I program, and for most small jobs, and for most complex find/replace jobs, I prefer vi. I have tried EMACS, but I never really got it. But I've hit a point that, when I'm doing most of my coding, I prefer an editor that behaves a bit more like a word processor. I want a graphical editor. I have tried a few. The one I use these days is Komodo Edit from Activestate, which I use some on Windows but primarily on Unix.
I develop and maintain a few web apps for the lab, and that's everything from SQL to Perl libraries to Perl applications to HTML to Javascript. I'm often wanting to make sure that the page I'm writing is working right with the AJAX Javascript code I'm writing for it, which is connecting to the CGI Perl code I'm writing, and that it is working correctly with the modules. Since they're at the far ends of the user experience, the Perl module and the HTML are tabs in one editor window, with the client-side Javascript in an other window and the server side Perl in another. Both my journalism school page layout background and my history with 80x24 terminals has lead me to believe that you don't want to go too wide, so I try to keep my code within 75 to 80 characters per line. My main monitor is 1680x1050, and I can have my code at a readable font size and still have three editor windows in one monitor, leaving my other for terminals (I have four to six open post of the time) and my Windows monitor open to a web browser.
This means that I CANNOT have three open and not partially-hidden editor windows on one screen. This used to be no problem for Komodo Edit, and is a deal-breaker for me.
So, what other mature modern graphical text editors for Linux are out there?
Padre?
ReplyDeleteIntelliJ IDEA is one of the best editors I have seen - sadly, there is no Perl plugin. It allows you to "inject" secondary languages in code - for example, edit JavaScript inside an HTML file or SQL inside a Java file.
ReplyDeleteI have recently inherited a Catalyst project and now am searching for a good Perl IDE, too... preferrably something with code completion and easy module navigation.
@gizmo:
ReplyDeletejacoby@oz:~$ padre
DBD::SQLite::db do failed: unable to open database file at (eval 184) line 523.
Perl exited with active threads:
1 running and unjoined
0 finished and unjoined
0 running and detached
jacoby@oz:~$
I hesitated to say, but the best graphical text editor I have used is UltraEdit, but I don't think the benefit of UE over Komodo is enough for me to go out-of-pocket over or for me to bug my boss when I'm the only one who'd use it.
ReplyDeleteI've used Catalyst to try Android programming (so far, it's languishing at "Hello World", but I don't really have an app in mind to work toward), and that was OK, but on my older Linux box, it seems to suck power and dominate too much screen space, but perhaps.
I haven't really done module navigation in Komodo, but I give it thumbs up on code completion.
I really fell in love with geany
ReplyDelete@Nicolas, I have just now apt-got geany. No default template for Perl. Not a deal-breaker, and I kinda like what I see (except the Pikachu as the app icon), but I'm willing to give it a try.
ReplyDelete