While learning Programming we do need tools to make our work simpler. One such tool is Geany which is basically a text editor with IDE like features, and focuses on simplicity rather than features. It supports a variety of languages which include (but not limited to) C, Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, Python, Perl, Ruby, Pascal and Haskell.

Installing Geany

Geany is in Ubuntu repos and can be easily installed via Synaptic, Software Center, and obviously through terminal.

sudo apt-get install geany

The Interface

As it can be seen from the screen shot, Geany has a pretty basic interface and new users won’t really be lost as it is like any other text editor in terms of simplicity.

How it works

Geany works on the file extension principle. When you save a text file of a program code with an extension, Geany corresponds to the appropriate compiler and interpreter and thus serves multiple languages. For example for .c extension it corresponds to gcc, .py for Python, .rb for Ruby, .pl for Perl, etc.
It does not have the advanced features of IDEs like Eclipse or Code::Blocks, but it serves perfectly for learning programming.
Also note that it’s only an IDE and does not have the corresponding compiler or interpreter. For that you need to download and set that separately. For instance you can install C/C++ compiler by:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Geany having a very simple interface can be easily used for practicing programming or creating basic programs. For instance, you can create a C program like this:

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf("Hello, World!");
    return 0;
}

Now you have to save the file with a .c extension, and compile the code by going to Build->Compile or simply pressing F8. To link the code you have to go to Build->Build or press F9. If your program has been compiled and linked correctly, you can simply execute it as Build->Execute or pressing F5.

And in case of Python:

#!/usr/bin/env python
print "Hello, World!"
#

Now in case of Python you simply execute the code by pressing F5, since Python is an interpreted language. You can also “compile” which basically checks for few syntax errors.

Similarly Geany works in plenty of languages and saves a lot of time particularly for beginner programmers since they don’t really have to change to a particular directory and invoke compiler by terminal.

Happy Programming.