[IDE] Best free IDE for win app

[Avatar Viper]

any recommendation here for installing to vista :)

[Ricardo Gil]

Visual Studio Express.

[magik]

Depends, what language?

In general, Visual Studio Express is great, another good alternative is Eclipse.

For Java take a look at netBeans.

[Calum Veteran]

Visual Studio Express for Visual Basic, C++ or C#.

Eclipse for Java.

SciTE for Python.

For web developing, I tend to use Komodo Edit - this is really good for XHTML/HTML, CSS, JavaScript, php & a range of other web design & programming languages. I use it mainly so I can easily access files on my university's server, but I also think it is better than Notepad++ or TextPad anyway.

[IceBreakerG]

I agree with cJr. There are express versions for VB.NET, C# .NET, C++ .NET, ASP.NET (Visual Web Developer) and SQL Server Express as well. I'd also recommend Eclipse for Java. Eclipse is cool because you can get plugins for other languages as well, like Javascript.

[Calum Veteran]

Also on Eclipse, the IDE compiles in real-time, so errors pop up straight away, before you run the program. That's a very handy feature ;)

[Elv13]

Qt GreenHouse for C++ + Qt, It is new and it is easy

[Rudy]

Visual Studio Express for Visual Basic, C++ or C#.

Eclipse for Java.

SciTE for Python.

+1

[Rudy]

Qt GreenHouse for C++ + Qt, It is new and it is easy

Looks like it was renamed (since http://trolltech.com/developer/greenhouse takes me to http://trolltech.com/developer/qt-creator) to qt-creator. Looks very nice! I'll have to check it out when I get home.

I'm not very familiar with QT, if I write an application that uses it can I include the library with my application or do I have to get the users to download and install qt before they can use my app? (kinda like with java the user has to download the jvm)

[Elv13]

If your application follow the term of the GPL or compatile licence, then are free to do anything you want with Qt and Qt source code. If you use an other licence (a closed source one), then you have to licence Qt from nokia, then you can ship it. Qt is better than .Net and Swing, sometime, public methode naming is as good (but different) than in .net, but the whole package offer much more and is more flexible. It is also crossplatform, so you apps work on Mac, Linux and other Unix kind without any additional code (if you don't include windows.h, of course).

[Rudy]

If your application follow the term of the GPL or compatile licence, then are free to do anything you want with Qt and Qt source code. If you use an other licence (a closed source one), then you have to licence Qt from nokia, then you can ship it. Qt is better than .Net and Swing, sometime, public methode naming is as good (but different) than in .net, but the whole package offer much more and is more flexible. It is also crossplatform, so you apps work on Mac, Linux and other Unix kind without any additional code (if you don't include windows.h, of course).

hmmmm I see, not so sure I like the licensing...... oh well

[Avatar Viper]

oopss... i forgot to mention no .NET so can forget about VSE...

[Rudy]

oopss... i forgot to mention no .NET so can forget about VSE...

VSE can compile C++ in Win32 instead of .net (much better :))

and if you really don't want VSE you can use Eclipse for C++ too

[Kami-]

Visual Studio Express for Visual Basic, C++ or C#.

Eclipse for Java.

SciTE for Python.

^ +1 (Y)

[Sacha]

For C++:

• QT-Creator
  
• Dev-CPP
  
• Visual Studio Express
  

In order of ease of use, flexibility and efficiency.

[Bazenga]

Dev-CPP. I can't stress enough Dev-CPP.

[Vorenus]

Dev-CPP. I can't stress enough Dev-CPP.

Dev-C++ hasn't been improved in nearly 4 years. It might be fun to tinker around in it, but if you're looking for a serious job in the software industry then Visual Studio Express or Eclipse are the ways to go.

[Calum Veteran]

Dev-CPP. I can't stress enough Dev-CPP.

Why? What's so good about Dev-C++ compared to Visual Studio Express?

I've never used it, so I'm just interested :)

[Elv13]

I also like Code::Blocks for quick and more advanced C++ task, but the Include system does not work very well for me, I have to use absolute path sometime.

[Sacha]

I just say that Dev-CPP is easier to use as well as having less 'bloat' making it run faster, compile faster and have smaller binaries. It has the convenience of vim or notepad. Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I have written full projects in vim.

[Mercellus]

I liked Dev-C++ in the day but it doesn't look like it has been updated at all in the past few years; the Visual Studio Express Editions are great for most programming tasks (C++, VB.NET, C#, etc).

[Sacha]

True but the basic usage of vim and notepad haven't been updated either and people still use them for writing source. The C++ language hasn't been updated so not sure why they need to update Dev-CPP. I actually can't think of anything that I need added to it. It does what it's meant to do and nothing extra.

I'll also mention the error messages aren't as cryptic as the ones in Visual Studio. I actually understood them first time round. Granted, most of these problems are from the compiler and not the IDE.

[sbauer]

... notepad haven't been updated either and people still use them for writing source.

A developer that writes code in Notepad (outside of small batch files and such) is a developer that I don't want on my team. It's a complete waste not to take advantage of the IDEs and editors that have been developed. I can't stand it when a developer brags that he or she develops using notepad. It's not an e-penis competition. Developing using notepad doesn't make you more of a "true developer".

Off topic, I know. I just had to bring it up.

[Andre S. Veteran]

A developer that writes code in Notepad (outside of small batch files and such) is a developer that I don't want on my team. It's a complete waste not to take advantage of the IDEs and editors that have been developed. I can't stand it when a developer brags that he or she develops using notepad. It's not an e-penis competition. Developing using notepad doesn't make you more of a "true developer".

Off topic, I know. I just had to bring it up.

Agreed. At least use Notepad++ or something that does automatic indentation and syntax coloring, for quick edits.

[White Cuban]

Visual studio mainly, depending what you want, unless it is you want to use java, then its eclipse

[Sacha]

What I meant is there is non-specialist apps (like vim, notepad++) that people use and they use them just as well as a big IDE. These apps, not being specialised towards C++ or even coding aren't really 'updated' and there is no problem with that. What's wrong with Dev-CPP not being updated? Unless you think there's something it is missing.

And yes it's not an 'e-penis' competition, as you put it. It's simply that there are many cases where it is faster to load up notepad and make a quick edit rather than wait 10 seconds for visual studio to load up, select the project, find your source file, edit, save. If you have a computer that does this in 10 seconds, good on you. I sure don't. I did not recommend notepad as an IDE replacement.