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Fortran IDE for MS Windows 10?

Glen_F_1
Beginner
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We're contemplating upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  Our old friend Visual Studio 2005 may not make the journey with us...

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/d9635bdf-2e93-473b-bc18-867c8353df16/install-visual-studio-2005-on-windows-10?forum=vssetup

We're considering our Fortran IDE options.

1. Upgrade to Visual Studio 2015

2. Switch to Eclipse and Photran

There do seem to be dragons ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/java/comments/1zcfxv/why_doesnt_eclipse_community_standup_more_to/#bottom-comments

3. IntelliJ

https://github.com/satamas/fortran-plugin

4.  Something completely different...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_integrated_development_environments#Fortran

Please share your experiences and recommendations. 

Is Visual Studio 2015 the best option? Has Eclipse/Photran worked well for you?  Is IntelliJ or some other IDE meeting your needs?

Your wisdom is appreciated!

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TimP
Honored Contributor III
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If you're using vs2005, you may not care about features not supported by vs2013, such as partial c99 and c++11, which make no difference to Fortran. 

I don't follow whether you are thinking of dropping ifort in favor of an IDE which may support gfortran.

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Glen_F_1
Beginner
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We want to stick with Intel Fortran.  We're currently using version 10.1.034 and we've got Intel® Parallel Studio XE Professional Edition for Fortran Windows* on order.  My understanding is that Visual Studio is no longer bundled with Intel Fortran.

Was the decision to not bundle Visual Studio based on the availability of better options?

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FortranFan
Honored Contributor II
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Glen F. wrote:

..  My understanding is that Visual Studio is no longer bundled with Intel Fortran. .. Was the decision to not bundle Visual Studio based on the availability of better options?

@Glen F.,

Not exactly sure what you mean by this.  Have you reviewed all the information online at Intel Fortran site?  https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-visual-fortran-composer-xe-information-and-frequently-asked-questions

See here on Visual Studio support with Intel Fortran: https://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-parallel-studio-xe-compilers-required-microsoft-visual-studio

As you would know, Visual Studio is a product by Microsoft so you would need to license it separately.

What all are your needs and requirements?  That is what would guide you best in terms of your IDE choice.

  1. Does your situation qualify the terms for Visual Studio Community edition? https://www.visualstudio.com/license-terms/mt171547/
  2. And/or do you have needs to do other Windows or closely related development (Windows OS, .NET, Windows mobile, LightSwitch, Azure, etc.)?

If yes to both of above, then Visual Studio IDE is the best, IMO.

But if Visual Studio licensing cost is your biggest concern and you're doing exclusively Fortran development, my recommendation will be Code::Blocks IDE: http://cbfortran.sourceforge.net/.  This IDE can be used with Intel Fortran, see here https://groups.google.com/d/msg/cbfortran/8dGiT3pXNMM/w04xorVaTyMJ. ; But note there are considerable limitations relative to Visual Studio when it comes to debugging support: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/cbfortran/DRUa_MoZEeE/1YjtNn2hCAAJ

 

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IanH
Honored Contributor II
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Glen F. wrote:

We want to stick with Intel Fortran.  We're currently using version 10.1.034 and we've got Intel® Parallel Studio XE Professional Edition for Fortran Windows* on order.  My understanding is that Visual Studio is no longer bundled with Intel Fortran.

Was the decision to not bundle Visual Studio based on the availability of better options?

That understanding isn't right - Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Shell is still bundled with commercial licences of the Fortran compiler. 

That shell edition lacks features that are present in the more complete editions of Visual Studio (other languages, the resource compiler), but that shouldn't be too different to whatever cut-down variant of Visual Studio was bundled back when Visual Studio 2005 was current.

 

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Glen_F_1
Beginner
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OK, my misunderstanding.

Intel® Parallel Studio XE Professional Edition for Fortran Windows does come with a version of Visual Studio that will allow us to compile and debug Fortran programs.

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Greg_T_
Valued Contributor I
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Hi Glen,

I recently moved from Win7 to Win10 (both Lenovo ThinkPad laptops) and am using VS2015 with Intel Fortran XE 2017, and it all works very well for me and no install problems.  I installed VS2015 first, then installed Intel Fortran so that it could integrate into VS.  Be sure to check the "rc.exe not found" article at the top of the forum and the link Steve L. provided to help get all the needed components installed with VS 2015.

I am generally building Fortran DLL projects from VS that are part of a larger programs.  I also port the Fortran code to Linux and build there with Intel Fortran using a makefile, so having Intel Fortran on both OS lets me develop in VS on Windows and also build and run on Linux.

Moving Fortran projects from an older VS I think you'd expect that VS2015 will give a message that it is updating the project and solution files.  That works fine for me too.  After updating a project to VS2015 it is probably worth checking the project settings and compiling and linking options to confirm they are as you expect.

Regards,
Greg

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