When using Atom IDE for developing in Godot Engine - Compilation and live editing?

+2 votes

I am currently learning and doing some small work in Godot Engine source code and was wondering if there is a way to make the development process more effective.

I am using Atom as an C++ IDE; and I compile using the following line: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat” && scons platform=windows bits=64 -j 4. The problem is that every time I make small changes I have to recompile the entire thing (I believe). Is there a way for me to compile changes only to increase efficiency? Even better; is there a way to do debugging from the IDE? I miss being able to set breakpoints :/

Perhaps you are familiar using Atom and know how to setup compiling from the IDE?

Any tips and advice regarding development process in Godot engine would be highly appreciated! :)

in Engine by (508 points)
Atom is actually just a text editor, and not a full-blown IDE. Sure, you can use packages to add IDE-like functionality but you'll never benefit from full integration with a compiler and debugger (the key components of an IDE).
by (12,835 points)
Aww... ! I might have to look into a real IDE :X
by (508 points)
I don't have experience with Atom but i believe that you should add some parameters to the cmd line so the compiler uses precompiled headers
by (85 points)

2 Answers

+2 votes

Atom is just text editor, the compilation is done with the VS compiler (in your case) and scons is used for managing dependencies and cross platform compiling. Try replacing the compile command with following line:

“C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat” && scons platform=windows bits=64 -j 6 --max-drift=1 --implicit-deps-unchanged

Other scons arguments and/or explanations can be found in the guide and on the scons wiki.

by (85 points)
Thanks for informing me of the faster scons method :)
I am currently looking into getting a good C++ IDE (pref. lightweight and multi-platform)
by (508 points)
I would recommend you Eclipse... I was using it at first, because I was used to it from Java development but I've switched to Visual Studio.
by (85 points)

I recommend QtCreator, it's light, fast and very easy to set up for godot development.

by (922 points)

Thanks for the recommendations. I will be trying out Netbeans; as it seems to be the most developed IDE that I have found; A lot lf different programming language supported; FREE; OPEN SOURCE and MULTI-PLATFORM :)

When I figure out more about integrating the scons compiler into the IDE I will write a tutorial so people may have use of it

by (508 points)
0 votes

Regarding the problem of full recompiles: I also had this problem on windows. Seems like an issue with python, solved it by installing "python extensions for windows" or shortly, "pywin32".

by (922 points)
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