Ruby on Rails IDE

This shows the best ruby IDE: http://tinyurl.com/mfbwav

Leonardo Mateo wrote:

I use Vim. Mostly because it just feels good for me, with the right plugins I have everything I use on every IDE I've used before (that is, code competion, syntax highlighting, code reference, tabs, and a few more).

As long as Vim uses that damn modal editing (i.e. 'i' for insert, Escape to exit insert and ':' for commands) I won't be switching to it.

Before you call me crazy... I understand Vim, and I use it when absolutely necessary. If that's your thing, then great for you. I'm just saying it's not for me, so I'll stick with TextMate. At least until I find something better. However, every time I've tried alternatives I just keep coming back to TextMate.

Leonardo Mateo wrote:

I use Vim. Mostly because it just feels good for me, with the right plugins I have everything I use on every IDE I've used before (that is, code competion, syntax highlighting, code reference, tabs, and a few more).

As long as Vim uses that damn modal editing (i.e. 'i' for insert, Escape to exit insert and ':' for commands) I won't be switching to it.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to use Vim, have you read how many times I said "..feels good for you..."? If you don't like it, then don't use it. That "damn modal editing" you says is an esential part of Vim. If you don't like it, then Vim is not for you.

Before you call me crazy...

I wont.

I understand Vim, and I use it when absolutely necessary. If that's your thing, then great for you. I'm just saying it's not for me, so I'll stick with TextMate. At least until I find something better. However, every time I've tried alternatives I just keep coming back to TextMate.

Ok, so TextMate is what feels good (or great, or whatever) for you.

With reference to Aptana terminal tabs for Rails console, server & general command line you wrote:

I find this nearly useless for Rails. I'd rather use a real terminal program (on Mac OS, that means iTerm).

Care to be more specific? A terminal is only as good as the shell you choose, and how you configure it. Everything else is just "window dressing" so to speak! :slight_smile: What Rails command line related activity can you perform in iTerm (or any other for that matter) that you can't in a shell embedded an IDE?

How recently have you used NetBeans?

Last week! I just found it too big and bloated for Rails needs compared to Aptana. Those who subscibe to the "an editor is enough" would rightly say the same about Aptana or any other Rails capable IDE.

As I made a point of saying at both the beginning and end of my post, the OP needs to try a few out and see what works for him, but since he specifically asked about IDEs. Unfortunately as is often the cae with these subjects, it is already degenerating into a mine is better than yours, IDE vs. Editor, GUI vs Command Line Editor, VI vs EMACS debate, even if not yet an outright flamewar...

Matt.

MattB wrote:

With reference to Aptana terminal tabs for Rails console, server & general command line you wrote:

I find this nearly useless for Rails. I'd rather use a real terminal program (on Mac OS, that means iTerm).

Care to be more specific? A terminal is only as good as the shell you choose, and how you configure it. Everything else is just "window dressing" so to speak! :slight_smile: What Rails command line related activity can you perform in iTerm (or any other for that matter) that you can't in a shell embedded an IDE?

None. I just haven't found the IDE shells to be very pleasant to use.

How recently have you used NetBeans?

Last week! I just found it too big and bloated for Rails needs

I agree with that. I just don't agree that it's slow and clunky in general, at least on Mac OS.

compared to Aptana. Those who subscibe to the "an editor is enough" would rightly say the same about Aptana or any other Rails capable IDE.

Right.

As I made a point of saying at both the beginning and end of my post, the OP needs to try a few out and see what works for him, but since he specifically asked about IDEs.

But the way he asked, it was clear that he assumed one was required.

Unfortunately as is often the cae with these subjects, it is already degenerating into a mine is better than yours, IDE vs. Editor, GUI vs Command Line Editor, VI vs EMACS debate, even if not yet an outright flamewar...

My editor *is* better than yours, at least for me. :slight_smile:

Seriously, I used to use Aptana for Rails, but stopped when I realized I was only using it as an editor.

Try working in Rails without an IDE if you haven't already. I believe you will be happier.

Matt.

Best,

This seems like the perfect time to lodge my complaints :wink:

I've been using NetBeans 6.9 for a couple of weeks now and it seems to be disintegrating over time. At some point it became convinced that I'm working with Rails 2.x, which I am not, and now tries to run non- existing script/server. In new files, NetBeans's own templates are not expanded. I never found a way to make the debugger work with Rails 3 and bundler. And, worst of all, at times the editor completely freezes for from 30 secs to over a minute.

For none of these I've found a way to cure it. Particularly the freezing problem seems already to have been reported as a bug more than 50 times.

Yes, I'm still using NetBeans. The alternatives (on Linux) such as Emacs and Eclipse/Aptana are no more attractive and I've used them both before. Although I more or less know Emacs for 20 years, its features beyond editing are too arcane for me. Aptana, particularly RadRails/Studio for Rails 3, had still many problems of their own, last time I looked.

Michael

Michael Schuerig wrote:

>> How recently have you used NetBeans? > > Last week! I just found it too big and bloated for Rails needs

I agree with that. I just don't agree that it's slow and clunky in general, at least on Mac OS.

This seems like the perfect time to lodge my complaints :wink:

I've been using NetBeans 6.9 for a couple of weeks now and it seems to be disintegrating over time

Yeah, my recollection last time I used it with Rails was that the integration wasn't terribly good. Oy.

[...]

And, worst of all, at times the editor completely freezes for from 30 secs to over a minute.

I have occasionally seen this on Mac OS when I've been doing very resource-heavy stuff.

For none of these I've found a way to cure it. Particularly the freezing problem seems already to have been reported as a bug more than 50 times.

NetBeans' core team seem to be very skilled programmers, but often somewhat unresponsive to bug reports. Rather like some other core teams... :slight_smile:

Yes, I'm still using NetBeans. The alternatives (on Linux) such as Emacs and Eclipse/Aptana are no more attractive and I've used them both before.

There are other alternatives for Linux. In descending order, I'd recommend KomodoEdit, jEdit, or gEdit.

[...]

Michael

-- Michael Schuerig mailto:michael@schuerig.de Michael Schürig | Sentenced to making sense

Best,

Netbeans works well, if you're concerned about the bloat/response simply turn some of the features off. I've used Rails for a few years and a basic editor just seems so, well basic. Netbeans isn't perfect, I don't use it to run the server or do the tests but for the simple pleasure of jumping between controller method to view just cannot be beat.

If you're on Linux with KDE, Kate works well as a basic editor.

Windoze - try Notepad++, very lightweight and easy to use.

But in the end, it's your preference. Find something you're comfortable with and go with it.

Bb Serviss wrote:

Netbeans works well, if you're concerned about the bloat/response simply turn some of the features off. I've used Rails for a few years and a basic editor just seems so, well basic.

Right! What more do you need?

Netbeans isn't perfect, I don't use it to run the server or do the tests

Then why bother with it? You're just using it as a basic editor -- and for that, KomodoEdit blows it out of the water.

but for the simple pleasure of jumping between controller method to view just cannot be beat.

I'll agree that that's convenient, and one of the few things I miss from RadRails. But I don't miss it that much, particularly when Cmd-Sh-O in Komodo opens any file from a few characters of its name.

Best,

This is discussion has been very helpful to me: I'm learning Rails (and Ruby), so far I've primarily been using Emacs and command line. But I also I had given NetBeans (and a couple of other IDEs) a brief try on the off-chance that I was missing out on something that I would like to have.

I found that Emacs and shell window works well for the way I work, though. :). I'm using EmacsW32+nXhtml (see: http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/nXhtml/doc/nxhtml.html#summary) and a shell window. :slight_smile:

Because console editors are great for text-only environments, but are less generally usable than GUI editors. I love Emacs in SSH sessions or for quick edits in the Terminal, but I go nuts very quickly when I have to use it on a GUI box. There are many things that simply work better with a mouse and a menu-driven interface. No console-only editor can give me that, and therefore no console-only editor is suitable to use on a GUI box by my standards. (No, Xemacs is not the answer -- it sucks.)

Interesting. I'm of almost opposite mind: I prefer to use emacs on a GUI platform; I hop back-and-forth between being in a "keyboard only" mode when doing stuff in emacs to "mousing, mouse cut-n-paste, etc." mode when I flip to some other window. If I have to use emacs in the non-gui environment, I feel locked in, and if it goes on for very long, I'll find some way to switch to a gui environment to do the work.

I don't use it to run the server or do the tests but for the simple pleasure of jumping between controller method to view just cannot be beat.

Indeed. That was one thing I was looking for when I trying out NetBeans. I was finding that the way the files are arranged for a Rails application and switching amongst them in dired was painful.

Windoze - try Notepad++, very lightweight and easy to use.

A good recommendation. Its lightweight, follows the windows paradigm, has syntax highlighting that is easily configurable. It tempted me away from Emacs for a while. :slight_smile:

Iain Davis wrote:

This is discussion has been very helpful to me: I'm learning Rails (and Ruby), so far I've primarily been using Emacs and command line. But I also I had given NetBeans (and a couple of other IDEs) a brief try on the off-chance that I was missing out on something that I would like to have.

I found that Emacs and shell window works well for the way I work, though. :). I'm using EmacsW32+nXhtml (see: http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/nXhtml/doc/nxhtml.html#summary) and a shell window. :slight_smile:

Because console editors are great for text-only environments, but are less generally usable than GUI editors. �I love Emacs in SSH sessions or for quick edits in the Terminal, but I go nuts very quickly when I have to use it on a GUI box. �There are many things that simply work better with a mouse and a menu-driven interface. �No console-only editor can give me that, and therefore no console-only editor is suitable to use on a GUI box by my standards. �(No, Xemacs is not the answer -- it sucks.)

Interesting. I'm of almost opposite mind:

No, I don't really think you are. See below.

I prefer to use emacs on a GUI platform; I hop back-and-forth between being in a "keyboard only" mode when doing stuff in emacs to "mousing, mouse cut-n-paste, etc." mode when I flip to some other window. If I have to use emacs in the non-gui environment, I feel locked in, and if it goes on for very long, I'll find some way to switch to a gui environment to do the work.

Exactly! I prefer working in a graphical environment as well. But my point was that in a graphical environment, it makes more sense to use an editor that's been *designed* for a graphical environment -- in other words, not Emacs, but a good GUI editor like KomodoEdit. I feel locked in when I use Emacs in a console environment, but there's nothing I can really do about it. I feel even more locked in when I use (console) Emacs in a GUI environment, because I know there are other editors where I could use the mouse.

Your attitude is similar enough to mine, if I understand it correctly, that I suspect if you try a good graphical editor like KomodoEdit or jEdit, you won't go back to Emacs in GUI situations.

It never ceases to amaze me that people seem to think the only options are NetBeans, Eclipse/Aptana, TextMate, vi, and Emacs. There are *lots* of good editors out there...

Best,

Your attitude is similar enough to mine, if I understand it correctly, that I suspect if you try a good graphical editor like KomodoEdit or jEdit, you won't go back to Emacs in GUI situations.

*grin*. Certainly possible. I think I tried KomodoEdit, but that was long while ago, who knows how I'd feel about it now. Needs change, and products change as well. :slight_smile:

It never ceases to amaze me that people seem to think the only options are NetBeans, Eclipse/Aptana, TextMate, vi, and Emacs. There are *lots* of good editors out there...

There are days when it seems like there is as many as there are programmers. Maybe more. :slight_smile:

It could be that I keep coming back to Emacs because it seems the most easily bent to "latest new thing I'm learning or working with" without relearning the basics. In part because, it has been around a very long time so there is plenty of tech notes, stuff to download to enhance it, etc. For instance, last year I was doing some stuff in OCAML, a brief search turned up Tuareg-mode for editing and executing OCAML files. :slight_smile:

I also will switch editors depending which things I'm actually working on...there was a while that I was juggling two different projects, one that I wrote code in MSVC for, and the other I was doing stuff in Emacs. :slight_smile:

Hmm. I wonder what support NetBeans has for latex. Time for a web search.

Iain

Aptana, particularly RadRails/Studio for Rails 3, had still many problems of their own, last time I looked.

If that was Aptana Studio 2, it might be worth another look at Studio 3 beta. Works great for me with Rails 3. I'm on a Mac though, so can't comment on how it looks or behaves under Linux. Your own requirements are ultimately what counts though, so it may not be the one for you, and there are plenty of other choices, but if NetBeans isn't doing it for you...

Sorry to jump in mid-stream here, but....

That's what I'm using. I've had version 6.9 installed with regular updates, but now I've installed 6.9.1 and things look slightly better.

My ~/.netbeans/6.9 directory has grown to an amazing 856MB, largely consisting of downloaded updates, I reckon. Is there a way to delete the obsolete stuff without losing preferences?

Michael

My ~/.netbeans/6.9 directory has grown to an amazing 856MB, largely consisting of downloaded updates, I reckon.

Ouch. OTOH, that's like $0.10 worth of storage now, right?

Is there a way to delete the obsolete stuff without losing preferences?

That's a good question and I don't know the answer. Be worth asking on the NB list. Personally, I don't let any software do automatic updates anymore.

Best regards, Bill

The "Ruby" version is very bloated - including Glassfish and a whole bunch of stuff you probably don't need. Install the bare version (although I personally go for the PHP version as it's the smallest of the packaged downloads, and I do the occasional bit of PHP) and add the "Ruby and Rails" plugin.

And yes, the debugging works fine (apart from "break on error"); conditional breakpoints, watches, variable tracking, immediate evaluation (that one is a bit clunky though...); and has done since the first time I tried it in Jan 2009.

Correction, it was April when I got debugging working :slight_smile:

Yeah, and I was celebrating too early anyway. The freezes are still there.

The problem with the obsolete files is not so much the space they're taking up. They are in my backup set as well, meaning that they are wasting space in other places and have to be checked for changes each time I make a backup (i.e., often).

Michael

Michael Pavling wrote: