Europe and Russia Travelogue

17 Jan '05 - + 27 - 20 Finally started using Eclipse... but not for Java

For several years, I've been using IntelliJ IDEA from JetBrains, so I've never seen a need to move to Eclipse.  However, this weekend, I finally tried out Eclipse.  It worked very well for me, but I plan to continue using IntelliJ for my Java development.  You see, I used Eclipse for C development.



For a course I'm taking towards my Master's Degree in Computer Science, we're required to do a lot of development.  Although the professor has given us a little leeway in choosing a language, he very strongly suggests we program in C.  I was tempted to do the assignments in Java, my preferred development language, but I realized I should probably give myself more experience in C.  The big question would be what editor to use.

In the past, I'd written C in TextPad or vi or an equivalent, but I didn't want to work without code completion and integrated building for the full semester (yes, I've gotten very spoiled by IntelliJ).  So, I decided to try out Eclipse with the CDT plugin (C/C++ Development Tools).  I have to say that it worked very well.  I could have tried Microsoft's Visual C++ Express for a free IDE, but I really prefer an open tool to a Microsoft tool.

So, I got a good start on the first assignment of the semester.  I'm sure there will be days I'll regret not coding in Java, but I think Eclipse is going to make the experience of working in C much nicer than I thought it would be.  And I'll be sticking with IntelliJ.

three comments, already:

I tried both Eclipse CDT and Visual C++ Express.
Visual C++ Express is way better :(

RefuX (email) - 17 January '05 - 15:24

Does the CDT plugin allow you to do any refactorings of C/C++ code? Or does it just make Eclipse an editor that can compile C/C++ code? Visual Studio 7 has no refactorings and so if CDT does, then it might be a reason to switch.

Rob - 18 January '05 - 12:40

CDT does not seem to give any refactorings for C code. The documentation lists some refactorings, but I think they might be restricted to C++.

Lance Finney (link) - 18 January '05 - 12:58