Code::Blocks - Wikipedia

Free, open source, cross-platform IDE Not to be confused with the computer programming term Code block.

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Code::Blocks
Code::Blocks 16.01
Developer	The Code::Blocks team
Initial release	2005; 21 years ago (2005)
Stable release	25.03[1] / 31 March 2025; 10 months ago (31 March 2025)
Preview release	svn 13634 / March 15, 2025; 11 months ago (2025-03-15)
Written in	C++ (wxWidgets)
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	IDE
License	GPL-3.0-only[2]
Website	www.codeblocks.org
Repository	svn.code.sf.net/p/codeblocks/code/trunk

Code::Blocks is a free, open-source, cross-platform IDE that supports multiple compilers including GCC, Clang and Visual C++. It is developed in C++ using wxWidgets as the GUI toolkit. Using a plugin architecture, its capabilities and features are defined by the provided plugins. Currently, Code::Blocks is oriented towards C, C++, and Fortran. It has a custom build system and optional Make support.

Code::Blocks is being developed for Windows and Linux and has been ported to FreeBSD,[3] OpenBSD[4] and Solaris.[5] The latest binary provided for macOS version is 13.12 released on 2013/12/26 (compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and later), but more recent versions can be compiled and MacPorts supplies version 17.12.

History

[edit]

After releasing two release candidate versions, 1.0rc1 on July 25, 2005 and 1.0rc2 on October 25, 2005, instead of making a final release, the project developers started adding many new features, with the final release being repeatedly postponed. Instead, there were nightly builds of the latest SVN version made available on a daily basis.[citation needed]

The first stable release was on February 28, 2008, with the version number changed to 8.02. The versioning scheme was changed to that of Ubuntu, with the major and minor number representing the year and month of the release. Version 25.03 is the latest stable release; however for the most up-to-date version the user can download the relatively stable nightly build or download the source code from SVN.

Jennic Limited prior to its closure distributed a version of Code::Blocks customized to work with its microcontrollers.[6]

Features

[edit]

Code::Blocks supports multiple compilers, including GCC, MinGW, Mingw-w64, Digital Mars, Microsoft Visual C++, Borland C++, LLVM Clang, Watcom, and LCC.

Debugger

[edit]

The Code::Blocks debugger has full breakpoint support. It also allows the user to debug their program by having access to the local function symbol and argument display, user-defined watches, call stack, disassembly, custom memory dump, thread switching, CPU registers and GNU Debugger Interface.

GUI designer

[edit]

As of version 13.12 Code::Blocks comes with a GUI designer called wxSmith. It is a derivative port of wxWidgets version 2.9.4.[7] To make a complete wxWidgets application, the appropriate wxWidgets SDK must be installed.

User migration

[edit]

Some of Code::Blocks features are targeted at users migrating from other IDE's - these include Dev-C++, Microsoft Visual C++ project import (MSVC 7 & 10), and Dev-C++ Devpak support.

Project files and build system

[edit]

Code::Blocks uses a custom build system, which stores its information in XML-based project files. It can optionally use external makefiles, which simplifies interfacing with projects using the GNU or qmake build systems.

See also

[edit]

• Comparison of integrated development environments
• Geany
• SciTE
• CodeLite

References

[edit]

1. ^ "Code::Blocks 25.03 is here!". 31 March 2025. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
2. ^ "License". Retrieved 2014-07-21.
3. ^ Code::Blocks in FreeBSD's ports collection
4. ^ "Code::Blocks in OpenBSD's ports collection". Archived from the original on 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
5. ^ Directions to install Code::Blocks from source on Solaris
6. ^ "JN-UG-3028 Code::Blocks IDE User Guide". Archived from the original on 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
7. ^ CodeBlocks 13.12 Changelog

External links

[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Code::Blocks.

• Official website

v t e Integrated development environments
C, C++	Open source Arduino Code::Blocks CodeLite Dev-C++ Eclipse Emacs Geany GNOME Builder Kakoune KDevelop NetBeans QDevelop Qt Creator TheIDE Vi–Vim OpenWatcom Freeware DevEco Studio Oracle Developer Studio Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Community Xcode Retail C++Builder Eclipse-based CodeWarrior MyEclipse Visual Studio By JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA CLion LabWindows/CVI IBM Rational Software Architect Understand SlickEdit Discontinued Anjuta By JetBrains AppCode VisualAge Visual C++ Express MonoDevelop SharpDevelop Turbo C, C++ QuickC
Java	Open source Anjuta BlueJ DrJava Eclipse Geany Greenfoot IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition Android Studio NetBeans DevEco Studio Freeware jGRASP JDeveloper Retail JCreator MyEclipse JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA SlickEdit Understand Discontinued Metrowerks CodeWarrior Pro for Java JBuilder Sun Java Studio Creator (superseded by NetBeans) VisualAge (superseded by Eclipse) Visual Café (aka Espresso, superseded by JBuilder) Visual J++ Xelfi (became NetBeans)
JavaScript	Open source Vim Visual Studio Code Atom Chromium DevEco Studio Haxe IntelliJ IDEA VS Code Sublime Text Powerflasher FDT
CLI (.NET)	Open source Visual Studio Code PascalABC.NET Freeware Visual Studio Community Retail Visual Studio Rider Understand Discontinued Xamarin Studio MonoDevelop SharpDevelop Visual Basic Express Visual Web Developer Express Visual J# Express Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone Visual C++ Express Visual C# Express Express for Desktop Express for Web Express for Windows
Flash	Adobe Flash Builder FlashDevelop Powerflasher FDT
PHP	Open source Aptana NetBeans Komodo Edit Komodo IDE KDevelop Proprietary Codelobster PhpStorm PHPEdit SlickEdit Zend Studio
R	RStudio R Tools for Visual Studio
Python	Open source Anjuta IDLE Eric Light Table PyDev PyScripter PIDA Spyder Komodo Edit Komodo IDE KDevelop Vim Visual Studio Code Thonny DevEco Studio Proprietary PyCharm PythonAnywhere Visual Studio Code SlickEdit Wing IDE
Pascal,ObjectPascal	Open source Free Pascal IDE Lazarus Dev-Pascal GNAVI PascalABC.NET Freeware Delphi Community Retail Delphi Discontinued Turbo Pascal Turbo Delphi Virtual Pascal Borland Kylix QuickPascal
BASIC	Open source Basic-256 Microsoft Small Basic SdlBasic Gambas Basic4GL VisualFBEditor / WinFBE InForm Freeware FutureBASIC RapidQ Visual Studio Community Retail Visual Studio NS Basic PureBasic GLBasic Liberty BASIC Xojo Discontinued CA-Realizer MonoDevelop QuickBASIC QBasic SharpDevelop Visual Basic Visual Basic Express
Go	Open source Vim Visual Studio Code (VSCode) Eclipse Freeware Cloud9 IDE Retail GoLand
Eiffel	EiffelStudio LibertyEiffel Visual Eiffel
POP-11	Poplog
Online	AWS Cloud9 IDE Eclipse Che Firebase Studio SourceLair
Comparison Category

v t e wxWidgets
Technologies	XML Resource
RAD, GUIbuilders	Free software wxFormBuilder wxDev-C++ Code::Blocks wxGlade CodeDesigner RAD CodeLite Padre HiAsm Proprietary software wxDesigner DialogBlocks
Libraries	wxSQLite3
Bindings	wxPython wxPerl wxPHP wxBasic wxHaskell GLUEscript

v t e Graphical user interface builders
Qt	Open source Qt Creator KDevelop Gambas
GTK	Open source Glade Interface Designer Gambas Stetic GUI Designer Proprietary Xojo (on Linux)
wxWidgets	Open source Code::Blocks CodeLite wxGlade wxFormBuilder
CLI	Open source SharpDevelop PascalABC.NET Proprietary Microsoft Visual Studio Microsoft Blend
VCL,related	Open source, LCL Lazarus Visual FB Editor Proprietary Delphi C++Builder RadPHP Borland Kylix
Cocoa	Proprietary Xcode, Interface Builder Xojo (on macOS)
Java-based	Open source Android Studio (via XML) Eclipse (via SWT) NetBeans (via Swing) Proprietary IntelliJ IDEA JDeveloper (via Swing) WaveMaker
Windows API	Open source GNAVI WinFBE Proprietary CA-Realizer Visual Basic Xojo (for Windows) RapidQ Liberty BASIC PureBasic
Other	Open source FLUID Gorm IUP InForm Morphic TheIDE XBasic Proprietary Clarion IDE Projucer XVT Design Resource construction set LANSA Softwell Maker Embedded Wizard OutSystems Mendix Topincs PowerBuilder AppStudio