Qt Creator

Qt Creator is a cross-platform C++, JavaScript, Python and QML integrated development environment (IDE) which simplifies GUI application development. It is part of the SDK for the Qt GUI application development framework and uses the Qt API, which encapsulates host OS GUI function calls. It includes a visual debugger and an integrated WYSIWYG GUI layout and forms designer. The editor has features such as syntax highlighting and autocompletion. Qt Creator uses the C++ compiler from the GNU Compiler Collection on Linux. On Windows it can use MinGW or MSVC with the default install and can also use Microsoft Console Debugger when compiled from source code. Clang is also supported. Development of what would eventually become Qt Creator had begun by 2007 or earlier under transitional names Workbench and later Project Greenhouse. It debuted during the later part of the Qt 4 era, starting with the release of Qt Creator, version 1.0 in March 2009 and subsequently bundled with Qt 4.5 in SDK 2009.3. This was at a time when the standalone Qt Designer application was still the widget layout tool of choice for developers. There is no indication that Creator had layout capability at this stage. The record is somewhat muddied on this point (perhaps due to changes in ownership or the emphasis on Qt Quick), but the integration of Qt Designer under Qt Creator is first mentioned at least as early as Qt 4.7 (ca. late 2011). In the Qt 5 era, it is simply stated that "[Qt Designer's] functionality is now included as part of [sic] Qt Creator IDE." Qt Creator includes a project manager that can use a variety of project formats such as .pro, CMake, Autotools and others. A project file can contain information such as what files are included into the project, custom build steps and settings for running the applications. Qt Creator includes a code editor and integrates Qt Designer for designing and building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) from Qt widgets. The code editor in Qt Creator supports syntax highlighting for various languages.