Code::Blocks

Not to be confused with the computer programming term block.

Code::Blocks

File:Code Blocks logo.jpg
File:CodeBlocks 8.02.png Code::Blocks Screenshot
Developer(s)	The Code::Blocks team
Stable release	8.02 / 2008-2-28
Preview release	nightly build / 2010-1-16
Written in	C++
Operating system	Windows, Linux, Mac (Cross-platform)
Development status	Active
Type	IDE
License	GNU General Public License
Website	http://www.codeblocks.org/

Code::Blocks is a free and open source, cross platform IDE. It is developed in C++ using wxWidgets as the GUI toolkit. Using a plugin architecture, its capabilities and features are defined by the provided plugins. Currently, Code::Blocks is oriented towards C/C++.

Code::Blocks is being developed for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. Users have successfully built Code::Blocks under FreeBSD.

The latest stable version, Code::Blocks 8.02, was released on February 28, 2008.

History

After releasing two release candidate versions, 1.0rc1 on July 25, 2005 and 1.0rc2 on October 25, 2005, instead of making a final release, the project developers started adding many new features, with the final release being repeatedly postponed. Instead, there were binary packages of the latest SVN version made available on a daily basis, called "nightly builds". These were supported better than the latest official 1.0rc2 release. While this approach provided users with bleeding-edge improvements and allowed developers to get constant feedback, it created an outside illusion that the project was stagnant (because no new releases have been made).

The first stable release was finally made on February 28, 2008, with the version number changed to 8.02. The versioning scheme was changed to that of Ubuntu, with the major and minor number representing the year and month of the release.

Instead of creating a branch in the code tree where bugs are fixed in the stable release and new features are added in a separate branch the project continued as before; new features and bug fixes are all added into the same code space. Version 8.02 is stable but a large amount of progress has been made since. For the most up-to-date version you have to download the "nightly build".

Jennic Limited distributes a version Code::Blocks customized to work with its microcontrollers .

Features

Code::Blocks supports multiple compilers, including MinGW / GCC, Digital Mars, Microsoft Visual C++, Borland C++, Watcom and the Intel C++ compiler. Although the IDE was designed for the C++ language, there is some support for compilers of other languages, including GNU Fortran, Digital Mars D and GNU GCC.

The IDE features syntax highlighting and code folding through the use of the Scintilla editor component, C++ code completion and class browser, an integrated to-do list, and a closely integrated debugger frontend which supports GDB and, to some extent, Microsoft console debugger-CDB. There is also an integrated rapid application development plugin for the wxWidgets toolkit, called wxSmith.

Some of Code::Blocks' features are targeted at users migrating from other IDEs - these include Dev-C++ and Microsoft Visual C++ project import, and Dev-C++ Devpak support.

Code::Blocks uses a custom build system, which stores its information in XML-based project files, but can optionally use external makefiles, which simplifies interfacing with projects using the GNU and Qt Software's qmake build systems.

See also

• Comparison of integrated development environments
• Scintilla
• SciTE
• wxWidgets

External links

• Official Code::Blocks website
• Code::Blocks wiki
• BerliOS project site (nightly builds and Subversion access)
• Comparison of RADs for WxWidgets
• Template:Freshmeat (outdated)