I was reading this old article,
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0%2C1697%2C1657948%2C00.asp and many others and it says so many true things. Languages like visual basic and c# with programming tools for RAD for GUI and a rich framework are becoming more popular everyday. Java appears to be the #1 on the
http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm thanks to its RAD framework, GUI designers, and database tools. As for the recent .Net that has so many useful libraries that facilitate and accelerate programming jobs. But the most important thing is that IDE's that integrate all this functionality exist for the mentioned languages.
Seeing c++ going down to position #5 on the Tiobe website made me sad
. Then I thought that what codeblocks is doing could bring more live into c++. Code::Blocks is sponsoring (it's the correct term?) a great framework, wxWidgets, that would attract more users to develop on c++ as it attracted me. Thanks to wxSmith plugin, RAD is possible inside the IDE as crossplataform (like Java does) what accelerate the development very much.
Then in my mind popped up that many newbies (like me) are visiting this forum, looking for easiness, since codeblocks makes so many things easy! Plugging on the IDE tools available on other programming plataforms as java and .net will help the IDE and c++ become even more popular, and make people understand that c++ can be used for RAD too!
What Groms says here
http://forums.codeblocks.org/index.php/topic,7572.msg57406.html#msg57406 is true, maybe adding support for a database as open as wxWidgets. I would propose firebird that could be shipped with an installation of codeblocks thanks to its license, and a c++ library as ibpp. Powerful Libraries like TinyXml should also have part with tools that facilitate adapting them on the code (not to say GUI that make the task easier). Even adding a garbage collector library for those who like that. Also not forgetting boost. I had to make so many research to find, wxWidgets, firebird and other libraries that are free for use, so many users will appreciate having all this at the tip of their fingers, what makes c++ more powerful. Including all these on the IDE would kick anything else, since the c++ standard doesn't bring libraries for many things that java and c# does for RAD! Every person value very much free things, another point in favor.
(I don't think that any other IDE has recollected so many info and integrated inside of it to help programmers accelerate the process of development on c++, creating a RAD c++. Many programmers and companies are seeking for ready to use tools that accelerate all the process, thats the new style of living, accelerated, turbo, hehehe :lol:)
When i was on college, first I started with visual basic 6, i thought it was great, and make very nice programs, as a voice internet peer to peer chat using text to speech, very fast (one month)! Then I took object oriented programming using c++, and damn my first impression was that c++ was an old garbage, it doesn't let me make windows, oh! MFC was so complicated (what an ignorant I was). It came out later .net and the wonderful c#. And without money to buy Visual Studio .Net discovered SharpDevelop, what a great IDE it let me design windows, and for free!
Started making my practice before graduating and I made an application on c# for a school, to keep track of student grades, personal info, classes and everything related. The garbage collector of C# started giving me problems, the memory consumed was going up to 64MB and there was little I can do to solve it, only minimizing and restoring the application was cycling the garbage collector, so it started to suck, the application was finished and slow!
Finally graduated and with a Job (thanks to God) I needed to make an application that make heavy use of database and windows. Well I started reading and reading and found the powerful language that c++ is, then decided to make the change. Started studying C++ from the ground up, with some books that I had to buy on college, and bought some of ANSI C additionally. There is where I discovered codeblocks, men it was heaven, learned a lot of wxWidgets, wxSmith was a glory. Started developing the application and “tada!” I use CodeBlocks as my main development tool at my job since it is a non profit they let me choose the tools, and if free, better!
The point is, I discovered on codeblocks a better c++. And it took me some time to learn some basic things of c++, so switching to another language would suck since c++ is so powerful, native code, no runtime jit compilers, manage the memory as I like and many other things. I have seen so many better jobs that ask for c# experience or java on my country, where c++ is a shadow. But I insist on using c++ and keep learning it, instead of switching to another language that I don't like!
I don't know if I'm dreaming but for me codeblocks is a door to let the world know that c++ is as capable as java and c# for RAD. Just wanted to show my preoccupation of c++ and a marketing strategy (doesn't even know it this long post is a silly thing that will fade).