Yes we had those things but my point is that they were optional and not commonly used except in large system projects. We didn't throw all that complexity at people learning the basics.
The interface for beginners scaled all the way down to a very basic single text file, and most beginners would program for months or even years without using those things. It wasn't necessary to teach these tools in school - you could complete an entire degree writing single-file C programs without ever using an IDE.
Many utilities were distributed as a .c file and a Makefile and that's it (before the rise of autoconf)
I agree with most of what you’re saying, but for me, the IDE was waaaaay easier than dealing with a Makefile (yet another programming language that has nothing to do with my goal), or worse, entering random hard-to-remember commands and options on the command line. Even if my program was a single file, it was usually just Cmd-R to build and run. No need to memorize that I needed to add “-l math” if I was doing anything with math functions, or whatever.
Makefiles for basic projects are typically just two to five lines long. It's really different than a large project system, or the absolutely crazy things that autoconf generates.
all:
cc myprogram.c
clean:
rm -f myprogram.o myprogram
They're extremely simple in simple scenarios. It's just a simple format for writing down the commands you run while working.
The interface for beginners scaled all the way down to a very basic single text file, and most beginners would program for months or even years without using those things. It wasn't necessary to teach these tools in school - you could complete an entire degree writing single-file C programs without ever using an IDE.
Many utilities were distributed as a .c file and a Makefile and that's it (before the rise of autoconf)