Which IDE shall I use to teach an introductory C programming course?

Question

I should be giving an introductory course in computer programming to students who have no previous knowledge of programming. I have selected the C programming language to be the language used to introduce the students to programming concepts. Which IDE shall I use during the course in order to be able to write and compile simple C programs with ease?

I need the simplest bare-bones IDE with minimal features in order not to overwhelm the students. I want to focus on teaching them the programming concepts and not how to use a complex full-featured IDE.

Answer 1

I would just go with Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. The express editions are free and powerful enough for what you want to do. Since they are free, you don't have to license a ton of copies for the class, and students can work on their assignments from home. You can also keep it simple by selecting the same project to start off with: Visual C++ | Win32 | Console Application. Then just select the empty project option and you have a good base to start with. The project won't contain any resource files or anything annoying like pre-generated files.

Answer 2

I second the nomination for Visual C++ Express 2005. This is feature packed, and might seem overwhelming, but believe me it's better than a console app running on Linux :P Your students won't use 99% of the features, and will mostly be creating new projections, opening projects, building them, debugging them and executing them. Doing things like creating a new class or file can be done with several clicks and some typing, rather than manipulating a file system in a console window with commands. Plus: the debugger is extremely friendly and easy to use, programming is 40% writing code and 80% fixing it. I know those don't add to 100%, that was intentional. With the Visual C++ Debugger, you can watch the values in memory change as you sit back, press F-10 to step through the code, and enjoy a cool beverage. For me, this was very helpful in learning what was going on when I was beginning.

Answer 3

In my opinion use the Visual C++ 6.0 It's so easy to write, compile and run ur codes :)

Actually when i started to learn programming using C++ in my college it was under Visual C++ 6.0 :) It was so easy to deal with unlike Visual Studio .Net 2003/2005 & any other IDE that is used to write C++ programs :)

Answer 4

I would highly recommend you start by youtubing Stanfords Programming Methodology course. The entire course is available online, as are the course materials on Standford's website. It's a good primer for getting started in software engineering, and assumes you're starting with no knowledge of programming or program design, whatsoever. The course itself is taught using Java. As for langauges, you shouldn't be leary of learning C++ or any other language. Programming concepts and good software engineering principles are not language specific. Different programming languages are just different forms of syntax. It's the concepts and implementation you employ that are important. If you're not interested in the Stanford course, and want to go the book route, Microsoft's (Insert Language Here) for Absolute Beginners are great books. They start out by teaching you the basics, programming mostly games as examples. From simple console applications, (like programming a text-based snow ball fight game) to object oriented windows applications. Another good starting point is MSDN, there are multiple express version of Visual Studio, free to download, with video tutorials and training to go along with them. (e.g. Visual C# Express). Kid's Corner would be the best place to start if you have no previous programming experience. I would strongly recommend you stay away from "O'reilly" books and "In a nutshell", books. In my experience, even the learning series (meant for beginners) are very pedantic and manage to overcomplicate very simple ideas, or assume you know concepts that no beginner ever would. Basically, if it looks like a desk reference, stat away from it, as that's the fastest way to zone out and get discouraged.

Answer 5

We use Cygwin. It is simple, command line, and also has the dual benefit of introducing them to linux without them knowing it. linux scares a lot of ppl when they first see it up and running but this gets them familiarized with syntax and commands.(cuz ya know MOST backend servers are Linux based) It has syntax highlighting and such, highlight matching braces, compiles, runs..all that jazz. it is not a fancy GUI but lets them focus on the coding.

I also recommend C++ instead of C. It is more widely known and is an excellent jumping off point to the other languages like Java, Perl , & PHP..and even bash scripting since they are used to the linux-style commands



If not..my other teacher is using Eclipse