Member Avatar for swolll

Until now, I've coded in Notepad++ and compiled/tested in my university Unix account.

This is getting tedious and inefficient, though. So, what can I do about it?

Notepad++ doesn't have a compiler or debugger. I was thinking about using Eclipse. Would that be a good, free option? Does it have a compiler and debugger?

What do you recommend?

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Thread update and practical next steps (short, modernized summary — follows and but adds concrete setup steps and current options).

A few realistic choices, by platform: for a Windows-first, full-featured IDE with an integrated compiler and debugger, Visual Studio Community is the current, supported option. (visualstudio.microsoft.com)
For a cross-platform, extensible C/C++ IDE, Eclipse CDT remains a solid, mature choice (download the C/C++ package or add CDT to an existing Eclipse). (github.com)
If a lightweight GUI that ships with a MinGW bundle is preferred, Code::Blocks still provides easy binary installers and bundles. (codeblocks.org)

A practical Windows workflow that avoids constant remote logins: install MSYS2 to get an up-to-date MinGW‑w64 toolchain and package manager, then point the IDE at the MinGW bin directory. Example MSYS2 commands (run inside the MSYS2 shell):

pacman -Syu
pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gdb

After installing, add the appropriate mingw64/ucrt64 bin folder to PATH or set the IDE toolchain path to that folder so compile/run/debug integrate cleanly. (msys2.org)

Quick troubleshooting and workflow tips: match IDE bitness to the toolchain (32 vs 64 bit), use g++ for C++ linking to avoid undefined-reference surprises, and ensure the chosen debugger (GDB) is the same variant the IDE expects. For GUI debugging or remote build integration prefer the IDE’s built-in debug launcher or configure remote-build/SSH as a fallback. (gnu.org)

Summary tie-back: ’s and ’s suggestions are all viable; the best pick depends on whether a Windows-native, all-in-one experience (Visual Studio), a cross-platform IDE (Eclipse), or a minimal editor-plus-toolchain workflow (MSYS2 + MinGW / Code::Blocks) fits the course and toolchain requirements.

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Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

Get either Code::Blocks with MinGW compiler or VC++ 2008 Express, both are free. Which to use might depend on what compiler your university has.

Member Avatar for swolll

Okay. So Eclipse is a no? My teacher actually recommended it over those two.

Member Avatar for Salem

So use Eclipse then.

What AD recommended come with a compiler and IDE together, so you're good from the start.

Likewise, you could just download them just to use the respective compilers' and carry on using NP++.

AFAIK for Eclipse, you have to download and install a compiler as a separate step anyway, so you're basically in the same boat as with NP++. I might be wrong about that, there ought to be a compiler in an 80MB download ;)

There's nothing to stop you downloading all of them (I would actually recommend it). Neither NP++, C::B or Eclipse IDE's care about which compiler(s) you use, so long as you've set up appropriate configurations.

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