C++ Code Completion

[readysetgo]

Hi Everyone,

I know this question has been asked before, but I think mine may be slightly specific. I have been hunting/comparing for the best c++ IDE out there. So far I have tried netbeans, visual studio 2010, eclipse and code blocks.

The features that I've noticed to work on all of the above are:
1. Auto list members (ex: displaying members of a struct)
2. Parameter Information (ex: when calling a function)

There is another and it is called code completion. For example, when you begin to type the data type of a variable, it will list the various possibilities. In Visual Studio, the auto list members and parameter information is great.

The thing that I am interested in is when you begin to type the data type of a variable, I would like for it to automatically display the list of possibilities. This is possible by doing "ctrl + space" in the editor. However, is there a way for it to automatically appear every time? I've seen this for C# in Visual Studio, but not for C++ in any of the IDEs.

Thanks

[readysetgo]

Visual Assist looks amazing for this, however it's not free :(

If it's not possible to perform code completion automatically (like C# in Visual Studio), do you know of any free plugins for Eclipse/Netbeans?

[quirkyusername]

when I'm working on a demanding program I always install the free trial of visual assist, I have to uninstall and then reinstall it every three days but this only takes a few minutes and I save a lot of time by using it.

[1yR4jE8b]

From my experience, Netbeans has the best code-completion out there. Even more so than Visual Studio's Intellisense. Static and Member functions can be set to complete automatically after the '.' or ''->' or '::' operators, but I usually turn it off. I prefer the IDE to only try and help me when I ask for it (like when using a new library or something HUGE like Qt).

Currently the only way to make it pop-up for variable names is to press 'ctrl-space' every time, but really...is that so bad? That keyboard shortcut has really become instinctual for me, I rarely even think about it when I press it anymore.

Netbeans is open-source, and has a very well written extension API, you could write a plugin yourself if you know Java. Just a thought...

Other IDEs, like Code::Blocks, annoy me because they even try to auto-complete C++ reserved words automatically. You can probably turn that off, but I've never bothered, Netbeans is a much superior IDE anyway.

In my opinion, relying on the IDE to 'code for you' will lead to really bad habits, and will only hinder your ability to learn properly. I can write most programs just as well using Notepad++ as I can with an IDE like VS or Netbeans, but I tend to use IDEs not for the code-completion but more for automatic makefiles (I hate doing the trivial makefiles myself), version control integration, and code formatters.

[simeonz]

Another feature that I find interesting is on-the-fly syntax checks. It annoyed me the first time I used that in Eclipse, but now I sort-of miss it when I use Code Blocks. It is very annoying to have to compile your program to discover that you have some stupid syntax error. On the other hand IDEs that have that feature like Eclipse and Qt Creator are not suitable when you use custom syntax or experiment with preliminary compiler support.