12 Apr
2011
12 Apr
'11
7:35 a.m.
On 4/11/2011 6:04 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
I find that the more sophisticated and
"helpful"the IDE, the more it
tends to disturb my thought processes.
But then, I'm old.
--Chuck
Chuck,
I'm not (that) old, but I started out programming in the late 70's,
early 80's with the most basic of the editors out there.
With this being said, I *love* the new IDEs. There are some features
that I find are incredibly useful and reduce the number of errors in my
code AS I'M CREATING IT -- instead of during compile time or later.
The things I like:
* in-line syntax checking
* color coding (great for printing too): so much easier to read
* built-in subversion(etc) for checking in/out code
* When referencing a class, a drop-down box shows up to show you
available methods to choose from.
* When you reference a function, it immediately hovers the variable
type, highlighting the argument you are on, when you don't remember if
its (string,int) or (int,string)
* Automatic documentation lookup. Click a suggest method, and you get a
pop-up box with the usage. Fantastic. Forget about changing screens to
go find the API guide.
* GUI-builders are also really nice. Sure, you can do it by hand, but why?
* Ability to collapse blocks of code so that you have everything
important to the current task on one screen.
* Many IDEs are free and have wide language support
* Windows, Linux, Mac support for NetBeans and Eclipse.
* Ability to turn off and on the specific automatic as-you-type
features. If the IDE detects that you've just typed what's been
autocompleted, you don't now get errors -- it's smart enough to
recognize what's happened. So you have the choice to accept the
autocompletion or just type "through it."
I honestly could go on and on.
I've been using NetBeans for Java for a few years, and I am thoroughly
impressed with the quality, reliability, usefulness of the features.
I've also played with Eclipse. Most of these work for all the popular
languages.
I know there's a fair bit of Microsoft haters here, but the Visual
Studio IDEs are pretty good, too.
I've never been a software engineer by trade, but I've been programming
for a long time. I've got a great grasp of the fundamentals, but
probably fall in the middle someplace in terms of capability. For me,
these new IDEs really help me produce better code faster --- and do so
in real-time, before I even hit the build button. Using them makes
programming much more enjoyable for me.
Keith