vi. =) editor doesn't matter. it's the programmer!

Free ones, dev-c++ (MinGW) or eclipse (w/ your choice of C++ compiler) or ms vc++ 2005 express are the usual choices. On the other hand, I haven't really followed commercial ones.. aside from MS Visual Studio... lol.

Vim rocks. If you prefer emacs that's fine too. :-)

all those mentioned, although I'd lean more towards eclipse. Eclipse if you're going to get into any Java programming as well. Helps to have the common IDE. if you're getting into c# and what-not might as well jump in with Visual C++/Studio. It has a useful reference and takes a little bit to get used to debugging with it. dev-c++ is good for basic things but trying to keep track of all these IDEs is confusing.

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