going to compile code in Java.

I suggest installing the Java 1.4 beta release. It fixes some serious GUI problems in Linux that still exist in the 1.3 version.

I just noticed that the 1.4 beta just went from beta to release candidate. The link to download the JDK is here: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/#linux Since it's not fcs yet (just a RC build) then you have to get the JDK and not just the JRE. (The JRE is included within the JDK)

I've used Jext every day for almost 3 years and it's a great editor.

Oh BTW, even though it's written in Java, you can use it to write C++ code. It has color syntaxing for C++, Java, Python, Ruby, HTML, ASP, and tons more. And you can customize the color syntaxing any way you want. There are also several plugins you can install to customize the behavior of your editor. I have so many plugins and customizations on my editor you'd hardly recognize it. ;)

[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: Dru Lee Parsec ]

[knavely]

anyone tried Forte?

[inkedmn]

you know, wars have started over threads like this... ;)

[kmj]

Originally posted by knavely:
<STRONG>anyone tried Forte?</STRONG>

I did, briefly. It seemed rather slow, so I stuck with vim and the *gag* NT command line.

[RTFM]

Vim, KDevelop, or nano. that order.

[kuphryn]

Thanks.

Turkey gave an insightful perspective to Vi vs. Emacs.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=33&threadid=701805 (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?
catid=33&threadid=701805)

He said Vi is faster. He said Emacs has more features.

Console: I think it is clear that more developers mentioned Vi and/or Vim. I have not used Vim. What is the difference between it and Vi?

X: I saw more developers mentioning NEdit. I have not used any X C++ editor. I have used Vi through X's console terminal, but that was the same as console.

Console? Use Vi (Vim?)
X? Use NEdit

Kuphryn

[TacKat]

VIM is Vi IMproved. Hence, it has more features and is just generally better. I don't think there are any distros that use Vi, most of them have Vim but symlink vi to it.

[wolfman8k]

:cool: slackware :cool: has vi

[Dru Lee Parsec]

anyone tried Forte?

I also found it to be fairly slow. I havn't tried KDevelop yet although I hear it's pretty nice. I must admit, that even with Jext, quite often when I want to do a quick and dirty edit of a prop file I'll just vi it. But I also admit that I never learned how to do cut, copy, paste in vi. :confused:

[kmj]

Originally posted by kuphryn:
<STRONG>
Console? Use Vi (Vim?)
X? Use NEdit
</STRONG>

Nah...

Console? Use Vim (there's no reason to use vi if you have vim.

X? Two choices:
i) fire up a consol and use vim
ii) use gVim (that's right, vim has a gui version)


nedit. hah!

just my opinion, of course.

[kmj]

Originally posted by Dru Lee Parsec:
<STRONG>... But I also admit that I never learned how to do cut, copy, paste in vi. :confused:</STRONG>

oh, my friend. :)

(cut, copy, paste) = (x, y, p)

:)

P is past before btw.
you may find it easier in vim to use visual mode (type v); this lets you hilight an area and cut, copy, paste it.

Of course, in vim there's a million other ways to do it.

[Strike]

Originally posted by wolfman8k:
<STRONG> :cool: slackware :cool: has vi</STRONG>

Actually, I believe it uses elvis

[evilcartman]

/me still thinks best ide is Anjuta

[Strogian]

Originally posted by Strike:
<STRONG>Actually, I believe it uses elvis</STRONG>

That's right. The one that's supposed to be the most like the original vi, I believe, is nvi. (I know you can install it in debian)

[kmj]

Originally posted by Strogian:
<STRONG>That's right. The one that's supposed to be the most like the original vi, I believe, is nvi. (I know you can install it in debian)</STRONG>

what do you mean by "most like the original vi"?

[Gnu/Vince]

Originally posted by kmj:
<STRONG>what do you mean by "most like the original vi"?</STRONG>

It's the one that's the most compatble with original vi. They just removed some limitations, fixed some bugs. But there are no big freatures. Not worth getting really if you can have vim.

[Energon]

So, of vim and emacs, which handles c&ping better?

[kmj]

Originally posted by Gnu/Vince:
<STRONG>It's the one that's the most compatble with original vi. They just removed some limitations, fixed some bugs. But there are no big freatures. Not worth getting really if you can have vim.</STRONG>

Well, vim is 100% compatible with vi, if you don't use 'nocompatible' mode, isn't it? Granted, I don't think many people would want to use 'nocompatible'.

Energon: I'm sure they're about the same, just different. I don't know how emacs does it.

[Strike]

Originally posted by kmj:
<STRONG>Well, vim is 100% compatible with vi, if you don't use 'nocompatible' mode, isn't it? Granted, I don't think many people would want to use 'nocompatible'.

Energon: I'm sure they're about the same, just different. I don't know how emacs does it.</STRONG>
No, but it's close. Like 99% compatible with vi. I forget what the one or two things missing are.

[kmj]

Originally posted by Strike:
<STRONG>
No, but it's close. Like 99% compatible with vi. I forget what the one or two things missing are.</STRONG>

Ah.