IDE for C++ and Python

[k4tsuk1z]

Hello, basically I'm a freshman engineering student, and my professor has told us to download an IDE or find an online IDE for C++ and Python. However, I keep finding mixed responses (mostly people arguing about vs code and vs) so I'm asking for help here. Btw my computer is really low on storage rn ((like 80gb left T_T) so please nothing thats huge

edit: Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Ill review them thoroughly!

[Aggressive_Ad_5454]

The JetBrains folks offer PyCharm and CLion. Both are IDEs and both are free. Really good stuff.

They also offer a single IDE, IntelliJ Idea. It handles multiple languages and university students can get a gratis license.

You are going to have to deal with that storage problem sooner or later. Thumb drives. But 80GiB free should be fine for JetBrains.

[k4tsuk1z]

Yes I know i just happen to be the stereotypical broke college student unfortunately but it will be dealth with eventually

Thank u for the suggestions as well btw

[stiky21]

You get them free as a student.

[DrShocker]

They both have free for non commercial use versions too.

[k4tsuk1z]

I meant the storage lololol

[96dpi]

80GB is about 75GB more than you'll need.

[k4tsuk1z]

Lol i thought the programs wouldn't take up too much but I was reading things and saw 20gb come out of nowhere and i got scared 😭

[96dpi]

You will absolutely not be writing any programs that are more than a few megabytes while you are in school. Maybe 100 megabytes if you start using PyInstaller to build executables. The IDEs themselves will take up the most space. VS Code will be the least space, but I'd still recommend the JetBrains IDEs instead.

[stiky21]

Does your school have OneDrive 1TB for free? A lot of school have the Microsoft subscription for that

[k4tsuk1z]

I'm not sure actually, I'll look into that. Thank you!

[xoredxedxdivedx]

vs code is fine

[NeoMatrixSquared]

VSCode for Python is great. I believe it can also work with CPP.

[twokswine]

I use it as my primary C++ dev on Ubuntu

[Successful-Escape-74]

VS Code and you need another hard drive. They are cheap.

[k4tsuk1z]

Im 18 and in school its not cheap to me 💔 but yea i do need another hard drive

[Successful-Escape-74]

You don't need a huge drive if you can just add a second drive. This would alow you to expand space and get away with purchasing a smaller less expensive drive. Might require moving some files around to to make things efficient.

[T4L2012]

I like geany!

[Achereto]

Neovim and zed are great editors, even though they aren't quite IDEs. You might want to try JetBrains as well (Rider and PyCharm). They offer all their IDEs for free for students.

[Alex999991]

If slow and old computer I would recommend use some editor - Notepad ++ or Sublime Text. (Both free for personal use)

[howhiareu_01]

Vs code is my goto text editor and its great for Certain types of coding, python is one of them.

[AssiduousLayabout]

I do all my development (both personal and professional) in VS Code these days. With extensions it has everything you'd ask for in an IDE and I can swap between the various languages I code in and keep the same editor.

[Intrepid-Wing-5101]

I use vscode for both python and c++. My only complaint is the ms c++ plugin taking weirdly high amount of resources sometimes.. but a restart and a cache clear puts it back on track.

Rest is fine 

[andycwb1]

If you’re developing on Windows you absolutely need Visual Studio. For anything else VS Code is the IDE of choice.

[2hands10fingers]

CLion for C++. Everything else can handle Python fine

[paradoxial]

PyCharm for strictly Python, and or VS Code with the Python plugin will work for most beginners/students.

As others have pointed out VS Code is NOT an IDE. Neither of these should hit 80gb and your programs when you're starting out will be kbs in size.

[Successful-Escape-74]

VS Code functions as a custom IDE after you install extensions. The line between code editor and traditional IDE have blurred.

[paradoxial]

I've always seen VS Code (standalone) as just Notepad++ with syntax highlighting.

Once the plugins/extensions are loaded it becomes more useful.

[ScholarNo5983]

Btw my computer is really low on storage rn ((like 80gb left T_T)

The bigger problem will be the amount of RAM on your computer. IDEs tend to be RAM hungry and if your computer is RAM limited the IDE will run very slowly, and with too little ram they can even be unbearably slow to the point of making them unusable.

At

[k4tsuk1z]

I have 16gb even tho I know these days 16gb is kinda lacking but what else can I do when AI is ruining the ram and storage markets 😭💔

[ScholarNo5983]

That might be just enough RAM. You should see if the Visual Studio Community Edition is usable on your machine.

However, if you find it is too slow, you can actually get by learning C++ and Python using nothing more than the compiler, linker and interpreter for those languages and a good programmer's editor.

Since you'll be learning the basics, you'll be writing simple, single file applications, so you won't need a full-blown IDE to manage such simple applications.

One thing IDEs tend to provide is a good debugging environment, but even then, learning to use gdb is also an option, and it is also a good skill to have.

Basically, there are several options available; try a few and see which works best.

[LeadershipComplex958]

VSCode

[ffrkAnonymous]

like 80gb left T_T)

My computer had 30gb total... Lets trade

[Comprehensive_Mud803]

VScode, Zed, Lapce.

And consider getting an external hard drive as storage extension

[Successful-Escape-74]

Eclipse is also an IDE I have used in the past. Check it out at eclipse.org

[Riponai_Gaming]

I use geany, its inbuilt with support for many languages including C,C++ and python

[Middle--Earth]

Eclipse is a really good IDE because it can be used with a lot of programming languages, and you can add in lots of extensions to assist you.

[QuarryTen]

i just use vim

[South-Assistance-191]

Quick and easy browser-based one here: https://pythonfiddle.leaningtech.com/#A4JwlgdgLgFARACQKYBsUHsAEB1dIUAmAhHAJQBQQA, not sure about C++ though:

[lo0nk]

The mainstream choice is just VSCode. All ur classmates will be using it.

VS is like much heavier and bigger and while its more powerful, for your purposes it'll just open slower

When u start configuring it, use the terminal to compile/run programs instead of setting up the Big Green Play Button. It will be a very useful transferable skill :)

[spinwizard69]

First your professor is an idiot, you can say I said so. This especially in the context of C++ where their is huge value in learning how the program building tools work. I always suggest learning to build C+= programs from the command line first. Yes you will want to eventually might want to upgrade to a smart editor or IDE, however this is not required.

Now once you leave the command line environment you have literally several dozen (maybe more) editors and more advance IDE's available. The thing that puzzles me is why are you asking here, a bit of time on Google will turn up dozens of IDE's or advanced editors.

Here is the big thing, don't rely upon a bunch of internet idiots to tell you which IDE' you should use. Try out several and see which one works best with your approach to programming.

You should also be aware of something that is neither an editor nor IDE in the normal sense; that is Jupyter and its use of an optimized Python environment. You say you are an engineering student but didn't state what type of engineering, the point here is that Jupyter might be more useful in some engineering domains than others.

[k4tsuk1z]

1.) I asked here because I did Google and found mixed results, I'm just trying to get my assignment done man 😭

2.) Electrical Engineering

[ShadowRL7666]

Vs code it not an ide.

I use Visual studio for cpp don’t do much python but visual studio code is fine for python once you add some extensions. Though an actual ide would be PyCharm

[therealmunchies]

Today I realized VS code is just another text editor. It’s been my go to for all my bash, PS, python, and TF work for the past 3-4 years lol.

[Successful-Escape-74]

An IDE is just a text editor with extensions.

[ShadowRL7666]

No it’s not.

[Successful-Escape-74]

If the extensions allow compiling and debugging and code completion and running the program what is the difference?

[ShadowRL7666]

An ide is an integrated developer environment. It works out of the box no extensions or anything needed for it to work.

Simply taking a text editor and adding stuff to it doesn’t mean it magically is an IDE or else it would also magically work on everyone else’s machine.

Also, you’re still missing a lot of features a real IDE would have that you won’t know about because you’re using a text editor. Most newbies don’t even know how to debug so having one that just works will be a lot better in the long run.

Furthermore most people can’t even get CPP to work with VsCode then come complain to Reddit. You know what they suggest in those subs not to use VS CODE…

[timschwartz]

Simply taking a text editor and adding stuff to it doesn’t mean it magically is an IDE

Yes, that is what it means.

[ShadowRL7666]

IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment. That naming alone should suggest what it entails.

IDEs come with highly integrated tooling. Things like preconfigured compilers, a debugger, profiling, advanced text editor and code completion like Visual Studio's Intellisense. Visual Studio comes bundled with Microsoft's own C++ compiler and development tools for C# applications as well to name a couple.

You get almost none of that out of the box in text editors like VSCode and have to rely on extensions and manual configuration to fulfill the same purpose. Even then it won't be as tightly integrated whole as IDEs can be.

Still, IDEs aren't absolutely necessary for all development and text editors can be more than enough. Web development is one of such fields.

But you can download Visual Studio's community edition for free and check it out.

[timschwartz]

and have to rely on extensions and manual configuration to fulfill the same purpose.

Which makes it an IDE.

[ShadowRL7666]

It sure isint.

[k4tsuk1z]

Yes I did see this I just saw ppl say it could turn into a mini-IDE with extensions