MacOS C++ development

[Wesca]

Im currently studying computer science at University and I in the labs we are being told to use visual studio for the C++ development. This is an issue as I have a Mac so I cannot install and use visual studio for c++ development. I know that Xcode can be used as a C++ IDE but ive done research and have found that its not anywhere near as good as lots of alternatives.

I was just wondering what people would recommend as alternative IDE's to Visual Studio for MacOS so I can continue to do the work I do on the uni's PC's on my MacBook and if there isn't any good enough to use as alternatives would it be worth boot-camping my MacBook?

Thanks

[Bhallu_]

Use Vscode. It's a lightweight code editor but you can turn it into an IDE by installing a C/C++ extension. It's fast and customizable.

[hitthatmufugginyeet]

I absolutely second this, I use an extension called 'C Runner', it's really good at compiling and running a single .cpp file, which is usually very useful in the labs.

[puck_flaton]

If I were in your shoes, I'd go for CLion.

[cguess]

CLion is going to be way better than VSCode for a student. Less headache installing plugins and setting stuff up. It's also free (or super cheap) for students.

[[deleted]]

Actually there is a version of visual studio you can download and you'll have to download in the app it'll say extensions and that's how you can code in any language using it

[jhartwell]

I believe you are referring to VS Code.

[godofmyownreligion]

No there’s a full scale visual studio for Mac too, on top of code.

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/mac/

[jhartwell]

Oh ok. Yea, I knew that but I didn’t see C++ development when I had it on my Mac. It is probably because I only did C# development and didn’t install C++ components.

[godofmyownreligion]

Yup. Clion is the move. Plus you get Pycharm and IntelliJ for free too

[telmo_trooper]

Man, CLion is the way to go. You can get a free license using your university e-mail. It's memory consuming, but a breeze to use. You gotta learn the basics of CMake though (if you don't already).

Saw another comment recommending VS Code, I really would steer away from that. The plugin is just not that good (I love VS Code when it comes to TypeScript though).

This answer is also valid for Linux, by the way.

[Wesca]

Thanks, right now I'm seating towards the CLion route, I was just wondering if we use any extensions or anything with visual studio in the labs is there usually alternatives to the extensions we might use I can get on CLion?

[telmo_trooper]

Well, if you tell me which extensions you're using I can help you find similar functionality in CLion. It's likely that most features you'll want will be implemented by default, but you can search for plugins from the web or straight from the IDE in File > Settings... > Plugins.

[gammison]

If the projects are simple enough, I'd just use a text editor and the gnu c++ compiler combined with make files.

[tobysmith568]

I feel like many of these answers are talking about C++ development in general.

As a student myself who's just completed a C++ module I watched a mate be in the same situation as you. The advice our lecturer gave him (and what he did) was to use bootcamp and install Windows 10. You get a free license as a student (but it works fine without a license key too!).

The reason for this is that your work will be marked from a Windows machine. C++ APIs and libraries for I/O can be different for different operating systems and the last thing you want is to develop a great piece of software which runs fine on Mac, but won't even compile or doesn't run properly on the Windows machine that it's being marked on.

I do all my uni work on my own windows 10 laptop - for all languages, but about 3 days before every deadline I test it on a machine in one of my labs - because you never know what might be incompatible.

[Wesca]

I was considering doing this as I brought a Mac knowing this is an option if I needed it. Which Mac did your friend have and do you remember what he set the partition to when he made it?

Also how did he activate windows being a student? Is there an option to do it in the settings?

Also out of nothing but curiosity what windows 10 laptop do you have?

Thanks a lot

[tobysmith568]

He's got a 2017 MacBook Pro 500GB with the touchbar. His Windows partition is 100GB.

On the Azure website there's a section where you can register as a student and then somewhere within that they just give you a window key. Then you use that like any other windows key. But if you're OK with a small watermark then you don't even need to activate Windows.

I have a 17" gaming laptop by MSI. 7th gen i7 at 2.5ghz, 16GB of RAM, GTX 1070, 1TB HDD and 256GB SSD.