Programing Suite

I stick to Vim and a couple of other open terms for compiling etc. I have used NetBeans in the past (which I think is proprietary) for Java programming, it was okay but I didn't see the need for all the fluff that came with it.

I've used KDevelop for an eMail-virusscanner based on LibClamAV. It's pretty cool to use and if you like to do something with a GUI you can use QT Designer for that (though I didn't work with that yet since I don't do very much programming).
In my oppinion KDevelop is a really good IDE with lots of useful functions.

also, you could use eclipse, which is rather bloated, but runs on free non-sun (not completely free yet) java and supports many languages, including C/C++ and Python, by plug-in.

dylunio, dvorak and vim ? you're mad.

Am I? I've never had a problem... (not that I've used Vim under QWARRTY).

I usually use vi, and gcc. It's light on resources, and gets to the point.

nano?! How can you stand that? It doesn't even have undo support!

I use Emacs and sometimes Kate. For web development I use Quanta.

A lot of the time I use NEdit, simply because it does everything I need, and doesn't do anything I don't need. Instead of "integrating" or typing "gcc -this -that", I use tiny Makefiles. I also use make in combination with inkscape when drawing, and make in combination with latex for writing documents. I think it's better to use general purpose tools instead of an IDE which is only suitable for programming, and another IDE which is only for document writing, and ... etc etc

To be honest IDEs can make me panic because of the number of incomprehensible icons and the size of their menus.

To be honest, when it comes to editing code all I need is a good syntax highlighting, nice search function and ability to have multiple "tabs" open.

Kate does all of this for me very nicely. No IDE required.

Though I'm not sure what my preferences will be for ruby which I'm thinking of learning (er.. but I know I've said so many times I'm about to learn a language ). For ruby people are saying it is getting easier and easier and the buzz is all over for it. I'm about to read a sample of a book I might get for learning Ruby step by step. Maybe I actually get somewhere with it.

So I'll see if kate will be enough for me while learning ruby or will I need a dedicated IDE..

personally I prefer gvim + a Makefile and a terminal; no Makefile when I'm using python.

I'm confused. How does make help with Inkscape?

If you make lots of drawings which have to be exported to png, then modified and exported again (for example when you're designing a window manager theme), the inkscape commandline options, combined with make, are very useful.

I use emacs and xterm, and if I need to read some documentation, I use firefox or konqueror (konqueror is great for reading man pages).

I use Eclipse (with almost all of it's "features" disabled), KEdit, and VIM -- it really depends on what I'm doing. Eclipse is handy because I often have to work on other computers that may be running other OSes, etc... Eclipse really is the poster child for platform-independent applications -- it looks and works almost exactly the same on all the various OSes/WMs that I've used. I even have a copy of Eclipse on one of my USB keys... Can't do that with Kate, unfortunately, or I'd use it more.

Web dev : Quanta
Perl/Python/C++/(whatever) : vim

Python only : 'idle' (lightweight python IDE w/ tk based interface)

I'm interested in learning how to work with kdevelop/qtdesigner but it is soooo bloated that it's pretty hard to figure out something easy. I guess that once that is known and mastered, one can create pretty powerful applications with less time than basic editing.... I guess...

I've only read a little on Qt, but Qt Designer helps a lot. I'd be insane to make complex dialogs without it. If you're serious about Qt, learn to use Qt Designer.

If the focus is on KDE Development and nut "just" usage of QT for window-creation I guess the KDE Designer, which is more or less just a slightly tweaked version of QT Designer, and part of the KDevelop-package, could be interesting since it, as far as I remember, offers a few more objects and should have better integration into KDevelop.

If you, on the other hand, prefer GTK+, Glade combined with the language's libglade is very nice. I've use libglade ports to Python and C++ (though never the C original).