JetBrains released version 2017.2 for its cross-platform C/C++ IDE CLion this week. In addition to C++ correctness and performance improvements, JetBrains also updated its IntelliJ IDEA product with new features and bug fixes.
In CLion 2017.2, developers will see better code quality with new Clang-Tidy integration. CLion has more than 30 built-in code inspections to alert users to unused code and uninitialized variables, and it also performs Data Flow Analysis to “catch infinite recursion, endless loops, missing returns, and unreachable code,” wrote JetBrains’ Anastasia Kazakova.
In the near future, JetBrains is planning a major overhaul of CLion’s C++ parser. According to Kazakova, the team wants to make sure it is correct on each level, uncovering any hidden problems. For now, CLion 2017.2 brings in fixes to various parts of the C++ parsing and resolving engine, which means reduced number of false-positive code analysis checks, more accurate navigation, refactorings, and more, according to Kazakova.
CLion 2017.2 also comes with a new quick-fix to preserve non-trivial constructor calls on an unused variable.
Major highlights in IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2 include smarter coding assistance, a “neater” UI, and performance updates. This version also comes with smarter code completion and control flow analysis. Smart Completion becomes aware of builder classes and suggests chains of method calls on its first call, and control flow analysis is smart enough to detect a wider array of problems, especially problems related to booleans, strings, arrays, lists, and maps.
IntelliJ IDEA was updated with inspections and quick fixes, refactorings, Spring Boot actuator endpoints, Kotlin 1.1.3 support, Groovy 2.5.0 support, a new user interface with a Windows 10 native look and feel, and JavaScript and TypeScript improvements.
