Re: Why is Qt Creator so terrible? Its not terrible. But I've heard the same complaint a lot in the last few years, and more recently since I've been back. Noticed this year old post but I felt I should explain this, since I had a moment to do so:
People keep wandering into the bleeding edge newest-and-latest versions and expect them to be finished products. They don't realize that unlike other companies who hide all their new products until they have undergone tons of internal testing, and have an army of people dedicated to IDE sugaring (honestly makes it "bloatier"), but here we have just what we need, and, we get to come and help on the new stuff too.
I will admit it doesn't have everything the million-dollar-god-company versions do. But that's just it, it isn't about whether something is "free" anymore. We've actually been paying for all that android software and just don't know it: These companies are so large they envelop services that make them all the money they need, while on the other hand offering free development tools for their platforms, all to further the agenda of raking in cash, the long game.
I hope this makes at least some of you realize that just because something doesn't cost to use, the company is likely still making money off of you, or will in the near future - and if it doesn't, no sweat, there are thousands of others they get money from, some are likely your friends and family. But hey, if that's okay then whatever right?
As for the features, Me personally, I think QtCreator works just fine and has plenty of features. IMHO, if you hold the developer's hand too much, the developer will know less and less about the process of development or worse make tools that automate things even further, adding to the bloating problem of over-automation. And it is surprising how many people code in C++ these days but couldn't tell you the difference between const int, int const.
(Once last thing about bloat: extensions, waaay too many of those for programming environments these days, and people tend to just pile em on, then wonder why their IDE doesn't work.)
New to QtCreator want to make apps like what you see every day?
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Use the online installer, its a lot more portable than relying on package managers or (shudder) flatpak or snap, you can then add and remove components and kits whenever you like without all the legwork and missing kit problems you get from installing it through a software manager.
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Make sure you put your project somewhere that has reasonable access speeds. Putting it on a thumbdrive is not a great idea unless you check out the code through git. Best keep your stuff on something like gitlab and check it out to your fastest drive.
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Learn Git asap, you will need to know at the very least how to init, clone, push, pull and configure remotes.
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If you really want to be a master programmer, pick a single language to master, one you can dedicate yourself to for the rest of your career. Jumping around trying to learn em all will make you a master of none. If you are going with QtCreator, C++ and Python are both good choices for mastery.
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Beginners: signals and slots, use them sparingly! Read the docs, and be aware of the VERSION of qt you are programming for. Some things dont work on other versions!!!