Top 5 IDEs for CPP, You Should Try!

In previous years, To create an application scratch a developer would have to struggle a lot. Because to create an s/w application it would take many steps beginning from coding, compiling, Testing, Debugging, Build, and Development. All these phases would need different packages to be installed and was difficult to maintain by a developer.

1. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a free source-code editor made by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and embedded Git. Users can change the theme, keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and install extensions that add additional functionality.

2. Code::Blocks

Code::Blocks is a free, open-source cross-platform IDE that supports multiple compilers including GCC, Clang and Visual C++. It is developed in C++ using wxWidgets as the GUI toolkit. Using a plugin architecture, its capabilities and features are defined by the provided plugins. Currently, Code::Blocks is oriented towards C, CPP and Fortan. It has a custom build system and optional make support.

3. Clion

A powerful tool for a power language, Smart C and CPP editor. Thanks to native C and CPP support, including modern CPP standards, libc++ and Boost. Clion knows your code through and through and takes care of the routine while you focus on the important things.

4. Eclipse

Eclipse is one of the most popular and powerful IDE for CPP developers. It is also open-source and free to use with excellent community support. It supports multi-platforms like Windows, Linux and macOS and many users find it easy to use.

5. CodeLite

CodeLite is a free, open-source, cross-platform IDE for the C/C++ programming languages using the wxWidgets toolkit. To comply with CodeLite’s open-source spirit, the program itself is compiled and debugged using only free tools (MinGW and GDB) for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, though CodeLite can execute any third-party compiler or tool that has a command-line interface. CodeLite also supports PHP and JavaScript development (including Node.js support).

CodeLite features project management (workspace / projects), code completion, code refactoring, source browsing, syntax highlighting, Subversion integration, cscope integration, UnitTest++ integration, an interactive debugger built over gdb and a source code editor (based on Scintilla).