Coding tools

[BlackSheep]

So I've tried my hand at coding, and am having fun with it. So far, however, I've just been using Notepad++ to do my editing. I was wondering what type of tools the devs use and if they have any recommendations to make modifying code and tracking changes easier.

For reference, I'm on Windows XP, and am unlikely to install Linux in the foreseeable future.

[Kate]

I'm on Windows 7 and can't be bothered to dual-boot Linux either, so I just use Notepad++ for editing and msysGit for Git and frequent grepping.Those two work fine for me, although I tend to just make fairly simple changes and don't have a ton to keep track of.

[BlackSheep]

I played around with grep until I figured out the Find in Files feature of N++. I love using that, though it can take quite a while to search through all the files on my puny laptop.

Feeling my way through Git has been a bit challenging, though msysGit makes it about as easy as it could. Is there a way to "revert to master" if I want to get rid of any changes I've committed locally, or should I be creating a local branch for my own edits?

[Kate]

Grepping for things seems pretty fast, but I've not compared it to Find in Files so maybe they'd just end up being similar. Getting the hang of some basic regexes made it a lot easier for me to find things, too.

It's probably good to get into the habit of working in branches, but you can do "git reset --hard origin/HEAD" to revert to master and get rid of your local commits. "gitk" brings up a gui and you can use that to revert to a specific commit, too.

[BlackSheep]

While it can be slow, it provides a list, organized by file name and line number, of all the hits. You can double-click on a hit and it will open that file and jump to that line. It supports regular expressions too, though I haven't used them in a long time so I would need to brush up.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

[varsovie]

"gitk" brings up a gui and you can use that to revert to a specific commit, too.

While giggle is a great tool, I prefer Qgit because it support Qt's theme.

[galehar]

ctags is quite popular too, and there is support for notepad++.
Personally, I use eclipse. It takes some time to set up and get used to it, but a visual debugger can be very very helpful sometimes. If your computer is up to it, installing linux in a virtualbox can be quite handy too.

[BlackSheep]

Thanks, galehar. I'm browsing the Eclipse site now. Even if it turns out to be a bit too heavyweight for me, integrating ctags with N++ looks super-easy and very helpful.

[XuaXua]

Eclipse is what I use for my dev projects. It's great!

[varsovie]

but a visual debugger can be very very helpful sometimes.

May you explain what is a "visual" debugger (or just post a screenshot) please?

[galehar]

but a visual debugger can be very very helpful sometimes.

May you explain what is a "visual" debugger (or just post a screenshot) please?

It's a debugger with a window interface. Functionally, it's the same as gdb, but being able to set breakpoints and watchpoints with a mouse is easier. You automatically see all the local variable and can easily view expressions such as you or env. Navigate through complex structures with the mouse is awesome. Unfortunately, it doesn't work well with things like vectors. There's probably a way to do it, but I haven't looked into it yet.

[BlackSheep]

So yeah, eclipse looks very powerful, but I'm having trouble setting up a project from my local git repository so that it can use the existing makefile for compiles. I could just use it for editing, and handle all the builds from msysgit, but I was hoping to set it all up in one tool.

Protip: create an exception in your virus scanner for the build tools directory. I don't know why it took me this long to remember to do that. Builds are going noticeably faster.

[varsovie]

Protip: create an exception in your virus scanner for the build tools directory. I don't know why it took me this long to remember to do that. Builds are going noticeably faster.

Protip: Don't use dynamic virus scan.

Thank gakehar, it's a feature that also exist in other IDE that I use (QTcreator, Kdeveleop, code::block).
It's really more comfortable that keyboard only.
But I tend to prefer using KATE (text editor) plus Kdgb (debugger) than an IDE.

[galehar]

So yeah, eclipse looks very powerful, but I'm having trouble setting up a project from my local git repository so that it can use the existing makefile for compiles.

I haven't been able to do that with msysgit. Under Linux, I can make it use the Makefile, but under windows it's a mess.

[Thurman]

Personally, I use eclipse. It takes some time to set up and get used to it, but a visual debugger can be very very helpful sometimes. If your computer is up to it, installing linux in a virtualbox can be quite handy too.

Could use your insight on Eclipse. Seems to be straight forward, but I have a small issue with it. How do you guide it to the gcc, g++ executable? When I Run the source is gives me a "Path for project must have only one segment" error pointing to the fact that it can't find the gcc located at C:\msysgit\mingw\bin. It doesn't surprise me as I haven't told it where to find it, but it doesn't seem to be as simple as building a PATH to it. How did you go about it?

I tried using the HELP, but got "There is no help, die like a man!" error. j/k

Regards,
Thurman

--GNU is NU to me. I've always been a Visual Studio programmer.

[galehar]

How do you guide it to the gcc, g++ executable?

You don't. It needs to know the location of includes, but it's usually auto-detected fine. I have never been able to compile the game using eclipse under windows. I use it only to edit the source, then I run make from a terminal.

[Thurman]

You don't. It needs to know the location of includes, but it's usually auto-detected fine. I have never been able to compile the game using eclipse under windows. I use it only to edit the source, then I run make from a terminal.

Hrm. Kinda makes it difficult to use it as a debugger then. If not Eclipse, then what's good for stepping through the code?

[galehar]

You don't need to compile with eclipse to use the debugger. Just compile and run from a terminal, then attach eclipse' debugger to the process.