Every programmer has his favorite keyboard shortcuts. Here are mine
for Visual C++, from most used to least used, with some comments:
Jump to definition:
F12
Jump to declaration:
Ctrl + F12
Jump back (from any earlier jump): Ctrl
+ -
- The above 3 keyboard shortcuts are my key tools to peek into and
understand any C++ code.
Compile currently open .cpp
file: Ctrl + F7
- Every C++ programmer knows how frustratingly slow C++ compilers are!
It is faster to first compile the currently modified file and proceed
with a full solution build only if this succeeds. I typically keep
compiling the current file while incrementally modifying a file and do a
full build only much later when that part is completely coded.
Build solution: F7
Execute with debugging support:
F5
Execute without debugging support: Ctrl
+ F5
Add or remove breakpoint on
current line: F9
Find in entire solution and
list in Find Results window: Ctrl + Shift +
F
- The normal find (Ctrl + F and F3)
only jumps to one result and the user can jump around from there. I find
the listing of all occurrences in a separate window much more useful. I
can see all the files where it is used and also see one line of usage in
them. This is very useful to understand and refactor code.
Full Screen: Alt + Shift + Enter
- Visual Studio non-editor windows take too much space and combined
with the Windows taskbar, they are all huge distractions while coding
and debugging. So, I always work in full screen mode and switch back to
normal size only to fix compile errors. But, the above default keyboard
shortcut is hard to enter without causing side-effects, since it has
Enter in it. So, I map this action to Ctrl + M, Ctrl +
M instead. That is, keeping Ctrl pressed and press M twice.
This is the keyboard shortcut for full screen in Eclipse. I find it
easier to type and remember: M → Maximize 😊
Delete line: Shift + Del
- Useful while deleting many lines of code, which happens almost all
the time.
Add or remove bookmark:
Ctrl + K, Ctrl + K
- Easy to remember: bookmark ends with a K 😊 I find it very useful to
leave a breadcrumb trail of bookmarks on lines where I need to modify or
check code.
Jump to next bookmark: Crtl + K, Ctrl +
N
- To follow the breadcrumb trail of bookmarks.