Why not ide

From C

$Id: why_not_ide.txt,v 1.3 2009/12/16 02:59:04 db Exp db $

Why a beginner should not use a integrated development environment (IDE) for C.

1) An IDE hides all the details of the compile and link process.

This initially may seem an advantage, "I can stop worrying about the details and just code", but this leaves you at a disadvantage if something goes wrong. Knowing the basics of what source code is, what an object module is, what a linker is and how to link and last of all what are libraries (Why_wont_it_link) can facilitate understanding how your IDE works and how to fix it when things go wrong.

2) IDEs don't help with automation with C as well

C does not play as nicely with things like auto completion of keywords as other languages. vim/emacs do just as good a job of auto identing as any IDE would do anyway.

3) The unix world is not all an IDE

In the unix world at least, there are many many projects that use traditional unix tools, at the least you will need to know how to run configure and make. As a developer, if you hope to publish your next major project, you are going to have to know how to deal with an editor (vi, emacs, teco, ed, ...), how to deal with writing Makefiles, how to link and very likely how to write an autoconfig script.