From: "Paul G. Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>The Unix way- write simple tools that do one job and one job well. Then tie them together to do complex jobs.
I often wonder why so many UNIX folks are so against the use of an IDE (not referring to people here - though there may be some - but many people I've worked with).
IDEs tend to violate the Unix way. They do everything. They do some of those well, some of those not so well. Some of them downright poorly. For example, it may do the debugger well, the compilation not so well, and the text editing poorly.
On the other hand, we can follow the Unix principle and use 3 different tools- a text editor, a debugger, and a makefile system. By using 3 different tools, we get the best of each. This allows us to maximize our power. It also allows us to program to the different parts. Take the debugger for example. We can use gdb. On top of that, we have DDD for a graphical display. We can also use the gdb directly and script commands to it. I've done that before to set up groups of breakpoints I commonly use. Very few IDEs have that degree of functionality.
I'd be more likely to use an IDE if it was flexible- if you could say use the text editor in $EDITOR, the debugger in $DEBUGGER, and the compile system in $COMPILER. Of course when you get it to that level of flexibility, you basicly are doing the normal Unix way with an extra set of menus on top.
Really, I don't see anything an IDE gives me that I can't have better by just opening 3 separate apps on a new workspace.
Gabe
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