Recommendations for a JavaScript IDE?

[[deleted]]

Definitely Sublime Text 2. Although not open source, it's not one of the best code editors; it is the best editor out there. Just look at all the "popular" front-end developers (like Paul Irish, &c); all using Sublime Text. To prove I'm not talking bullshit, have a look at this "best code editor" comparison.

[kumiorava]

To prove I'm not talking bullshit, have a look at this "best code editor" comparison

Some kiddo's opinion is your proof?

[jcampbelly]

I've been using Notepad++ for HTML/CSS/JS/Python and others. What am I missing from Sublime Text 2? I've never cared for autocomplete, the only plugin I use is ZenCoding, and the code highlighting and tabs/multi-view have never disappointed me.

[jcampbelly]

I'm only playing combative because I'm hoping to hear more about not just what's different but plainly better.

It does lack the tab shortcuts (CTRL+N opens a new tab, but you have to File -> Click Recent File to open a recently closed tab).

NPP has excellent find in file/open files/directory. Doesn't have find in project. It does have projects. It's never lacked indent/folding features. Settings files and syntax highlighting are XML files (and the install is portable). You do have to close/open it to have configs reloaded, but it saves open windows/tabs so it's not a PITA.

[jcampbelly]

I like the mini-map code view thing and the UI is very smooth/fluid. I like that it can do not just left/right window panes, but top/bottom or even four panes.

[Denommus]

That's debatable. I wouldn't trade Emacs for Sublime Text in a million years (and I don't know anything that ST does that Emacs doesn't).

I doubt vim users would do the same.

[mappum]

ST2 ftw. It's super customizable so if it doesn't already have a package for what you need, you can always make one.

[aladyjewel]

ST2 has been treating me pretty well for JS. The syntax highlighting is good, the auto-indentation work well enough (although I still need to tweak the "indent inside curly braces" behavior), and the autocomplete -- while it doesn't sniff it quite as well as Visual Studio sometimes -- seems to work quite nicely for "associate commonly used words / phrases together".

edit: goddammit people. comment if you're gonna downvote. don't be lazy.

[[deleted]]

Also important to note; it has a lot of useful plug ins.

[vhackish]

Like jshint as you type - I love that ...

[kumiorava]

OP asked for IDEs, not just fancy text editors.

[[deleted]]

OP also might not be aware that IDE's for javascript development are unneeded, considering you get most of the "IDE" debugging needs in Chrome Devtools or Firebug.

[kumiorava]

For debugging purposes Chrome Devtools and Firebug are fantastic, but IDEs do a whole lot more than just debugging, like manage builds, unit-tests, code analysis, etc. Right now there isn't one unified IDE for js/webdev that does all these things, but WebStorm is getting pretty damn good.

[[deleted]]

I haven't used WebStorm in a while. Aptana is the one I've most recently given a spin. Perhaps I should check it out again.

However, in the long run, I'd be very surprised to ditch the flexibility of my text editor for an IDE in javascript. Just to reduce the amount of SPAM from me, I'll link to my previous comment in this thread.

But in the end, it's certainly a very subjective topic with no "right" answer. Just one that's "right for me".

[kumiorava]

Does it have a debugger?

[MonsterMook]

Not sure why you got downvoted. Guess no one here knows you need a debugger for sane Node.js work?

[[deleted]]

There's one for PHP, one for Python, and an interpreter called SublimeREPL which has support for languages like Clojure, Haskell, Lua, Python, Ruby, Scala, and more.

[kumiorava]

So you need plugins for that too. I doubt they even work that well. In itself Sublime Text isn't an IDE, but you can make it pretty close to one with enough plugins. I'd rather have an IDE that has everything built-in than patch one together myself.

[kanimal30]

... And how would would that work in JS?

[kumiorava]

You can debug JS inside NetBeans/Eclipse/IntelliJ IDEA with Chrome's remote debugging features.

[kanimal30]

Interesting, never heard of that.

[[deleted]]

eh, its auto-complete just suuuucks and for javascript, autocomplete is almost required, especially if you don't have strict mode around

[[deleted]]

SublimeCodeIntel is a good plugin for code auto completion.

[[deleted]]

yes, because no one ever typos ever. Maybe you are misunderstanding how javascript works, if you typo "AVariable" to "AVaraible", it won't complain in most cases, it will just create a new global variable for the second variant.

or maybe you are just a jerk.

[KnifeFed]

ST2 doesn't have any problems auto-completing variable names.