"It's well documented in the wiki" is a very common mantra on these forums, however, the navigation w/in that wiki is less than desired, nay, a completely frustrating experience.
Golly gee, that's awful! We'd better email the Code::Blocks devs and get them to fix this issue right away! Oh, wait a minute... it's a
Wiki... isn't that one of those things where
everyone in the community contributes? Well, then, we could just go in and make it better ourselves, couldn't we?
That point being made, I'll be even more contrary and say that I find navigating the Wiki to be quite simple. Three clicks take you to any mainstream article dealing with installing and using Code::Blocks -- one to get to the wiki main page, one choice from the intuitive menu layout, and one subcategory to get to the article.
And as for being able to seup include/linker directories, yes all IDE's require this, but some make it more intuitive than others. Code::Blocks seems to have a _great_ deal of promise, but it just does not deliver in its current state.
Whoa there, pardner. Code::Blocks actually does the
best job of making compiler and linker settings intuitive of any compiler out there, and,
at the same time,
doesn't dumb it down to a level that obscures or gives a false impression of the compilation process. For example, MSVC 6 (still very widely used, believe you me) hides the list of libraries to link as a single space-delineated text field under the generic "linker" tab of your project settings. Visual Studio 2005 is even worse for a beginner, for he must navigate a bewildering array of property pages to find it. Code::Blocks? Intuitive is its middle name. Libraries to link must be part of a project's Build Options, yes? -- So right-click on the project and select "Properties" or select it in the Project drop-down menu. From here, the "Linker" tab is visible right away, which when selected shows you a
vertical list of libraries, and a nice browse button to add new ones.
A much improved feature would be to see a document that does not explain how to compile code blocks itself, but rather focuses on how to get codeblocks to compile our projects.. a simple hello world project. Nothing more, nothing less. And this document would be placed in the "beginners start here" section. I'd like to write it myself, but for all the dozens of times i've tried and failed to get anything to compile with Code::Blocks on windows using gcc. (Oddly, on linux I had to change but one global variable and I was compiling with ease). Creating my own makefiles using building with msys should not be an easier alternative for doing a build than using Code::Blocks, but sadly it is.
In what misbegotten cave did you find the aberration of Code::Blocks that you appear to be using? I'd be more than happy to exterminate the nest of insanity that incubated it, and give the real deal a chance to thrive. Then all you'll need to do to compile a hello world sample is load the template or run the wizard, and hit the blue gear Build button.
*****
In the spirit of goodwill, feel free to ignore the previous, as my rant-meter indicator is in the red. Give some solid evidence that an
out-of-the-box compilation fails, and I'm sure the devs will fix it almost before your mouse clicks the Post button. Beyond that -- it shouldn't take a document to figure out how to click New Project, run a template/wizard, and hit Build.