What are the best IDEs for C++ on Windows?

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Considered

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Recs.

Dec 8, 2023

Last
Updated

Code::Blocks vs Microsoft Visual Studio vs CLion

vs CodeLite vs Vim vs Qt Creator vs Visual Studio Code vs C++Builder vs Netbeans IDE vs Cevelop vs Dev C++ vs Orwell Dev-C++ vs Emacs vs KDevelop vs Eclipse CDT vs SlickEdit vs Ultimate++ vs EDX vs CodeLite IDE vs Eclipse (CDT)

Specs

Platforms

Windows, Linux, MacOS(outdated version)

License

GPL

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Mac OS X

License

Proprietary

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac

License

Proprietary

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac

License

GPL

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin

License

Vim License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Vim

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, macOS, Linux

License

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Yes

Integrated Debugger

Yes

Go To Definition

Yes

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, macOS, Linux

License

MIT, Proprietary (official builds)

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

JavaScript

Price

Code Templates

Yes

Integrated Debugger

Yes

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Yes

Source Control Integration

Git

Multi Language Support

Yes

Bracket Matching

Yes

Plugin Manager

Yes

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, Android

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Yes

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Linux, OS X

License

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows

License

GPL

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Unix-like, macOS, Windows, Cygwin

License

GPL-3.0-or-later

Auto Complete

Yes

Extension language

Emacs Lisp, C(Emacs modules)

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Yes

Source Control Integration

Yes (package)

Multi Language Support

Yes

Bracket Matching

Yes

Plugin Manager

Package, built-in

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

FTP; HTTP; SSH; WebDAV

Collaborative editing

Yes

Column selection

Yes

Supported keybinding styles

IBM CUA; OSX; Vi; Emacs; Pico; WordStar; WordPerfect; Brief

RTL

Yes

Bidi

Yes

Interactive Console

Yes

Refactoring

Yes

Interactive Debugger

gdb (for C)

Go to Definition

Yes

Platforms

Windows, Linux, BSD

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Linux, Windows, MacOS X

License

EPL (Open Source)

Auto Complete

yes

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Yes

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Yes

Source Control Integration

Git, SVN, CSV, etc

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Yes

Supported remote file editing protocols

Yes

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Platforms

License

Auto Complete

Extension language

Price

Code Templates

Integrated Debugger

Go To Definition

Error Markup

Source Control Integration

Multi Language Support

Bracket Matching

Plugin Manager

Cross Platform

Supported remote file editing protocols

Collaborative editing

Column selection

Supported keybinding styles

RTL

Bidi

Interactive Console

Refactoring

Interactive Debugger

Go to Definition

Pros + Cons

Pro
Lets you choose the compiler

Code:Blocks lets the developer choose which compiler to use, giving you a higher level of control for on your development workflow.

Comment

Con
Poor code completion

The code completion for Code::Blocks is rather poor compared to other IDEs.

Comment

Pro
Faster than Visual Studio

Faster rebuild and debug process.

Comment

Pro
Syntax highlighting, customizable and extensible

It’s an open source, cross-platform and a free C/C++ IDE.

Comment

Pro
Cross platform

Code::Blocks is available for both Windows and Linux, allowing you to use the same IDE across both OSes if you use different machines.

Comment

Pro
Easy to use

Easy to pick up, for example much easier to include libraries.

Comment

Con
It's hard to make the code readable

Due to the problems with indention, it's hard to make the code look nice.

Comment

Pro
Good theme support

Good support for different system themes on Linux.

Comment

Pro
Debugger multi-threading support

The debugger supports multi-threaded processes for faster debugging.

Comment

Con
Absence of smart Debugger

When trying to debug a pointer to a struct/class, instead of showing the contents of the object, the pointer points to, the debugger simply shows the hex address, which isn't helpful at all.

Comment

Con
Does not support font anti-aliasing

It is the 17th version and still it doesn't support font anti-aliasing on Windows.

Comment

Con
Sluggish

Horribly slow on low-end machines due to bulky size, they should modularize it instead of trying to do everything.

Comment

Pro
Free Community Edition

The Community Edition of Visual Studios and the Unity add-on can be downloaded and used free of charge.

Comment

IntelliSense is the general term for a number of features: List Members, Parameter Info, Quick Info, and Complete Word. These features help you to learn more about the code you are using, keep track of the parameters you are typing, and add calls to properties and methods with only a few keystrokes.

Comment

Pro
One of the few bearable C++ debuggers available

[add description]

Comment

Pro
There's a huge library of plugins

Visual Studio has a massive library of plugins to choose from.

Comment

Con
It's very large

The most basic Visual Studio installation will take up 5GB of disk space.

Comment

Pro
Extensions

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Modern language support

The recently released 15.7 branch provides competitive modern language support.

Comment

Pro
Product backlog

In agile development teams, one really needs features such as product backlogs where you can assign features to team mates and track their progress on them. VS provides a web based interface for you to track your team's complete progress on the project.

Comment

Pro
GitHub integration

Makes production faster especially if git is used. One can see changed files at the go and commit (with push possibility) when ever one so desires.

Comment

Pro
More modular installer

Visual Studio 2017 supports a much more modern and modular installer. You no longer have to install many gigabytes of stuff you don't need. Everything is broken down into much smaller pieces and it's much more apparent which pieces you need.

Comment

Pro
Embedded cloud storage

Your Visual Studio Online account gives you a place to store your code, backlog, and other project data with no servers to deploy, configure, or manage.

Comment

Pro
Friendly UI

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Comes with a Windows framework

[add description]

Comment

Con
Non native window frame

IDE main window lacks standard window frame (titlebar/borders) - a custom solution is in use where custom titlebar contains numerous application-specific controls. This results in inconsistent UX and can also be problematic when you're using shell replacements or other various window-management software (such as bbLean).

Comment

Con
Bound to MSVC compiler

You cannot choose from other compilers like GCC, clang, ...

Comment

Pro
Cross platform

Clion works on Windows, Linux and OSX.

Comment

Pro
Intelligent code completion

CLion has an intelligent autocompletion engine that tries to predict the symbol you are typing based on your previous history and the context in which it's being typed.

Comment

Pro
Very fast

IntelliJ code completion is really fast.

Comment

Con
Proprietary

Clion is proprietary software which costs $199/1st year for a business license or $89/1st year for an individual license.

Comment

Pro
Free, open source

CodeLite is distributed under the terms of the GPLv2 license, with an exception for plugins.

Comment

Pro
Modest memory footprint

CodeLite takes up about 50MB when loaded into memory with a workspace opened.

Comment

Pro
Fast and stable IDE

Codelite is the fastest IDE I tried, to load heavy projets (ten of thousand files) on a network database, and never crash

Comment

Pro
File Explorer-like workspace view

The workspace view, unlike other IDEs, is a reflection of the actual directory structure on the file system (with user filters applied).

Comment

Pro
A lot of useful plugins

CppCheck, DiffTool, Git, MemCheck (Valgrind support, Linux-only), SVN, and many other plugins extend the IDE functionality greatly!

Comment

Pro
Very capable code completion

Code completion works well and suggestions are nicely displayed with brief documentation (if code is documented doxygen-style).

Comment

Pro
A plug-able C/C++ IDE with many built-in plugins

Includes Git, Svn, Clang, ClangFormat, GCC, Valgrind, Code Completion and much more.

Comment

Pro
Cross-platform

CodeLite is available for the following OSs: Windows XP SP3, 7, and 8, Debian / Ubuntu, Fedora / OpenSUSE, ArchLinux, OSX 10.8/9, FreeBSD.

Comment

Pro
Rapid development cycle

CodeLite is actively developed with activity almost daily on Github.

Comment

Pro
Open source and free

CodeLite is licensed under GPL with source code available on GitHub.

Comment

Pro
Easy to find installed compilers

The search for the installed compilers is quick, and it usually yields useful results on the very first atempt.

Comment

Con
Bland UI

The UI is fairly boring and has limited customization options. There is a dark theme available, however it only applies to the editor. The surrounding windows and borders remain light. You can see a collection of screenshots here.

Comment

Pro
Cross platform

Works on Windows, OS-X and Linux.

Comment

Con
Poor feature discoverability

Though basic features like syntax checking, autocompletion, and file management are all available out of the box or with minimal configuration, this is not obvious to new users, who might get intimidated or assume they need to install complex plugins just so they can have this functionality. Other features new users might expect to find embedded in Vim, such as debugging, instead follow a UNIX-style model where they are called as external programs, the output of which might then be parsed by Vim so it can display results. Users not familiar with this paradigm will likely fault Vim for lacking those features as well.

Comment

Pro
A lightweight IDE with real support for all languages that promotes fast coding and doesn't get in your way

Name a programming language and there's a ton of plugins extending its support for that specific language.

Comment

Pro
Easy to extend its features by adding specific plugins

http://vimawesome.com/

Comment

Con
Difficult learning curve

You'll spend a lot of time learning all the commands and modes supported in Vim. You'll then spend more time tuning settings to your needs. Although once it's tuned to your needs, you can take your .vimrc to any machine you need and have the same experience across all your computers.

Comment

Pro
Lightweight and multi-platform

You can use vim on any OS and get the same consistent and easy workflow and experience.

Comment

Pro
Once you learn Vim it's forever

Never have to depend on Text Editors ever again and you can program, compile, then execute from the terminal itself. Very handy even in Windows.

Comment

Con
Not actually an IDE, no built in compiler or debugger

You'll have to go outside of the program to do these things, or install and configure a plugin.

Comment

Pro
Great productivity

Vim's keyset is mainly restricted to the alphanumeric keys and the escape key. This is an enduring relic of its teletype heritage, but has the effect of making most of Vim's functionality accessible without frequent awkward finger reaches.

Comment

Pro
Extremely portable

Vi/vim exists on almost all Unix-like platforms. It's the de-facto Unix editor and is easily installed on Windows. All you need to make it work is a text-based connection, so it works well for remote machines with slow connections, or when you're too lazy to set up a VNC/Remote Desktop connection.

Comment

Pro
Works in terminal over SSH

Unlike other editors such as Sublime Text, Vim is a command line editor and hence can be used in remote development environments like Chromebooks via SSH.

Comment

Con
User must remember commands instead of point at them in a menu

[add description]

Comment

Con
No refactoring support

[add description]

Comment

Con
Difficult to copy, paste, and delete

[add description]

Comment

Con
High effort to customize

[add description]

Comment

Con
Consume brain energy for editing that should be used for logic

Text editing in vim is awesome, but it requires thinking about combination of commands. In other editors, you don't have to think about how to delete this part of code. You just think about how to implement a feature, what is a good design for this code. Even after you get used to using vim, it still requires your brain for editing.

Comment

Con
Setting up code completions, linting, etc is annoying with Vimscript

[add description]

Comment

Con
Foreign keyboards have a hard time on Vim out of the box

A lot of frequently-used keybinds are way harder to access on foreign keyboards because they use different layouts. For example, Germans use the QWERTZ layout, while French use the AZERTY.

Comment

Con
Doesn't play nice with the system cut/paste mechanisms

This can be worked around if you disable mouse for insert mode. You can then right-click your terminal and use paste like you would anywhere else in a terminal.

Comment

Con
Unintuitive mode switching

[add description]

Comment

Con
Poor support for external tooling

Many plugins depend on optional Python and Lua features, which may or may not be included in whatever binaries are available for your system. And without platform-specific hacks, it is difficult for plugins to operate in the background or use external tooling.

Comment

Con
Works poorly out of the box with right-to-left

[add description]

Comment

Con
Pricey

Pricey for commercial usage.

Comment

Pro
Fast and fully keyboard-navigatable

Responsive UI, no need to use the mouse for the power users.

Comment

Pro
Very responsive when compared to similar software

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Integrates well with non-IDE workflows

Qt Creator uses normal .pro-files, CMakeLists.txt, Makefiles.am, etc. for its projects and rarely needs special configuration for projects. Projects can be built on the command line as usual.

Comment

Pro
Supports CMake

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Great syntax highlighting and auto-completion

Qt Creator has a code model which basically has the same information as the compiler. So it can do really nice syntax highlighting (e.g. of virtual methods or local variables) as well as provide great code completion.

Comment

Pro
Best compatibility with c++ modern syntax

[add description]

Comment

Con
Absence of smart Debugger

When trying to debug a pointer to a struct/class, instead of showing the contents of the object, the pointer points to, the debugger simply shows the hex address, which isn't helpful at all.

Comment

Pro
Build in Qt GUI editor

Allows for the creation of a window based ui in a graphical editor, no code required to build the ui.

Comment

Pro
Much space dedicated to the code

Small and beautiful UI, almost all the space is dedicated to the text with hardly and toolbars. Can actually be used on a 1024x768 pixel screen.

Comment

Con
Qt Focused

Qt Creator is focused on being an IDE for Qt, as a general purpose IDE it performs quite well, but there are areas which are lacking such as project file support (support for generic/CMake projects lags behind Qt projects).

Comment

Pro
Great performance

For a 'wrapped' web-based application, Visual Studio Code performs very well.

Comment

Con
Memory hog

Allegedly, VS Code is "lightweight". Yet, running multiple instances of it at once, you may get many "out of memory" messages from Windows despite 16 GB RAM. (While of course also running other things. The point is the comparison with some other IDEs/editors where running them alongside the same number of other applications doesn't cause Windows to run out of memory)

Comment

Pro
Updated frequently

There's a new release of Visual Studio Code every month. If you are one of the insiders then releases are daily.

Comment

Pro
Integrated debugging

VSC includes debugging tools for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript.

Comment

Pro
Extendable through plug-ins

Visual Studio Code comes fairly complete out of the box, but there are many plug-ins available to extend its functionality.

Comment

Pro
JavaScript IntelliSense support

JavaScript IntelliSense allows Visual Studio Code to provide you with useful hints and auto-completion features while you code.

Comment

Pro
Integrated terminal

There's no need to press alt+tab to go to a terminal: it is directly integrated into the editor. Shift+~ is a handy hotkey to toggle the integrated terminal.

Comment

Pro
Ready to use out of the box

You don't need to configure and add plugins before being productive. However, you can add plugins if needed but for the basics you're well covered.

Comment

Pro
Libre/open source

Released under the MIT License.

Comment

Pro
Fast and powerful

VS-Code has the speed of Sublime and the power of WebStorm. Perhaps this is the best software that Microsoft has ever created.

Comment

Pro
ESLint integration

ESLint integrates great. You can define your rules trough .eslintrc.* as usual and vs code will autofix your code on save. So your code is always in style.

Comment

Pro
Active development

It's really nice to see how the code editor evolves. Every month there is a new version with great communication of new features and changes.

Comment

Pro
Huge community behind it

The ease of getting assistance and finding tutorials is increasing as the community grows.

Comment

Pro
High fidelity C# plugin

The Omnisharp plugin is very powerful providing full sln, csproj, and project.json support.

Comment

Pro
It has gotten really good

All it takes is one stop for all the features many people need.

Comment

Pro
Embedded Git control

Visual Studio Code has integrated Git control, guaranteeing speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows.

Comment

Pro
TypeScript integration

There is very solid TypeScript integration in Visual Studio Code. Both are developed by Microsoft and VSC itself is written in TypeScript.

Comment

Con
Not an IDE

Debugging and compiling require a plugin that may not work either with CMake or GCC.

Comment

Con
Project search limits results

Because file search is so slow your results are limited in order to simulate a faster search.

Comment

Pro
Windows UI framework

The Windows framework, called VCL, wraps native WinAPI controls. It's far more powerful than something like MFC, including its visual design and the library of available first- and third-party controls.

Comment

Pro
Free community edition

Features are the same as Professional Edition.

Comment

Pro
Cross-platform UI framework

FireMonkey (FMX) is a cross-platform UI framework, GPU-accelerated, supporting native controls on some platforms, and native feel everywhere else.

Comment

Pro
Drag and Drop Functionality

C++Builder allows. you to drag and drop components on the design form which makes the development process simple.

Comment

Pro
Cross-platform targeting

Can build targeting Windows, iOS, macOS, and Android.

Comment

Pro
Clang-based compilers

[add description]

Comment

Con
Too focused on adding IDE features developers don't want

[add description]

Comment

Con
IDE has long lasting bugs that Embarcadero won't fix

[add description]

Comment

Con
Expensive

€1,719.00+ (or $1971.61+) (on 01/2019).

Comment

Con
Not free, unlike most

[add description]

Comment

Con
Slow on windows

The Netbeans IDE is known to take a large memory as compared to other lighter IDE's available in the market.

Comment

Pro
Free, open source and cross-platform

NetBeans is a free, GPL-licensed IDE. It can can run on any computer with a Java virtual machine. If a computer has a Java virtual machine (JVM), Netbeans can run on it. Netbeans can therefore run on a variety of operating systems such as Windows, *nix, and Mac OS. Being open source means that developers can contribute changes to the code to have the IDE better serve them.

Comment

Pro
Excellent error catcher

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Stable

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Good refactoring

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Cross-platform

NetBeans is a free, GPL-licensed IDE. It can run on any computer with a Java virtual machine. If a computer has a Java virtual machine (JVM), Netbeans can run on it. Netbeans can, therefore, run on a variety of operating systems such as Windows, *nix, and Mac OS.

Comment

Pro
Autocompletes your code

Code auto-completion is of great help in agile development environments, where you're pumping out a new version as soon as possible. In such environments you need your IDE to be "as fast as you code", hence Netbeans can be of great assistance in such situations. The IDE will auto-complete your code (variable names / function references / library functions / classes / ids) wherever possible, so you can code at speed.

Comment

Pro
Powerful debugging and performance optimization

Netbeans not only debugs your code, and points out errors but also gives you hints on which sections of your code could be further optimized.

Comment

Pro
Customizable theme

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Easy to learn

Very easy to learn, unlike e.g. Eclipse (which is probably the most flexible).

Comment

Pro
Multiple revision control system integration

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Funtionality can be extend with community plugins

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Helps writing C++11 and C++14

Cevelop helps you to upgrade your code to take advantage of new features such as initializer lists, smart pointers, and more.

Comment

Pro
Include Analysis and Optimization

Dependencies among C++ header files can become quite complex and get out of control. Includator analyzes the dependency hierarchy in C++ projects and optimizes them if necessary. Such cleanup keeps C++ header files tidy and reduces compile time.

Comment

Pro
Template Visualisation

Visually explore function- and class-templates: The Template Information View displays detailed template information and lets you easily browse through instantiation levels.

Comment

Pro
Cross Platform

Cevelop extends Eclipse CDT

Comment

Con
Not in active development

The latest release is from 2015.

Comment

Pro
It's simple and easy to use

Doesn't require more storage.

Comment

Pro
It's free and open source

You can download and use the IDE completely for free.

Comment

Pro
Versatile

Emacs is great for everything.

Comment

Pro
Gnus

Managing several large mailing lists has never been easier using Gnus. The threading commands and the various ways of scoring articles mean that you never miss important messages/authors, etc. A joy to use.

Comment

Pro
Helm plugin adds even more power to Emacs

Powerful commands, search, and more with the Helm plugin.

Comment

Pro
GTK+ widgets support

Since version 25 you can run GTK widgets inside Emacs buffers. One of these is the WebKitGTK+, which allows the user to run a full-featured web browser inside Emacs with JavaScript and CSS support among other things.

Comment

Pro
Support multi-line editing, multiple frame, powerful paren, crazy jumping style

Review the "Emacs Rocks" video.

Comment

Pro
Provides org-mode

Advanced planning and publication which can start as a simple list.

Comment

Pro
Visual selection and text objects with Evil

Evil is an extensible vi layer for Emacs. It provides Vim features like Visual selection and text objects.

Comment

Pro
Cross-platform

Works on Linux, Windows, Macintosh, BSD, and others.

Comment

Pro
Lisp customizations

With lisp customization, any behavior of Emacs can be changed. Update with pre-release patch can be also applied without recompiling the whole Emacs.

Comment

Pro
Rectangular cut and paste

Emacs can select rectangularly.

Comment

Pro
Vi keybindings through Evil mode

Evil mode emulates vim behaviors within Emacs. It enables Vi users to move inside the Emacs universe.

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Pro
Ubiquity

Fully compliant GNU-emacs is available on many platforms, and they all understand .emacs configuration files.

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Pro
Works in terminal or as a GUI application

You can use Emacs' command line interface or graphical user interface.

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Mini buffer

You can pass complicated arguments in the mini buffer.

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Pro
Keyboard-focused, mouse-free editing

Emacs can be controlled entirely with the keyboard. While true, I often find the mouse and menus handy for those lesser-used commands. An aide-memoir.

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Pro
Great documentation

With 30+ years of use the Emacs documentation is very thorough. There are also a lot of tutorials and guides written by third parties.

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Self documenting

Emacs has extensive help support built-in as well as a tutorial accessed with C-h t.

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Free

Licensed under GNU GPL.

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Pro
Total customizability

Customizations can be made to a wide range of Emacs' functions through a Lisp dialect (Emacs Lisp). A robust list of existing Lisp extensions include the practical (git integration, syntax highlighting, etc) to the utilitarian (calculators, calendars) to the sublime (chess, Eliza).

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Pro
It's also an IDE

You can debug, compile, manage files, integrate with version control systems, etc. All through the various plugins that can be installed.

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Excellent syntax highlighting

Kdevelop has very smart syntax and semantic syntax highlighting.

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Con
Only preliminary support for Windows

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Con
Works with no problems only on Linux

KDevelop is an IDE for the KDE platform. Even though it's cross-platform, it's mostly targeted at Linux systems and the versions for other operating systems are highly experimental.

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Pro
Free and cross-platform

Eclipse runs on Windows, Linux and Mac.

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Pro
Great code completion

Very intuitive code completion that understands C++.

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Pro
Highly customizable

Thanks to the large variety of plugins and various configuration options, Eclipse is very customizable.

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Pro
Good project-wide and workspace-wide code searching

Easy to find (and replace) every occurrence of a term project-wide or across multiple projects. Regular expressions search (and replace) too.

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Pro
Large selection of plugins

Eclipse has a large and active community, which has resulted in a wide variety of plugins.

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Very customizable interface

You can drag and drop the various windows to where you want them or make them pop-up-able so they stay out of your way.

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Pro
Good font rendering

Because Eclipse is based on SWT, it uses the native font rendering and thus looks better than other IDEs on some Linux systems, where the Java font rendering is not optimal.

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Pro
Nice mouse hover assist during debugging

You can view values of variables on mouse hover during debugging.

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Free and open source

Eclipse is an open source project and free to use.

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Pro
Nice Mouse Hover assist during debugging

View values of variables on mouse hover during debugging.

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Con
Slow and heavy weight

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Con
Ugly and poorly designed UI

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Con
Plugins can be unstable

Though there are plenty of plugins to choose from, they aren't always reliable. Some aren't maintained, bug fixes can be slow, and you may need to download plugins from multiple sources.

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Con
Plugins can be unstable

Though there are plenty of plugins to choose from, they aren't always reliable. Some aren't maintained, bug fixes can be slow, and you may need to download plugins from multiple sources.

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Pro
Great symbol analysis

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Pro
Free

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Pro
Code analyzer

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Pro
Documentation and help tool

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Pro
Visual designer

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Pro
Easy to learn

The whole framework is easy to learn thanks to multiple tutorials.

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Pro
Very fast

Fast startup, quickly opens files, fast search in files, etc..

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Pro
Supports CMake/XMake projects

You can open CMake/XMake projects directly with EDX.

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Pro
Easy to integrate with MSYS2 packages

It's easy to integrate with MSYS2 packages, even if you have no MSYS2 installed EDX can download/update/install/setup MSYS2 packages automatically

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One-click remote development

You can build/debug remotely with one click. What you shoud do is just add your remote toolset.

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Con
Windows only

Only supports Windows for now.

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Pro
Extensive plugin support

Git, SFTP, Subversion, and many more plugins are fully supported in CodeLite IDE.

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Modest memory footprint

CodeLite takes up about 50 MB when loaded into memory with a workspace opened.

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Pro
Open source and free

CodeLite is licensed under GPL with source code available on GitHub.

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Con
Requires some basic knowledge to setup

It isn't the most easier-to-set-up IDE. Many C++ include their own libraries and compilers (or have some sort of setup wizard to download them. On Eclipse you need to download a compiler (except on Linux, where you use G++ by default since it's integrated in the system) by yourself and set it up. On Windows you can use MinGW to compile.

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Portability

Multiplatform, Java-based and no installation is needed. You can even bundle the Java runtime and the external tools you want to use (compilers, libraries...) and use its "environment emulation" feature to virtually append or overwrite PATH and other environment variables without editing the ones from the system, making it truly portable.

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