What is the best IDE for C Development / Why use Emacs over an IDE?

I started off by using IDEs, Microsoft or not. Then, while working on QNX some long time ago, I was forced to do with a text editor + compiler/linker. Now I prefer this simple combination––a syntax highlighting editor + C compiler and linker cli + make––to any IDEs, even if environment allows for them.

The reasons are, for me:

1. it's everywhere. If you program in C, you do have the compiler, and usually you can get yourself an editor. The first thing I do––I get myself nedit on Linux or Notepad++ on Windows. I would go with vi, but GUI editors provide for a better fonts, and that is important when you look at code all day

2. you can program remotely, via ssh, when you need to. And it does help a lot sometimes to be able to ssh into the target and do some quick things there

3. it keeps me close to CLI, preferably UNIX/Linux CLI. So all the commands are on my fingertips, and when I need them I don't have to go read a reference book. And UNIX CLI can do things IDEs often can't––because their developers didn't think you'd need them

4. most importantly, it is very much like seeing the Matrix in raw code. I operate files, so I'm forced to keep them manageable. I'm finding things in my code manually, which makes me keep it simple and organized. I do Config Management explicitly, so I know when I'm synced and how. I know my Makefiles because I write them, and they only do what I tell them to

   (if you wonder if that works in "really big projects"––it does work, and the bigger the project the more performance it gains me)

5. when people ask me to look at their code, I don't have to learn the IDE they use

I've moved from a terminal text-editor+make environment to Eclipse for most of my projects. Spanning from C and C++, to Java and Python to name few languages I am currently working with.

The reason was simply productivity. I could not afford spending time and effort on keeping all projects "in my head" as other things got more important.

There are benefits of using the "hardcore" approach (terminal) - such as that you have a much thinner layer between yourself and the code which allows you to be a bit more productive when you're all "inside" the project and everything is on the top of your head. But I don't think it is possible to defend that way of working just for it's own sake when your mind is needed elsewhere.

Usually when you work with command line tools you will frequently have to solve a lot of boilerplate problems that will keep you from being productive. You will need to know the tools in detail to fully leverage their potentials. Also maintaining a project will take a lot more effort. Refactoring will lead to updates in make-files, etc.

To summarize: If you only work on one or two projects, preferably full-time without too much distractions, "terminal based coding" can be more productive than a full blown IDE. However, if you need to spend your thinking energy on something more important an IDE is definitely the way to go in order to keep productivity.

Make your choice accordingly.

Emacs is an IDE.

edit: OK, I'll elaborate. What is an IDE?

As a starting point, let's expand the acronym: Integrated Development Environment. To analyze this, I start from the end.

An environment is, generally speaking, the part of the world that surrounds the point of view. In this case, it is what we see on our monitor (perhaps hear from our speakers) and manipulate through our keyboard (and perhaps a mouse).

Development is what we want to do in this environment, its purpose, if you want. We use the environment to develop software. This defines what subparts we need: an editor, an interface to the REPL, resp. the compiler, an interface to the debugger, and access to online documentation (this list may not be exhaustive).

Integrated means that all parts of the environment are somehow under a uniform surface. In an IDE, we can access and use the different subparts with a minimum of switching; we don't have to leave our defined environment. This integration lets the different subparts interact better. For example, the editor can know about what language we write in, and give us symbol autocompletion, jump-to-definition, auto-indentation, syntax highlighting, etc.. It can get information from the compiler, automatically jump to errors, and highlight them. In most, if not all IDEs, the editor is naturally at the heart of the development process.

Emacs does all this, it does it with a wide range of languages and tasks, and it does it with excellence, since it is seamlessly expandable by the user wherever he misses anything.

Counterexample: you could develop using something like Notepad, access documentation through Firefox and XPdf, and steer the compiler and debugger from a shell. This would be a Development Environment, but it would not be integrated.

I have used Eclipse with the CDT plug in quite successfully.

Emacs would be better if it had a text editor in it... :-)

Use Code::Blocks. It has everything you need and a very clean GUI.

If you are looking for a free, nice looking, cross-platform editor, try Komodo Edit. It is not as powerful as Komodo IDE, however that isn't free. See feature chart.

Another free, extensible editor is jEdit. Crossplatform as it is 100% pure Java. Not the fastest IDE on earth, but for Java actually very fast, very flexible, not that nice looking though.

Both have very sophisticated code folding, syntax highlighting (for all languages you can think of!) and are very flexible regarding configuring it for you personal needs. jEdit is BTW very easy to extend to add whatever feature you may need there (it has an ultra simple scripting language, that looks like Java, but is actually "scripted").

If you're on Windows then it's a total no-brainer: Get Visual C++ Express.