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TI moved Code Composer Studio to an Eclipse-based platform a few years ago, and Microchip recently moved MPLAB to NetBeans.

Which other microcontrollers have "real" IDEs like Eclipse/NetBeans/IntelliJ IDEA for editing/debugging in C++?

("real" in my book = includes code refactoring + code completion, has UI that's been used by large # of users to root out bugs + have high useability -- I haven't used IAR's IDE in 2 years but when I did, I was Not Impressed.)

(I'm especially interested in IDEs of this type for ARM processors.)

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    \$\begingroup\$ The latest official AVR Studio from Atmel has adopted the Visual Studio 2010 shell. A big upgrade in terms of IDE functionality IMO. Means nothing for those who don't use IDE's though. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jon L
    Dec 1, 2011 at 23:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ As far as I know you can program most of them with emacs... \$\endgroup\$
    – Optimal Cynic
    Dec 2, 2011 at 15:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JonL sadly, the new AVR Studio has taken some steps backwards in terms of its ELF support, imho \$\endgroup\$
    – vicatcu
    Dec 2, 2011 at 19:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ @OptimalCynic you can probably also program them with a paper and pencil... I think that misses the point of the question :) \$\endgroup\$
    – vicatcu
    Dec 2, 2011 at 19:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ Emacs is a terminal + keyboard IDE. Fully extendible, but not great for its usability: I don't consider software that requires me to remember and type cryptic sequences like Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C for "quit" an efficient tool for programming. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason S
    Dec 4, 2011 at 18:17

6 Answers 6

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Several ARM IDEs use Eclipse with gcc, and Rowley uses their own (excellent) CrossStudio IDE for their gcc-based ARM compiler, as well as their MSP430, AVR and MAXQ compilers.

IAR uses their own IDE for all their compilers, including the ARM one.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ can you name some ARM IDE's to enhance your answer? Why isn't there "one ARM IDE to rule them all"? :) \$\endgroup\$
    – vicatcu
    Dec 2, 2011 at 19:48
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You can use Microsoft's Visual Studio with Arduinos (http://arduino.cc/playground/Code/VisualMicro), Netduinos and other microcontrollers that run the .Net micro framework (FEZ Panda etc.)

You can also use Visual Studio with any microcontroller that supports the GNU C compiler (http://www.wingdb.com/)

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Not sure what you mean by a "Real" IDE.

IAR sell their embedded workbench for a vast range of processor types including ARM, 8051, MSP430, AVR, AVR32, and Renesas. Just look at their website for the list.

Atmel distribute an IDE for their processor families, I believe Eclipse based.

Rowley associates do a very good IDE for ARM, MSP430, AVR, and MAXQ processors.

There are also ARM IDEs from Keil, Atollic, Imagecraft, Altium/Tasking, Raisonance, Hitex, CodeSourcery and many others as Google will show.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Atmel's IDE is based on Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 \$\endgroup\$
    – m.Alin
    Dec 2, 2011 at 0:44
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    \$\begingroup\$ Atmel's IDE is AVRStudio and it's free, but I personally wouldn't praise its features. For IAR Studio, be prepared to pay big bucks - I think it's like $3k for one floating license of the AVR version, and imho is sad when compared to eclipse based development. \$\endgroup\$
    – vicatcu
    Dec 2, 2011 at 19:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ What vicatcu said. Unless IAR has changed their IDE, it's not worth using IMHO. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason S
    Dec 4, 2011 at 23:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ I use IAR for a number of reasons. I develop for multiple processor types so the consistency between, particularly the debuggers, saves time, effort and confusion. When I started on the MSP430 there were no other serious contenders. I use an external editor to write the code which gets round the "problems" with the IAR editor. The IAR code generation is IMO best in class for all processors that I have used. The cost is high for hobby use but in a commercial environment it is much less than the cost of an Engineer. \$\endgroup\$
    – uɐɪ
    Dec 5, 2011 at 7:54
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You can use Eclipse to program Atmel AVRs. You just install WINAVR (if you're developing on a windows machine anyway, which gives you the avr-gcc toolchain - there are instructions on what you need to do on other OSes), download Eclipse C/C++, install the avr-eclipse plugin (which automagically detects your WINAVR installation) and you are basically off and running! Depending on your platform and your programmer, targetting the MCU from Eclipse can be difficult to get running, so I just use AVRStudio to burn the build artifacts (hex, eep, and fuses). I believe you can even develop for the Arduino platform in Eclipse along similar lines - but I haven't done that myself.

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I can understand the desire for better IDE's in the embedded space, especially if you have experienced the joy of using any of the Jetbrains (IntelliJ) based IDE's. I focus mostly on Microchip PIC development for projects at home. Having to use MPLABX can be painful...but it's definitely an improvement over MPLAB 8.

If someone would fork IntelliJ and start a community supported IDE for microcontrollers I would be on board. I can dream.

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    \$\begingroup\$ fyi. Since asking this question, I switched jobs and am now working for Microchip on the applications engineering team. Microchip is strongly committed to improving the user experience in the IDE; MPLAB X is on a 2-month release cycle to address bugs and features frequently. MPLAB X is based on NetBeans, for better or worse. In any case, if you have specific issues or suggestions, I would recommend opening a support ticket at support.microchip.com -- I'm not on the Development Tools team, but I know the MPLAB X team leader and he always appreciates customer feedback. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason S
    Jan 8, 2015 at 16:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ also FWIW the investment in the IDE for microcontrollers is the feature set regarding debugging, programming, and peripheral management. I don't see a community-supported IDE happening, purely because of the diversity of microcontrollers available. Yeah, there are a lot of ARM parts, and that covers the debugging/programming aspect of a lot of microcontrollers, but that's only part of the challenge. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason S
    Jan 8, 2015 at 16:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JasonS I'm sure at the time they were moving away from MPLAB 8 there were very few cross platform options for IDE development platforms (Netbeans and Eclipse are the only two major ones that come to mind). All I'm really saying is that I enjoy using the Jetbrain's tools more than most of the previous tools I've used, and if Microchip were to go that route someday it has the potential to delight a lot of end users. \$\endgroup\$
    – ninehundreds
    Jan 8, 2015 at 19:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JasonS BTW where does Microchip's development take place these days? Are the offices still located in North America? I thought they were originally an American company. \$\endgroup\$
    – ninehundreds
    Jan 8, 2015 at 20:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ MCHP is a USA corporation. Corporate HQ in Chandler, AZ, USA. Staff engineering teams are worldwide, mostly in Chandler and Bangalore, India. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason S
    Jan 8, 2015 at 20:28
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You may want to have a look at ST. I haven't actually tried them yet as I only just ordered the ST32 dev board today, due to being very impressed with their latest offerings spec/price wise and the dev tools available.
Here is one eclipse based option that looks like it could be pretty good. Here is the IDEs page it cam from with other options.

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