Hello,
Just from reading some of the posts on this forum it is clear that some of you write code. I am currently taking the time to learn ANSI C++, I've noticed that most people seem to favour M$ visual C++ rather than Borlands
C++ Builder offering.

I was wondering what you guys prefer and if you could give me a few reasons why you prefer one over another IDE. This is just to help me make an informed choice of which is best when I come to writing some Windows programs myself.

Thanks in advance for any input.

5Alive.

im using VS6 and 2003 becouse its free

In exactly what way are they "free"?

maybe he means free of the crappiness inherent in borland's and metroworks's products

Which is exactly?

Do you mean "free" to download at your leisure without a license perhaps?

I was looking for a more technical and reasoned response to the strengths and weaknesses of each and why one is perceived to be better than the other.

Thanks,
5Alive.

The center theme of the board is Reverse Code Engineering, not Code Engineering.
In the RCE community, at least in the near past, there was a strong bias against IDE in general, because, when you examine the disassembly of applications written with either of the popular ones, Builder or VC, you see how inefficient, repetitive, and plain all bulky they are.

The current trend in hardware development, with HD near Terabytes and powerful CPU, making efficient and compact code is not a priority, and people settle for bloated code that LOOKS professional with minimal effort.

So:
1) If you want a technical, head to head analysis of the IDEs, you may have better luck in other boards or sites in the web, where people code for a living.
2) I f you want full control of the computer, maximum flexibility, and freedom to code, and are not afraid of a steeper, longer learning curve, use neither. You will code what you want to code, not what they thought you should code.
3) Microsoft Makes the OS of choice, and can, and does, tweak things around so its products have an edge over the competitors, Look at IE vrs Netscape, Look at .NET vrs JAVA, look at the IDEs. those are reasons to keep in mind if you depend on an IDE for making a living.

visual c++ 6
(I tried .NET, went back to v6.0)

I don't think it is free, unless you get an academic license.

I can't comment on borland's ide, never tried.

for msvc, it gives me what I want:
-things integrate well, getting the platform sdk, ddk, driverworks tools to function properly wasn't an issue.
- list of fields/function in a popup menu when i hit . or ->
- tiling/splitting, multiviews.
- its debugger is simple and efficient.
- ...

both sides are fine (especially since you are a newbie), ppl just pick their clan.. btw I first started with lcc-win32.. (freeware) and used it for quite some time. If you really want to know, you should just try demos and see for yourself which one you prefer/find more intuitive, that's all that matters, really.

I'm using VC++ 6 because there is a very handy plugin for it named Visual Assist(w*w.wholetomato.com). I can't live without this plugin.

I also use Source Insight(w*w.sourceinsight.com) to read C/C++ source code. It's very powerful. With WebDrive(w*w.webdrive.com), you can use Source Insight to edit/view source code on Unix/Linux systems directly. If somebody wants to read the Linux kernel source, Source Insight is one of the best choices.

There is also a popular IDE named Visual SlickEdit(w*w.slickedit.com).

maybe he was referring to this?: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=272BE09D-40BB-49FD-9CB0-4BFA122FA91B&displaylang=en ("http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=272BE09D-40BB-49FD-9CB0-4BFA122FA91B&displaylang=en")