Online vs offline IDE

I am aware that Rubyists prefer to use Sublimetext, Vim or TextMate and I personally like Atom (which is open source), but I got used to studying Ruby on Rails with an IDE and personally found it useful, although I suppose I mainly appreciate the integrated terminal and I have no other experience.

So far I have been studying Ruby on Rails with Cloud9, an offline IDE. With an online IDE there are limitations (due to price and features), and I would like to know whether or not it would be wiser and preferable to develop offline and what would be the advantages and disadvantages of an offline development as opposed to an online IDE. As far as I am concerned I found really useful that with Cloud9 you can close your computer, login into your workspace after one month and find it as it was before: would that be possible while developing offline, or it is necessary to reload the environment any time the machine is turned on?

I read a previous post, dated 2013, and made some internet research and found that the best options for an offline IDE could be RubyMine and Aptana Studio 3. Considering that RubyMine is not the best solution for pennyless developers (unless you would suggest it is a forsighted investment), I am interested in Aptana Studio 3: is there a big difference with RubyMine? Is there anyone of you who know Aptana Studio 3 and would suggest it (or advice against)?

Many thanks in advance

Both Rubymine and Aptana can be a bit slow / bloated, and they do have different feature levels (last time I looked). As they are both Java based you gain the benefit of the introspection which allows the intelligent completion of method name.

The choice of an IDE is subjective, as is any editor, I use Atom at home and vim at work, but that is because my work code is in a controlled environment for security reasons.

I used to use Rubymine, but now they have gone to a monthly subscription model it seems less attractive

I am wondering if a painless transition from an IDE to the use of editor + terminal is possible, especially for beginners like me that have started to study with an online IDE. To be honest I would be inclined to make this transition, since I really like Atom, and as far as I have understood what remains to fill the gap with an IDE is the use of the terminal in a separate window. I would not mind to switch from Atom to the Ubuntu terminal: is this the only difference? The discomfort of switching windows? I am wondering this as an inexperienced user, perhaps I am still unable to understand what is behind an online and an offline IDE.

As I said, not considering the disadvantages (customizable paid service, which means low resources if you are short of money), what strikes me most of an online IDE is the possibility to login whenever you please into your workspace and find it as you left it, without the need to reload your environment (I am thinking for instance about version control with git and the chance that I have to use a different computer): how far would I be from these benefits if I choose to develop offline?

On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 8:05 AM, 'krfg' via Ruby on Rails: Talk

I am wondering if a painless transition from an IDE to the use of editor + terminal is possible, especially for beginners like me that have started to study with an online IDE.

Painless? Probably not. Worth while? Probably :slight_smile:

As I said, not considering the disadvantages (customizable paid service, which means low resources if you are short of money), what strikes me most of an online IDE is the possibility to login whenever you please into your workspace and find it as you left it, without the need to reload your environment (I am thinking for instance about version control with git and the chance that I have to use a different computer): how far would I be from these benefits if I choose to develop offline?

As already mentioned, the choice of an IDE/editor is very individual. What suits your own workflow, now and as it evolves with experience?

Try *everything* - most commercial products have at least some free trial period - and see what feels best.

Good luck!