Developer tools

[JonnyFrond]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I´ve finally got myself a linux thing going on via VirtualBox on my mac and chosen Ubuntu, it seems the logical place to start.

Now to start playing with it.

Let me give you a little background so you can better assess my question.

I am studying Mechatronics Engineering at Uni, That´s Robotics and automation for those that dont know the word. I use things like AutoCAD and Matlab quite a bit, and I am learning to program mainly in C/C++ and also learning python to help me along the way. On the mac, I use Xcode because it´s there and I am trying to learn Terminal. I want to be a proper geek basically, not a part time one.

Browsing through Ubuntu and the software center, I have found Netbeans and Eclipse and got them both to see which I would end up prefering. Eclipse is now stumping me as there is no C/C++ bit for it.

So my questions are really, firstly how do I deal with the C/C++ bit, where do I find that, and can I start a little bit of discussion on the different environments and peoples preferences.

Kind Regards

Jonny.

[elija]

Have a look at code::blocks which is quite a nice light IDE. Try installing the build-essential package (run

sudo apt-get install build-essential

in a terminal) which will give you all the libraries and compilers.

[JonnyFrond]

I'm obviously too new to this, as I don't understand what it is I have just installed, and I don't know where to find it to use it.

Is it part of net beans or eclipse, or is it something on it's own.

Also when I went to the website to find it I find they don't do an ubuntu one.

I need hand holding on this one I am afraid.

Kind regards

Jonny

[elija]

Build essential is a "meta package". It installs various compilers including c and c++ along with the headers and libraries that interact with the system such as stdio.h.

To use gcc (the c compiler) you might create a simple program such as

#include <stdio.h>

void main()
{
	printf("Hello World\n");
}

using any text editor and then assuming you saved it as helloworld.c in your home directory, you would open a teminal and run

gcc helloworld.c -o helloworld

which would either compile the program to an executable called helloworld or spit out a whole raft of errors.

So, these are stand alone items that you can use. I'm afraid I don't know about eclipse or netbeans but code::blocks found and configured itself to use the compilers when I first ran it.

Code blocks may be in the repo so again in a terminal, run the following

apt-cache search codeblocks

and if it's found, run

sudo apt-get install codeblocks

to install the IDE. If you are more comfortable installing through a GUI, you can search for things and install through synaptic.

[JonnyFrond]

Thanks elija,

Do you see what I mean about being walked through it, I have just done a helloworld program and it has compiled I think, but I can't run it.

How do I run the executable I have just built?

typing in the file name returns a command not found error?
I feel really thick here, as this seems so simple there is no info on the web anywhere on this, been on google now for an hour with no luck????????????

[elija]

Make sure you are in the directory where the program is and try running

./helloworld

asuming that's what you called it. You may need to tell Linux that people are allowed to run it as a program in which case run

chmod +x helloworld

to do so.

[theKbStockpiler]

Anjuta is going to make things a lot Clearer. Your Package-Manager can most likely install it for you. After installing it will be found in the Applications> Programming menu. Do a web search of " Install Anjuta (whatever your distro name is) "or whatever your Package-Manager name is .

[JonnyFrond]

Thanks Elija, that clears it all up for me.

As for making things easier, that's not what I am after, I want to learn how to do it anyway and learn how to get around it if I come across problems. I have a mac for my everyday work, being stuck with this is part of the fun in my mind.

Regards everyone

Jonny