As part of the programming module you study on the course, you are required to interact with the Python programming language. This interaction will be undertaken using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which will be installed within the Microsoft Windows operating system.
In this guide, you shall be taken through the journey of installing the Jetbrains CLion IDE and how it will interact with the Microsoft Windows operating system for any module that may make use of the IDE.
The IDE recommended by this course, is the JetBrains suite of applications. The JetBrains suite is payware, and as such they do not come for free. However, as students at this university, you are able to get a free educational licence. To get your free license, follow the instructions at the following URL:
Important
You will want to use your Coventry University e-mail address to register for your JetBrains account. It is also very important you remember the password for this account, as you will need to use these details to activate the IDE and renew your licence every year you are a student.
The JetBrains CLion application is an IDE and is relatively useful for the course you are studying as it provides a means to develop applications for the C++ programming language.
Downloading the IDE is relatively straight forward. You can visit the following web-page and download the application:
Once you have downloaded the application, follow the on-screen instructions to begin the installation process. Upon successful installation, you will want to tick the box Run CLion to ensure it is selected. When you click on the Finish button, the IDE will begin to load.
Before the main IDE window is opened, a pop-up will be presented, asking whether you would like to Import IntelliJ IDEA Settings. In this instance, select the option Do not import settings and click on the Ok button.
On the first instance of following this guide, and the IDE has been installed and loaded, it will ask for you to activate your software. In order to do this, you need to click on the Log In to Jetbrains Account... button. This will open an internet browser window, whereby you will need to sign-in with your JetBrains account you created earlier.
Once you have logged in to your account, the internet browser will close automatically, and you should now see an Activate button appear. Click on this button and your IDE will be activated.
In this section of the guide, we shall begin the process of creating a new C++ project. Once the IDE has loaded, you will be met with a splash screen. On the splash screen, you will see a button labelled New Project, click on this button. A new window will pop up with a variety of different options.
In this window you will need to select the C++ Executable option on the left hand-side. Once this item has been selected, you will then be asked to provide a name of the project. This will be appended to the end of the path shown next to the label Location.
You will notice that the project is currently called Untitled. Delete this piece of text, and replace it with the
name My_First_Project.
Note
Notice the underscores in the name of the project? The Ubuntu Linux distribution does not like blank spaces in filenames or directory names. As our project will create a new directory, we need to replace the blank spaces with an underscore.
On the same screen, you can see an option to select the Language Standard. In this instance, as we are concerned with using C++23, ensure you select this option from the drop down box. Once these settings have been applied you can proceed and click on the Create button. This will begin the process of creating the new Python project.
When you install the JetBrains CLion IDE and create a new project, you will be using the default toolset that was installed with the IDE. However, if you have followed the installation guide for [installing C++ on Windows], you will notice that the Microsoft Visual Studio Build Tools were installed for your C++ compiler.
When you initially create a new project with CLion, a dialogue window will pop up which will allow you to customise the toolset to be used with the project. Hopefully, you have installed the toolset on the previous guide correctly. If you have done so, on the left-hand-side of the dialogue window, you will see two options: MinGW (Default) and Visual Studio.
You will want to select the Visual Studio option, and leave the values as default. Just click the OK button to confirm your toolset choice.
That is the end of this guide on setting up the JetBrains CLion IDE. If you have followed all the necessary steps correctly, you should have a fully functional IDE which will enable you to complete any necessary programming based lab activities you will participate with on this course.
If you have spotted any errors or issues within this tutorial, you can e-mail Dr Ian Cornelius. Ensure to include in your message a description of the error or issue and a possible resolution. Also remember to include a URL to the page with the issue or error.