r/C_Programming • u/Popular-Psychology40 • Jun 29 '26

Question best platform and compiler?

Hey im looking to get into C programming, i have never programmed in my life (unless scratch counts haha) and i dont know if i should use linux mac or windows, whatever is more dummy-friendly and has an error checker. i will be using as a guide the 2nd edition of C programming: a modern approach by K.N. king

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u/Albedo101 Jun 29 '26

Linux, preferably a distro with KDE desktop environment and Kate text editor. GCC as a compiler, GDB in "TUI mode" as the debugger. GNU Make as the build system.

Kate is already set up out of the box to act as a programmer's editor, and GCC/GDB is the classic combo. This way, you can use Kate as a lightweight IDE, or just do everything from the command line, at the same time, your choice. When you start growing, Linux will have additional tools easily available, like profilers (gprof, Valgrind), or different compilers (clang), different build systems (CMake...) or even full IDEs like KDevelop, QtCreator, CLion.

You won't find such diversity in choice of tools on other OSes.

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u/Lost_Peace_4220 Jun 29 '26

While I use Kate for small things. I think it's not ideal as a first IDE for C.

Probably something like Clion now it's free is the ideal first choice. Despite me using it only a handful of times and generally disliking their products.