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GCC-based IDE's for DOS?
PM4RK5 asks: "Today in computer science 3, I was plugging away at compiling a string class in Borland C++ (version 3.x), and came across a glaring problem, in terms of compiler problems, not source problems, as I had successfully compiled the same source code earlier using GCC on Linux. Now we're looking at using DJGPP as it uses GCC/G++ and has a comparable IDE (RHIDE) to the Borland IDE, even though some features aren't available yet. However, before we use this on every computer, are there any better GCC-based IDE's and/or compilers for the DOS platform? Maybe any that support the Win32 GUI? (for those of us bold enough to try). I have to admit, I much prefer developing on a *NIX platform, but school computers are limited to Windows/DOS. Even if there aren't any better IDE's, it will still be nice to have a better compiler on hand with GCC and RHIDE. Any suggestions would be appreciated."
Are you running windows or dos? Are you looking for zero or low cost (I'd guess yes if you're using a seven+ year old compiler)? Really, RHIDE is comparable to the borland interface, and gcc/g++ will knock the pants off of turboc 3.0's c++ code generation, simply becuase turboc 3.0 is ANCIENT. Actually, you can get a dos VIM as well as (part of djgpp) make and whatnot, so why even bother with an IDE? IDEs really do very little but coddle students. Or, get a dos ssh client and make people shell to a free unix host like linux or *bsd. If you're actually running Windows, putty is good (google for "putty ssh download"). If you're running windows AND your school has money, the Metrowerks compiler is pretty good for education (MSVC is just too goddamned quirky and complicated for me to recommend). I hope this doesn't come across as a flame, but if you are in the third section of a CS course and they have you all writing string classes (hello, STL?), win32 gui programming with c++ (which pretty much means the awful, horrible, abortion known as mfc) is waaaaaay harder than what you or they want to get into. There's a ton of interesting things you can do with c++ that don't involve GUIs. e.g. networking code, interacting with a database, console-graphics user interfaces, etc. heck, as a semester long project write a point of sale system using some old 386s as console-mode clients hooking to a central server that you write (networking code) that stores the transactions in something like berkelydb or mysql or something... Do it in teams, require documentation, have the teacher set milestones, etc. Have the whole class earn the same grade based on the functionality of the system. This will be the closest you ever get in school to what it's like to be a real world programmer.
EMACS has a DOS port, and there are packages for EMACS to turn it into a fairly decent GCC IDE. I have no DOS/Win machines, but perhaps you should give it a try.