codeblocks vs visual studio

[teapotz]

Hi everyone =)
I'm really new to C++...
Codeblocks is free, so simple and easy to use..
So the question is... Why would people say so much to purchase visual studio, which is such a pain to use? What's the difference?

[Zhuge]

Visual Studio's Express Edition (which has had everything I've ever really needed to use) is free and has a debugger I've yet to see matched.

I suppose it is a little difficult to use, but I've never had that problem personally.

[helios]

Why would people say so much to purchase visual studio, which is such a pain to use? What's the difference?

Sounds to me like you've already reached a conclusion (that VS is harder to use), so what's the point of asking? Go use Code::Blocks, if you like it.

[Bazzy]

With C::B you can use VC++ compiler and Debugger

[chipp]

for me, when i use code block the anti virus always warn me about my debugging... i don't understand...

[Albatross]

Visual Studio (the full version) has... 1... 2... 3... 26... loads of tools specifically for programming on the Windows platform that make life easier for people more into Windows Programming and that cannot be used with another IDE (so I take it).

I didn't think it was that hard, actually... in fact I learned to program on it.

-Albatross

[Pax]

I've not come across any IDE that I would consider the equal of Visual Studio. I recently upgraded from 2005 to 2010, and can see why people might feel the upgrade costs aren't worth it (though Intellisense actually working on large projects is nice, VS2010 is just slow compared to 2005 on my system - which admittedly isn't great).

Code::Blocks may be good for some things, I haven't used it, but I can see why Visual Studio is worth the £700/user - and not just for Windows programming!

[Albatross]

Also, I've heard fantastic things about XCode 4, but I'm not paying the $99 for the preview when I have NetBeans which for me so far has been an excellent rival to Visual Studio as an IDE (not that I can use Visual Studio any more, but it definitely is a high bar that I set my standards to).

-Albatross

[Pax]

I wish Microsoft would invest some time to get VS C++ IDE and Compilers working under WINE.

[Albatross]

Was the compiler anything spectacular? I don't recall it being anything special, though as I recall the debugger far outstrips gdb. I wonder how LLDB is doing?

-Albatross

[firedraco]

I wish Microsoft would invest some time to get VS C++ IDE and Compilers working under WINE.

??? Why would MS care about a Linux emulator? This statement makes no sense...

[Pax]

I didn't say they would, I just said I wished they would...

And strictly speaking, WINE is a Windows emulator.

@Albatross - I like the VS compiler just because it is, if you want it to be, so flawlessly integrated into the IDE. Makes hunting down some of those more obscure build errors easier.

[firedraco]

By Linux emulator I was meaning an emulator that ran on Linux. I completely understand why you read it like that though. XD

[Albatross]

Strictly speaking, WINE Is Not an Emulator.

Someone who or some group which edits Wikipedia wrote:

Wine is not a full emulator, but is instead a compatibility layer, providing alternative implementations of the DLLs that Windows programs call, and a process to substitute for the Windows NT kernel.

-Albatross

[Pax]

Touche. :)

[helios]

It emulates the Windows API. Not all emulators are virtual machines.

[Disch]

right right.

WINE = WINE Is Not an Emulator
LAME = LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder

Even though they both really are what they claim not to be. =P

[Albatross]

Oh, c'mon, laugh a little, helios. It will only cook your head from the inside out due to the sun, make you sneeze with your eyes open blowing them out of their sockets, get some weird creep to lick your hand at night after your C++ compiler has its bottlenecks slit open with its machine code dripping into the digital shredder and get you to throw yourself to the alligators in the NY sewers (even though you're in Argentina and NY is a short flight away). The wiki article did say that Wine isn't a full emulator, and I thought the name was cute.

-Albatross