KDevelop 4/KDev3 KDev4 comparison table

From KDevelop

These are a series of comparison tables illustrating the differences between KDevelop 3.5.5 and the upcoming KDevelop 4.0.0 version that has been rewritten from scratch.

KDevelop 4 uses a different build system, CMake, it uses tons on Unit tests and a extended base library kdevplatform. So it is a really different software when compared with KDev 3. But it's under development and should not be used for production code.

[edit] General

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Free, opensource, GPL IDE
Developed since	2001-03-30	2005-05-05
Cross-platform and Multi Operating system support
All Linux flavors and distros
Sun Solaris
All BSD flavors and distros
Mac OSX
Microsoft Windows	*1

 *1 via cygwin and kde-cygwin for the required KDE 3.4, support libraries.

[edit] Plugin-based architecture

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Functionality can be added, replaced and removed without altering core source code
Libraries license (LGPL) allows creating commercial and free IDE plugins
Support for profiles which determine a set of plugins to be loaded. This is especially useful for restricted environments or custom setups

[edit] Project Management

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Support multiple build tools:
autoconf/automake (a.k.a. autotools)		*2
qmake from trolltech		*2
CMake Cross Platform Make from kitware
Ability to use custom makefiles to build the project
Support for ant - build tool for java projects
Support for extra project types like pascal, haskell, ada and scripting projects
Can have multiple projects open at the same time
Each project can have multiple subprojects
Each subproject can have multiple targets
Native non-intrusive buildtool support. Hand-made modifications allowed and recognized by the IDE, also existing projects and subprojects can be easily imported
A framework for adding support for any build system by creating build system plugins for the generic project manager
New file wizard to manage file templates and create new files in project from templates
Can open KDevelop 2.x project files (automake based)
Can open KDevelop 3.x project files (any build tool supported in the 3.x versions)
Can open KDevelop 4.x project files

 *2 available via an unmaintained, potentially unstable external plugin from http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/playground/devtools/kdevelop4-extra-plugins/

Note: in KDevelop 4 you can open any folder as a project, the project-configuration files from the older versions are not required anymore.

[edit] Automake Manager

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Parser which doesn't replace existing content in Makefile.am
support for creating multiple targets in the same subdir
support for setting include and linker options
support for creating new subdirectories
support for creating normal and libtool-using targets
compiling individual targets or subdirectories
Compiler plugins to define compiler options in convenient dialogs
supports Qt projects using automake, including rules for moc and uic
Configuration profiles with the ability to specify different compilers, compiler flags, build directories, target architecture, etc.
Internationalization support, allowing translators to add their target language to a project easily, including support of KBabel

[edit] qmake Manager

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Parser which doesn't replace the project file contents
Parses and displays the Qt4 buildsystem properly
Scopes
Display Scopes as tree nodes in the Overview
Add/Remove all types of Scopes (simple, Function and Include's)
Excluding files inside a scope is much easier
Support for disabling subprojects inside scopes, including proper display in the GUI
File Handling
Support relative filenames
Support file paths containing variables
Supports Subproject that are outside of the top-project dir
Support for all documented and a couple of undocumented qmake Features
Supports SUBDIRS=somename, somename.subdir=the_real_dir
Supports SUBDIRS=somefile.pro
Build options
Run qmake recursively
Dist-Clean
Build File

[edit] Custom Makefile

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Supports running make with various options or a custom buildtool
possibility to add/remove files and directories to/from the project
support for defining wildcard rules for files that should be part of the project
support for blacklisting files and directories so they are never recognized as belonging to the project
out-of-the-box support for various different file types, like java, C++, Qt .ui files

[edit] Language Support

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Many supported programming languages
Ada
Bash
C/C++
C#		*3
Objective-C (via C support)
Fortran
Haskell
Java		*3
Pascal
Perl
PHP		*5
Python		*3
Ruby		*3
SQL
XUL (unofficially)
Problem reporter which reports various "problems" with the source code as you type. Problems include language syntax errors, TODO's and FIXME's
Class browser to display a hierarchy of classes and other symbols in project
Function-name-highlighting in the class-view and navigator
Make the navigator provide an own KCompletion so it is possible to write function-names without scope and get them completed
Restore ClassView state after refresh. The ClassView does not close after each successful build
Language parsers to feed class browser and problem reporter
Class, method and attribute wizards for object-oriented languages
Automatic code completion and code hinting for class variables, methods, function arguments and more
Source formatting, syntax highlighting and code folding

 *3 available via a potentially unstable, unmaintained external plugin from http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/playground/devtools/kdevelop4-extra-plugins/

 *4 available via a semi-stable, maintained external plugin from http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/playground/devtools/kdevelop4-extra-plugins/

[edit] C++ Support

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
C++ Engine
Persistant Data Store
Stores comments/doxygen-documentation
Global Shared Data Store
Automatically processes all included headers
Sophisticated refactoring-friendly data structure(DUChain)
Full support for use-building, overload-resolution, type-conversion, template-specialization, meta-programming, etc.
Can implicitly execute a meta-program, for example to compute prime-numbers
Fully Automatic Configuration with build-system support
Semantic code highlighting
Quick Navigation
Quickopen
Unified Quickopen Infrastructure
Switch header/implementation
Jump to declaration/definition under cursor
Locally Switch Through Uses
Code Browsing
Class Browser
Semantic Declaration Navigation
Qt documentation integration
Html-like source browsing
Pretty html navigation widget
Allow navigating more complicated relationships like: All overriders of this function, all inheriters of this class, etc.
Declaration navigation features available from within completion-list or quickopen list
"Magic Modifier": A key that allows keyboard-accessible semantic navigation from everywhere with one single key-press(ALT)
Find all uses of a class/function/variable
Interactive navigation tooltip in editor
See the preprocessed versions of macro invocations
Highlight declaration under cursor
Code Completion
Shows informations about involved types and comment/documentation
Multi-Level Argument Hints
Code-Completion while including files
Code-Completion within instantiated templates
Automatic adding of includes
Realistic C++ argument-type matching
Completion for builtin operators
Best matches highlighted in completion list
Working code-completion with templates
Working code-completion with _really_ complicated templates
Template-parameter completion
Signal/Slot connection completion
Automatic signal/slot matching
Automatic matching slot creation
Override-helper: Show code-completion for not yet overridden virtuals from base-classes
Automatic adding of include directives
Automatic creation of forward declarations
Context sensitive C++ keyword completion
Just-Works
Coding Assistant
Definition/Declaration function signature change assistant
Automatic creation of functions/variables based on context type deduction
Simple Refactoring
Renaming: Project-wide intelligent class/variable/function renaming
"new class" wizard
"make member" - creating function definition in source file based on a declaration in the header file
"automatic un-inline" - automatically move function-implementation from header into the source-file
"extract interface"- extracting interface (method declarations) and creating abstract base class with that interface
"subclassing" - automated subclass creating and slot implementing for Qt Designer forms

[edit] Ruby Support

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Language Features
Module, class and function list
Quickopen for modules, classes, functions (including those defined as and files
List of functions in the toolbar, also shows current function in the editor
Debugger
Ruby debugger with method inspection
Method inspection for QtRuby/Korundum bindings (including core Qt classes)
Unit Testing Features
Run test suite
Run test function currently opened in the editor
Rails
Rails application template
Run Webrick/Mongrel
Infrastructure
irb or script/console in the toolview in addition to konsole
QtDesigner/rbuic integration
documentation links to Rails/QtRuby docs
Ruby projects
Opens projects with cyclic symbolic links in the filesystem
Reload project function
App templates for normal projects, QtRuby/Korundum ones - KDE application framework, KConfig XT, DCOP server and Qt only apps

[edit] PHP Support

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Language Features
Class and function list
Quickopen for files, classes, functions
Context browsing
List of functions in the toolbar, also shows current function in the editor
Debugger (XDebug)
Unit Testing Features
Rafactoring
Project-wide rename-refactoring
Documentation Integration
local PHP.net documentation integration
remote PHP.net integration

[edit] Integrated Debugger

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
GDB frontend
Integrated GDB console
Java debugger frontend
XDebug frontend
Line, address, method breakpoints and watchpoints
Conditional breakpoints
Disassembler and frame stack viewer
Variable watch tree
Memory, registers and libraries viewers
Debugger shell (libtool) support
Remote debugging
Memory viewer
Project is automatically rebuilt with starting debugger
Variables widget
Reliably work in presence of shadowed variables
"format" menu, supporting extra "binary" and "character" formats, with keyboard shortcuts for each format
Keyboard shortcut for deleting watches
Stack widget
The content is split in columns
Stack frames are fetched incrementally, allowing to debug programs stuck in infinite recursion
Breakpoints improvements
Breakpoint types renamed for clarity
Watchpoints are always set on address, not expression
On watchpoint hit, a message box is shown
Breakpoint conditions are reloaded from session file
Breakpoints added manually are shown in breakpoint list too
Address breakpoints
GDB output window allows to filter out "internal" commands
"attach" dialog with search line
Never disable the "Interrupt" action
Specify gdb location using full executable name, not just directory
Uses GDB MI interface for faster and more robust operation
Easy to use breakpoints window
Automatically show variables window when application stops, and hide when application terminates
Editing expression/variable values in variables window

[edit] Code Editing

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Any editor which implements KDE KTextEditor interface can be used with KDevelop.
Currently available editor is Kate
Code folding
Project wide bookmarks which are stored in the project file.
Difference viewer between currently edited text and text on the disk.
Difference viewer for patch files.
Grep integration - regular expression search in project.
Project wide find and replace tool

[edit] Version Control System

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
A common API to include VCS support in KDevelop.
Supported centralized VCS systems:
CVS
Subversion
Perforce
ClearCase
Supported distributed VCS systems:
git
mercurial
bazaar
GUI support via context menu on files and directories of the project and also directly in the editor
VCS status coloring in the project tree view
creation of projects directly in the repository (centralized VCS)
creation of projects directly in the repository (distributed VCS)

[edit] Subversion

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
supports common operations such as add/remove files, commit and update
support log viewing
supports difference viewing between working copy and Base or Head
support for annotate, copy, switch and merging

[edit] Application Wizard (project templates)

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Application wizard generates complete, ready-to-go sample applications.
Templates for each supported language and build system.
Ability to use custom application templates not included in the distribution.
A bunch of KDE related project templates (KPart applications, simple KDE applications, KControl modules, Kicker (panel) applets, KOffice parts, KIOSlaves, Konqueror, Noatun and Kate plugins and desktop styles), GTK, GNOME and Bonobo application templates
Uses utf8 for created files - no encoding problems anymore

[edit] Documentation Viewer

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
A unified interface to browsing documentation.
TOC, index and full text search (with htdig) capabilities.
Autodetection and inclusion of Qt, KDE Libs and DevHelp documentation.
Support for custom documentation collections (KDevelopTOC format).
Ability to open local, remote and even compressed documentation (using any protocol supported by Konqueror - http, ftp, sftp, tar, zip, etc.).
Can use any documentation format that your KDE supports
QtHelp support.

[edit] Code Snippets

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Snippet tool-view
Adding, editing and removing of snippets
Double-clicking a snippet form the list inserts it into to the active view at the current cursor position
Tool tips show the content of a snippet
Snippets are stored in the users home-directory, so every user can have his own snippets
Snippets can contain variables in the style of $VARNAME$. On using the snippet the user is prompted to enter replacement value for the variables		(see below)
Snippets are shared with Kate
variable definition via ${...}
inclusion of system variables (time, name, email)
sophisticated navigation between variable ranges
variable mirroring
GHNS integration
inserting snippets via auto-completion

[edit] Doxygen integration (API documentation generator)

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Supports all programming languages that doxygen does (except IDL and D)
Previews the documentation that doxygen generates for the file you're currently editing
Configures doxygen
Runs doxygen
Views doxygen generated docs (html man or pdf formats)
Can use doxygen's generated XML as tooltips for "as you type" code completion

[edit] RAD (Rapid Application Development) tools

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Qt Designer integration enables GUI design from within KDevelop itself		*3
Qt Assistant integration provides a feature rich documentation viewer from within KDevelop
The C++ Class Wizard can be used for classes in the persistant class store. This means, for example, that if the Code Completion database for Qt is built then subclassing from Qt classes is possible in the wizard
"Find in files", Ctags/DUChain support and history navigation provide faster code navigation
Templates for cmake based C/C++ apps and libraries
Specific application-type templates are provided
Generic projectmanager:
It's based on the KDevelop platform architecture where project management GUI is abstracted from a specific buildsystem. Buildsystems are handled using plugins ("project importers, builders and editors")
Workspace support is available
Project builders: make builder

 *3 available via a potentially unstable, unmaintained external plugin from http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/playground/devtools/kdevelop4-extra-plugins/

[edit] Ctags support

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
It is possible to have multiple tag files active at the same time, making it possible to do lightning quick searches in external sources

KDevelop 4 uses the DUChain for much better language support bypassing Ctags.

[edit] UI

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Simple IDEAl UI mode is the default
The viewspace can be split, allowing KDevelop to show files side by side
IntelliJ IDEA - alike toolview keyboard navigation (with <alt+1>, <alt+2>, etc.)
Keyboard navigation and focusing

[edit] Code Reformatting

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Less bugs (updated to AStyle 1.19)
Support for all AStyle options
Option settings dialog
Global and per project settings
Format multiple files at once

[edit] QuickOpen

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Arbitrary parts of the scope can be used as a filter while searching for classes or functions
Quick open class has an additional selection dialog for cases when more than one class with given name exist
Quick open files from opened projects

[edit] Konsole

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Does not syncs with the active document dir anymore

[edit] Grep (Find in Files)

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Define more filetypes (incl. ruby) to search within
allow pattern to be a regular expression

[edit] Outputviews

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Support for Intel Fortran Compiler and Portland Group's PGI Fortran compiler (pgf90/pgf95)

[edit] Valgrind integration

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Valgrind integration to find memory leaks in programs
Use the environment variables as set in the run options

[edit] xTest features

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Run {QTestLib, CppUnit, Check} unit tests
Generate gcov coverage reports
Generate xTest skeletons for existing class
Generate class skeleton for test driven code

[edit] Misc

Feature	KDev 3.5.4	KDev 4.0
Toolbar and menu entry for "Goto Last Edit Position"
Support for character encodings
Obeys the selected encoding in the File Open dialog
The OpenWith plugin offers all available encodings in "Open As"
The encoding for each open file is saved with the session, and will be used to open that file the next time the project is loaded
Default encoding can be set per project in the Project Options - this will be the default when opening a file
File Open encoding will default to the open project's default
Moved plugin selection dialog out of project setting dialog and into main menu Settings menu and made it profile-based
Use profile engine to specify the default plugin set for a freshly created or imported project
Honor the UI Designer embedding setting
File selector, file tree and file groups facilities obviating the need for an external file manager
The inclusion of any other program you need for development by adding it to the "Tools"-menu according to your individual needs
Regular expression tester
Project distribution and packaging tool for automated creation of source and binary packages
Part explorer to query available KDE services

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