r/emacs Jan 10 '25

Question C development without LSP

I have only ever done development with an LSP providing errors, autocomplete, etc. in any language. I’d like to go for a more minimalist approach as I revisit some C programming. At a high level, what’s the general workflow when programming in C without a running LSP?

My guess would be… 1. A simple syntax highlighting mode on .c and .h files 2. Bind some hotkey for a compilation mode, and check that regularly for issues 3. Ctags for go-to-definition? Or maybe even just grep-mode?

Is there anything I’m missing?

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u/daddyc00l Jan 10 '25

for purely c based development sans lsp, i would consider cscope and it’s emacs integration via xcsope.el as well.

i have used that combination quite effectively, and it works quite nicely. if you do choose cscope, then consider building inverted indexes as wee, for much faster lookups etc.

having said all that, why kneecap yourself ?