Programming Program?

Naming conventions are becoming more and more important as larger and larger projects are undertaken. It wouldn't surprise me if some college somewhere had a whole course on them, and software companies began to require you to use/know certain conventions.

That being said, I don't. Twelve years of programming and I still haven't been able to kick some of the old bad habits.
 
Lord Draegon said:
So you need a writer: but what's so special about one over another. Isn't NotePad a basic writer? Isn't a writer all you need? About the Crimson Editor, what does it do?

EditPlus, UltraEdit and Crimson Editor are "programmer's editors". They provide additional features that makes programming more convenient... e.g. Syntax highlight - different types of word with different colours. It makes it easier to inspect code, and you can spot typos immediately.

All the three mentioned editors use syntax files - so if you want to use a language, you create a syntax file for it, or download one that other made.

They also provide other features, like regular expression search and replace, concept of a project - when you open a project, the editor provides you a panel containing all the files in the project, mapping third-party tools into menu (for compilation, document generation, etc.).

Lord Draegon said:
Then the whole Integrated Development Environment (IDE) what does that do? I really have no idea.

With an simple editor, you manage your source files yourself, create your own compilation scripts (or compile manually), in other words, do anything yourself.

With IDE, your source files are managed in a project, they provide easy ways to compile and generate documentation, provides a visual debugging tool, code completion, syntax highlight, realtime code parsing, visual UI creator, etc.

Check out the official site of NetBeans, Eclipse, etc. They have their features listed.

Lord Draegon said:
Also, a friend has Visual Studio with .Net or something. Is that any good and what type of program is it?

VS.Net is the IDE for writing programs in Microsoft languages e.g. C#.Net, VB.Net, ASP.Net, etc.
 
Meleager said:
Ofcourse unless your part of MSDN you have to pay for that. I would look up programers file editor on google, its pretty good. You should be able to get most compilers for free.
MS has actually put out some nice free IDEs. http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/. You can download the following IDEs:
Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Visual J# 2005 Express Edition
 
Is .NET 2005 still in beta? (or close to release) Also, just a note -- you'll need .NET 2.0 (and so will everyone using programs made with it). C++ .NET (standard C++ apps, not .net ones) won't require it.
 
I doubt he has $1000 plus to lay out for a copy of Visual Studio, so that's out.

Some good free language compilers:

Python. Needed for programming in civ4. Free.

Free Basic. 32 bit BASIC compiler that works a lot like the old quick basic did. Can do some windowish things too. There are a bunch of BASIC tools around, try looking it up on google.

You can download a free C++ compiler from Borland. You will need a separate editor though, it is strictly a command line tool.

As mentioned, the Bloodshed Dev C++ compiler.

You could always load up debug and type in machine instructions in hex if you feel like torturing yourself. :D
 
I got mine for $117 at a Computer Show & Sale.
 
Ivan the Kulak said:
Free Basic. 32 bit BASIC compiler that works a lot like the old quick basic did. Can do some windowish things too. There are a bunch of BASIC tools around, try looking it up on google.

Hell yes, Freebasic rocks. All of the games in my sig are done in it. Here's the site for those who don't feel like looking around for it. I've just started doing openGL stuff in it. Personally, the thing I like most about it is the scalability. For quick little programs, it's awesome, since you can just type and then go, without having to do extensive setup of a window, then a graphics surface, then draw the primitives. I think someone did a comparison of FB and C++ for a small "snow" drawing program, and the C++ version was around 200 lines, while the FB version was 20. I also did the "Pong in 63 lines" (it's in All Other Games somewhere) in it. But you can also use it for large projects; Future Siege was over 1200 lines (and still isn't finished) but the code is very clean and navigable. The biggest step back for it is the lack of a professional-quality IDE; FBIde is pretty good but it still lacks some features.

The other thing is, it can use any library that you can port the headers for. So, like I said, we're working on some projects with OpenGL right now, and it's pretty damn fast too (~350 fps for a scene with around 2000 polys). It's still missing OO, but that's going to come soon, and hopefully by the release of 1.0, it'll be a real competitor in the programming market.

They've suggested moving to a more cross-platform model soon as well, so a compiler with Macs or just about any other target you can think of will be possible. Already there's been games in use on PSP and XBox (although, granted, a bit of hacking was necessary) but for a project less than a year old it's already made some great leaps forward.

Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm a FB junkie. :D
 
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