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Add to SafariWhen comparing CodeLite vs Eclipse CDT, the Slant community recommends CodeLite for most people. In the question“What are the best IDEs for C++ on UNIX-like systems?” CodeLite is ranked 2nd while Eclipse CDT is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose CodeLite is:
CodeLite is [actively developed](http://downloads.codelite.org/) with activity almost daily on [Github](https://github.com/eranif/codelite/pulse).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Rapid development cycle
CodeLite is actively developed with activity almost daily on Github.
Pro Cross platform
Works on Windows, OS-X and Linux.
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).
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.
Pro Open source and free
CodeLite is licensed under GPL with source code available on GitHub.
Pro Modest memory footprint
CodeLite takes up about 50MB when loaded into memory with a workspace opened.
Pro A lot of useful plugins
CppCheck, DiffTool, Git, MemCheck (Valgrind support, Linux-only), SVN, and many other plugins extend the IDE functionality greatly!
Pro Nice Mouse Hover assist during debugging
View values of variables on mouse hover during debugging.
Pro Free and open source
Eclipse is an open source project and free to use.
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.
Pro Highly customizable
Thanks to the large variety of plugins and various configuration options, Eclipse is very customizable.
Pro Macro definition browser
Cons
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.
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.
Con UI can be confusing
There's an overly abundant presence of menus, this forces you to constantly click around the different menu structures.
