C Programming in Linux, Programming Tools : The choice of a code editor or integrated development environment may be hardest to make. There are so many choices, so many visual styles, and so few metrics one can use to determine which works best for a specific developer, development team, or project. Rather than attempting to present a comprehensive list of Linux development tools—which can be easily gathered with a Web search—here are just a few tools for native C/C++ projects in Linux, that come highly recommended.

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by Alan Zeichick, principal analyst, Camden Associates. Intel Corp.

For many Windows developers, Linux presents a learning challenge. Not only does Linux have a different programming model, but it also requires its own toolchain, as programmers must leave behind the Visual Studio or Visual Studio .NET suites and third-party plug-in ecosystem. This article helps Windows developers understand the options available as they seek to replicate, on Linux, the rich and efficient toolchain experience they've long enjoyed on Windows.

Making the move to Linux can be an exciting and challenging opportunity for Windows developers. The power of the open-source operating system, including its support for a wide variety of hardware platforms, is appealing. So, too, is its now-legendary stability, performance and scalability. But programmers seeking to write software for Linux will need the appropriate native software development tools—and finding the right toolchain can be a challenge in its own right.

The toolchain challenge
Why is there a toolchain challenge? The short answer is, because the Linux world has grown organically, with separate teams and open-source projects building different parts to suit their own needs and schedules. There's no unifying vision between the operating system and development tools. The open-source project led by Linus Torvalds that just introduced kernel 2.6, for example, is unrelated to the contributors who evolve the GNU Compiler Collection, Borland Kylix, the Intel VTune Performance Analyzer, or the open-source Eclipse project founded by IBM.

By contrast, Microsoft designs and builds its tools (now consolidated under the Visual Studio suite) in close lockstep with each evolution of the operating system, with an eye not only to adding those features that developers want most, but also guiding programmers into a specific software-development model.

Plus, Microsoft, through VS and VS.NET, as well as its Visual Studio Integration Partner program and MSDN subscription service, intends its tools to be the "official " software development resources for Windows. There's no such default "official " choice with Linux. Even though most Linux distributions come with a wide variety of command-line tools, and even some GUI offerings, there's no particular reason to use those tools instead of other open-source or commercial-license products.