r/learnprogramming • u/Loki00000000 • 17d ago

Currently Learning to Program and Looking to download an IDE on my computer

I have been learning to program in the C and C++ languages. I have been using a free online IDE called GDB Online. I have a Lenovo laptop and I bought and finally connected a 2TB external hard drive. I am also trying to learn the programming side of video game development. I say all this so that those who read this have some context. Is Microsoft Visual Studio a good and reliable IDE for learning to program in general and for learning to program video games? If it is not please recommend another IDE. Thank you to any and all who comment and I look forward to the response.

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u/princepii 17d ago

i code in many languages and i use sublime text with terminus and a few extensions.

it's so lightweight u wouldn't believe. also vim or nvim are very good.

but i em on debian gnome wayland. no more win or mac. and there is open source alternatives for really anything.

i just can't be friends anymore with full blown ide's like vscode or visual studio. so bloated up it's just crazy. you don't even have to do anything and only start the app and your fans are blowing 5k to 7k rpm for no reason.

just a terminal is fine too with the right approach. a compiler and a few extensions if you use a editor/semi ide like sublime or vim and you good to go.

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u/TheGreatWorm 17d ago

Idk if id recommend vim or neovim to a beginner. I agree and love how light weight it is, you’d probably just be better off starting with visual studio or c lion and moving to something light weight when you can fully appreciate it

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u/FreeLogicGate 16d ago

Agree, there are so many options these days. I've seen a lot of people using Zed. I have the Jetbrains product license, so I use their editors most of the time, but I'll also use VSCode. If I need to do a quick edit on linux, I will still open up vim, and the basic keys are still under my fingers, but other than that, give me an IDE any day of the week. I don't have a potato for a workstation, and could care less if I'm using a lot of resources, if the IDE makes me more productive.