You have a few options: • If you're the 'full-blown IDE kind-of-person' then XCode is the way to go. XCode is to OS X what Visual Studio is to Windows. • If you're the 'flee market' kind of person (like me!) then with make (or any build tool) and other is your thing.

The best IDE is the IDE that works best for you, so below is a selection of 10 of the most popular choices to help you figure out which one to pick. How is an IDE Different From a Text Editor? An IDE is more than a simple text editor. I forgot to put in my OS, thank you for pointing that out. I'm also glad that you took the time to put in the best IDE to use for each OS.

Of course, I heard there's also, if that's your sex-appeal,. On the GUI text-editing scene on the Mac these are the dominating giants. • Then there's, which comes with the. Qt Creator is an IDE, yet it's very lightweight and quite simple at first-glance.

It uses the Qt SDK so your code should be cross-platform among Windows, KDE, and OS X. It will run on other Linux windowing systems given Qt is installed, but I personally think these are the three platforms on which Qt applications integrate best. I have experience with all three of them. Best boot manager for mac. I personally love the editing feeling of MacVim most, by far. On the other hand, it's hard to compare with XCode's debugging features. XCode is also your only option if you develop for some specific Apple platforms and frameworks — the iPhone for example.

And then, Qt Creator is an IDE with all the intellisense and debugging you expect from an IDE, yet it's simple, light and fast. Beyond that (and given the just-over 0.5GB cost) Qt also gives you that write-once-compile-'everywhere' feature, which is very nice. As of year 2016 I have tried several free, well-known IDEs for C++ development on MAC OS X, mainly for learning/teaching/training purposes. Following are my choices in order of preference: • Qt Creator: To me this is the best IDE not only for Qt C++ development, but also for developing non-Qt C++ programs. Just choose “Qt Console Application” when setting up a project. The set-up is minimal for creating a first, “Hello World” C++ program. You may need to open an account with Qt, and choose to download the open source version for free.

This option is not adequate for those who don’t want to open an account with Qt. • Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers: This IDE has a big user community and a long history. Since it is a generic IDE for programming languages other than C++, I find it less easy to use, especially when developing a first, “Hello World” C++ program. More set-up is needed, including the need to handle run configurations. However, this is my personal experience that may not apply to other users. • Xcode: This used to be my first choice as it is part of MacOS Developer Tools that can be directly downloaded from Apple App Store.

However, the most recent release does not support C++ development, or does not support it well. Visual studio for mac tests not running. So I have downgraded it as my 3rd choice.

There are also many online IDEs for C++, mainly for learning purposes. However, these simple IDEs may not offer to save your code to your machine.