Parent gave two "big libs" as an example (was it a "worst case"?), I choose the one I used the other day and I remember how I used it.
I also remember that I took the "hard" path on Linux and rebuilt ffmpeg, but it was like "git clone", "./configure", "make", "sudo make install". I had to use the command line, but nobody died (being a huge C project and all that).
But we were talking IDEs vs command line and "actually understand your development tool chain in C as well as C++". Of course that niche, worst-case project are going to require more complicated steps. The thing is that the command line and clunkyness is being forced onto the other 99% of the cases too, for simpler projects and dumber persons like myself.
> Parent gave two "big libs" as an example (was it a "worst case"?), I choose the one I used the other day and I remember how I used it.
I consider them to be the best case because everyone wants them so there has been some improvement down the road. I think Cyph0n pick a wrong example for that reason.
> I also remember that I took the "hard" path on Linux and rebuilt ffmpeg, but it was like "git clone", "./configure", "make", "sudo make install". I had to use the command line, but nobody died (being a huge C project and all that).
That is a happy case for the reason I've said before. In my experience many libraries do not build that cleanly, it is a routine challenge to determine which flags I have to put to configure or which library I have to install (that might not exist in my distro so I may have to build them as well). Also `sudo make install` alters the global environment, which is never a great idea in Linux distros; so you have to either make sure to run `./configure --prefix=$HOME` or likes, or just run `make` and pick necessary bits out of the build directories yourself. The latter is painful, but the former risks two competing versions of the same library in the global environment.
Honestly though this experience greatly depends on tasks, and you may have barely hit those worse cases in your life. The Windows SDK and Android SDK you've initially cited are two examples where almost everything is available for you and you don't need as many libraries to continue on.
I also remember that I took the "hard" path on Linux and rebuilt ffmpeg, but it was like "git clone", "./configure", "make", "sudo make install". I had to use the command line, but nobody died (being a huge C project and all that).
But we were talking IDEs vs command line and "actually understand your development tool chain in C as well as C++". Of course that niche, worst-case project are going to require more complicated steps. The thing is that the command line and clunkyness is being forced onto the other 99% of the cases too, for simpler projects and dumber persons like myself.