Is there a Visual Studio style tool/IDE?

Question

I have been developing in the windows space with Visual Studio for a while now with work, but I have also been using Ubuntu for a while and am keen to get into some software development for linux.

I should also note. I am not looking for .NET and I am aware of mono. I am also familiar with c++ development and some python, so the language isn't so much relevant as the "all in one" aspect.

I was interested to know if there is a useful all in one code/debug/design(gui) IDE similar to something like Visual Studio but for linux?

Solution 1

I don't have much experience with it myself (I personally like to work in gedit), but for the sake of completeness we really should mention Anjuta . It is part of the GNOME project, and includes many of the features you are interested in.

• Focus on C/C++, but extensible with plugins. Some support for Python and Vala.

• Integrated Glade user interface designer.

• Version control integration with at least Git, CVS, and Subversion.

• Project management and autotools support.

• Integrated debugger including breakpoints, ect... Backed by gdb.

• GTK+/GNOME Devhelp API help browser integration.

• Valgrind plugin to profile programs for memory leaks.

Solution 2

In your comment you said you were more concerned about the "all in one" aspect, however if you want the best possible experience I think it's important to choose the right tool.

C++/Qt:
Qt Creator: A cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) tailored to the needs of Qt developers. (I would recommend this option if you plan to be programming in C++).

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Java:
Eclipse: This is pretty much the de facto Java IDE.

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C#/.NET:
Mono: MonoDevelop is an IDE primarily designed for C# and other .NET languages.

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My personal "IDE" is Gedit. It is minimal (similar to Notepad++ on Windows), but it gets the job done. It also supports plugins which can basically make it a true IDE. It supports most languages including C/C++, Java, C#, Python, Ruby, PHP, HTML, etc.

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If you're using KDE as your desktop enviroment and don't want to run Gedit, you could also try Kate.

Solution 3

I can't believe everyone's saying "use KDevelop" for C++.

In my experience, there is no better tool than Qt Creator.

It is:

• Fast
• Has a very flexible project manager
• Can be used for any C++ project - even non-Qt ones
• Has what I consider to be the best code-completion engine ever
• Integrates very extensively with the Qt framework (which I really recommend)

Solution 4

It depends on the programming language:

Java, PHP, C/C++, ... : Eclipse, NetBeans

C#: MonoDevelop

Solution 5

Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with support for Mac, Linux and Windows.

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Comments

[Tim]

I should also note. I am not looking for .NET and I am aware of mono. I am also familiar with c++ development and some python, so the language isn't so much relevant as the "all in one" aspect

[Admin]

You should edit this information into your original question.

[David Foerster]

While IDEs are great at increasing software development productivity, I recommend that you educate yourself at least somewhat about more “traditional“, command-line based software development tools of the *nix world like gcc/g++, make, autoconf, etc., since a large share of *nix software projects rely on them and those fancy IDEs just provide a more convenient interface for them.

[David Foerster]

I also think this question should probably be part of the community wiki.

[Igor Nefedov]

I know that it doesn't cover your question completely but there is an answer here as well: programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/125796/…

[Shayne]

For some reason this stack site doesnt let me answer questions. Check out Lazarus. Its a fairly complete Delphi like system (Mostly source compatible with a few wrinkles). Its been around for a long time, so its battle tested, and many delphi devs now think its better than the original. Its based on Pascal a language that offers similar advantages to C++ whilst being a much easier language to learn (It used to be the teaching language until Java knocked it off the top spot). Its got the same drag and drop UI builder and a huge library of components.

[Tim]

I like eclipse and have used it a bit in the past. Is there a gui design aspect for gtk or qt?

[Tim]

Thanks. I have looked at python and don't mind it that much. Its a bit of a change to the languages I am used to but that isn't really an issue. These are personal projects and no time frames mean I can afford to delve a bit deeper into a new language.

[Tim]

I notice KDevelop mentioned a few times, I haven't tried it since KDE 4, is it worth trying over something like eclipse (cdt) or netbeans for example?

[Nathan Osman]

Qt - that's the tool to use for C++.

[Kredns]

@Tim: I would highly recommend learning Python or Ruby. Not only is it fun, but it requires you to think differently then what you normally would. I didn't exactly understand lambda's until I used them in Python.

[Tim]

Thanks Lucas, I have used Gedit for some simple c++ and do like that it is lightweight and still seems rather powerful. I also can appreciate the need for the 'right tool' rather than specifically 'all in one'. I am used to the ability to add breakpoints for debugging and that sort of thing so I am also looking for familiar surroundings to help me get started.

[3dinfluence]

I'm not really a gui guy so I'm not sure what's available that integrates into eclipse for GUI design.

[johnc]

It supports most languages including C/C++, Java, C#, Python, Ruby, PHP, HTML, etc. Nice :)

[Skizz]

I tried this and kdevelop and if I remember correctly, you couldn't undock the panels. Not being able to undock is a big issue as I like to have one of my monitors dedicated to just code, and all the other panels on my second monitor. I hate to say it, but DevStudio does this really well. On Ubuntu/Linux the closest I've found is Eclipse.

[Nathan Osman]

@Skizz: I understand.

[Skizz]

Can those panels be undocked? Becuase that is really cluttered and the code window is really small. As I commented in another answer, I like lots of space for code, enough even to see two files simultaneously.

[Ant's]

So it mean that MonoDevelop is similar to Visual Studio?, because i have used VS for two years and recently changed to Ubuntu, so it will be good if MonoDevelop has similar icons and other stuffs as VS! Is it so?

[user]

As novell is sold. I fear, what is the future of Mono project. Should it be maintained or abandoned

[Bilal Akhtar]

@Anto: The similarities are very little, unfortunately. But I'm sure you'll be able to easily find your way around MonoDevelop equally easily :)

[user]

@trampster: He wants to use .NET and it's IDE, obviously he has some projects in VS on windows. It may not be worth of voting up, but I don't see any reason voting it down.

[trampster]

mono-project.com/MoMA is a tool you can run over a .net application which will tell you about any problem you might have running it on mono.

[Ant's]

@Akhtar: oh that might be the problem!

[Luís de Sousa]

Just to stress that Gedit is really a strong contender here, especially for programmes with a limited number of files/packages. In terms of syntax highlighting the Oblivion scheme is the best ever conceived on any platform.

[David Foerster]

JetBrains's whole range of language-specific IDEs is pretty good ihmo. I personally used IntelliJ, PyCharm, and RubyMine.

[BrunoLM]

Automated instalation steps on Linux: gist.github.com/brunolm/65a760f6130fd2e1d39c