Author Topic: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?  (Read 11667 times)

Offline krix

  • Single posting newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« on: October 18, 2012, 11:08:42 pm »
Hi there,
Been having a look at CB 10.05 on Ubuntu linux and plan to spend some more time with it.
In the meantime I have sought in vain for some more info on the resources behind CB and its future.

How many people contribute to CB?
Is this just another open source project mostly driven by one mans enthusiasm or?
What are the plans for the next release? I know no date has been published, but there must be some list of "planned features"?
How far is the next release? New features still being added? Or just fixing stuff?
How stable/mature is the nightly build? What are the major improvements compared to the 10.05 ? Should I try it?

Thanks and regards,
krix

Online stahta01

  • Lives here!
  • ****
  • Posts: 7582
    • My Best Post
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2012, 11:11:13 pm »
C Programmer working to learn more about C++ and Git.
On Windows 7 64 bit and Windows 10 64 bit.
--
When in doubt, read the CB WiKi FAQ. http://wiki.codeblocks.org

Offline oBFusCATed

  • Developer
  • Lives here!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13413
    • Travis build status
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2012, 12:03:01 am »
How many people contribute to CB?
Too few unfortunately...

What are the plans for the next release? I know no date has been published, but there must be some list of "planned features"?
The features are almost done, nothing is hidden as our svn is public.

How far is the next release? New features still being added? Or just fixing stuff?
Fixing stuff. Some random features added here and there.

How stable/mature is the nightly build?
Way better than the 10.05. We use it every day, so bugs are fixed quickly (most of the time).

What are the major improvements compared to the 10.05 ?
Better debugger, better CC, better ThreadSearch, better Valgrind plugin, doxygen plugin, etc...

Should I try it?
Of course.
(most of the time I ignore long posts)
[strangers don't send me private messages, I'll ignore them; post a topic in the forum, but first read the rules!]

Offline PaulS

  • Multiple posting newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 25
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2012, 12:36:33 am »
I sincerely hope that the next release, if not the nightlies, provide out of the box support for debugging strings, both wxwidgets and std.  I guess I'm a little slow but the wiki and forums seem dated and conflicting & I haven't been able to get it to work.  I really do not think that I should have to understand CodeBlocks internals or follow all threads daily to use such a common, basic feature.

I just want to write & maintain my own programs --  a dozen or so that I use daily but no one else would be interested in.

Windows 7, GCC 4.7.1, WxWidgets 2.9.4.

Offline oBFusCATed

  • Developer
  • Lives here!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13413
    • Travis build status
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2012, 01:18:14 am »
I just want to write & maintain my own programs --  a dozen or so that I use daily but no one else would be interested in.
Why don't you use VStudio then? It is fully integrated. For C::B you'll have to setup some things. Like installing the proper debugger (with python script support). Installing the proper python pretty printer scripts, setuping C::B to use the debugger and your pretty printer scripts, and so on.

Windows 7, GCC 4.7.1, WxWidgets 2.9.4.
wx2.9 should include the pretty printer scripts, so it should work, but I've not tried it (especially on windows).
(most of the time I ignore long posts)
[strangers don't send me private messages, I'll ignore them; post a topic in the forum, but first read the rules!]

Offline PaulS

  • Multiple posting newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 25
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2012, 01:39:26 am »
And again it's the "proper" debugger & the "proper" python scripts.  No pointer to what these are.  I already swallowed my pride and admitted that I couldn't figure it out from the wiki & forums.  Has CodeBlocks really devolved into just a toy for the in crowd? 

Why not Visual Studio?  When I got into CodeBlocks, many years ago, I was seriously considering migrating to Linux in some flavor.  I still might but it is probably no for me.  In any case I rather like Codelocks & WxWidgets.

Obfuscated is a marvelously apt user name.

Offline krix

  • Single posting newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2012, 12:30:58 pm »
Thanks for the answers, I will try to build the latest svn.

How many people contribute to CB?
Too few unfortunately...
Hmmm, what does this mean? A handful of people that invests a few nightly hours now and then?
Or does anyone do CB development as part of a money-earning business?
I am sorry to sound sceptical, but I have tried too many promising open source projects over the years, that just couldn't hold the pace.

What are the plans for the next release? I know no date has been published, but there must be some list of "planned features"?
The features are almost done, nothing is hidden as our svn is public.
So what you allready have done is not hidden, I can walk through svn.
But what you plan to do is a big secret?

Offline oBFusCATed

  • Developer
  • Lives here!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13413
    • Travis build status
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2012, 01:03:25 pm »
I am sorry to sound sceptical, but I have tried too many promising open source projects over the years, that just couldn't hold the pace.
Then use Visual studio, Eclipse or XCode...

So what you allready have done is not hidden, I can walk through svn.
But what you plan to do is a big secret?
Yes, because even I don't know what would be added in the future, even by me.
Feature additions in C::B are driven by developer's needs. So if I need some feature I'll add it.

I've redirected you to svn, because there you can see the progress since 10.05 and we are almost ready with 12.xx or 13.xx release, so
you can see the improvements since 10.05.
(most of the time I ignore long posts)
[strangers don't send me private messages, I'll ignore them; post a topic in the forum, but first read the rules!]

Offline krix

  • Single posting newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2012, 02:07:41 pm »
Then use Visual studio, Eclipse or XCode...
... of which only Eclipse runs on linux.
But yes, I will definately give Eclipse a try, and in my comparison of the two, I think it is deeply relevant how the development is organized and funded. Sounds like you do not find this relevant.

Yes, because even I don't know what would be added in the future, even by me.
Feature additions in C::B are driven by developer's needs. So if I need some feature I'll add it.
Ok, understood.
It confirms to me that the work is driven by relatively few people, whose motivation is their daily work and needs.
This approach for development will obviously have some advantages, but it must be very hard to work together towards major changes.
And how do you decide what CB should NOT do, with that approach?
Anyway, I don't expect an answer from you on this, but I hope you can agree that these questions are relevant for a guy that wants a c++ IDE for linux, but don't consider himself a good enough programmer to be contributing with new features.






Offline MortenMacFly

  • Administrator
  • Lives here!
  • *****
  • Posts: 9694
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2012, 02:14:47 pm »
I hope you can agree that these questions are relevant for a guy that wants a c++ IDE for linux, but don't consider himself a good enough programmer to be contributing with new features.
...and probably making things over-complicated.

You should actually question yourself what are the project needs you need to fulfil, i.e. what platforms, what compilers, what SDK's and then decide that IDE to use.

I never heard of somebody deciding upon an IDE by how many devs work on it and how development is going on in the first place. But maybe I get things wrong...
Compiler logging: Settings->Compiler & Debugger->tab "Other"->Compiler logging="Full command line"
C::B Manual: https://www.codeblocks.org/docs/main_codeblocks_en.html
C::B FAQ: https://wiki.codeblocks.org/index.php?title=FAQ

Offline oBFusCATed

  • Developer
  • Lives here!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13413
    • Travis build status
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2012, 02:58:46 pm »
And how do you decide what CB should NOT do, with that approach?
There is not such thing that should not be done by C::B. C::B is an IDE, so it should do everything! :)
More seriously, most of the major changes are discussed by the active developers.

As Morten said your method of evaluating IDEs is pretty broken/flawed. You're not choosing an SDK/library to care for the future,
because changing the IDE doesn't cause to many changes to a project. And if you really care for this you'll make your
project IDE agnostic...
(most of the time I ignore long posts)
[strangers don't send me private messages, I'll ignore them; post a topic in the forum, but first read the rules!]

Offline ouch

  • Almost regular
  • **
  • Posts: 223
Re: Newbee: what is the codeblocks future?
« Reply #11 on: October 24, 2012, 11:33:20 pm »
Well Codeblocks has been around for quite awhile now I can't find when it actually started but the last reference I could find was 2006. I started using codeblocks after microsoft dropped support for VS v6.0. I was pretty peeved at MS because I spent hundreds on that thing only to be unable to use it because of lack of updates. I also tried and liked linux around that time so I wanted an IDE that was crossplatform, capable of using more than one compiler, and didn't move my cursor to where I didn't want it to go while typing. (it's amazing how hard that last one is to find.)

Codeblocks fit the bill and I have been using it ever since. The thing that was the hardest transition from msvs v6 for me was the way the compiler/linker settings are layed out in codeblocks. I remember sitting there trying to figure it out and I was like "Where is x feature? Oh there it is, Why would you put that there instead of over here damn it!" But as I used it more it started to all make sense. I can't see any of the compiler/linker settings being anywhere else now days.

But I use codeblocks at work myself. I mostly do boring database and reporting stuff at work, but I dabble with 3d engines (mostly ogre now days) and other things at home. But there isn't anything I've needed over the years that codeblocks couldn't do. I also dual boot linux and win 7 at home and I can open my projects in either os on any of my computers and hit the build button and everything just works even if my libraries are in different locations on each computer in each os.

If you ask people that have tried codeblocks and didn't like it. Most of them say it's because they couldn't figure out the compiler/linker settings, not that it didn't support the features they needed. Well, some complain of the debugger too but I think that has been remedied with the new debugger plugin.

I would definitely give codeblocks a try, it's not like it costs you anything... But try the latest nightly built version as the last release version is really outdated.

If you don't like codeblocks you could also try codelite. I like that IDE too but codeblocks has more overall features.