Tools Overview

Why tools matter

To manage a C programming project, you need more than source files.

You need tools for four different jobs:

  1. Edit the source code
  2. Compile the program
  3. Version the work over time
  4. Share and coordinate the work with your team

For this project, the practical tool stack is:

  • an editor or IDE to write and inspect the code
  • a compile chain based on GCC, Make, and CMake
  • a terminal to run commands and test the program
  • Git and GitHub to version, publish, and coordinate the project

The four tool families

Editors

An editor lets you modify text files. An IDE goes further and helps you navigate code, see errors faster, run builds, and work with Git.

See Editors and VS Code.

Compile chain

Your C source files are not directly executable. They must be compiled and linked into a program.

See Compile Chain.

Command line

Even when you use a graphical editor, this project is driven by commands such as setup scripts, builds, and executions of freud.exe.

See Using the Command Line.

Git and GitHub

Git tracks the history of your work. GitHub hosts the shared repository and the project-management workflow around it.

See Git and GitHub.