Extensible IDEs?

Whatever Fits queries: "We are trying to integrate our own specialized development environment. We are currently using Visual Studio and the add-in feature of that, but would like to get away from the Microsoft tax and have had to rewrite our software from scratch for reasons outside this scope. The current project includes adding specialized features to the IDE to handle our project types, extra tool-windows for user interaction, and an external process to run the compiled code. The compiled language is even open for debate right now, but would have to be something rather common or easy to learn. I really want to try to run Perl with SOAP for our backend. This is going to run on Windows systems but I am hoping to go for something cross platform for future extensibility if possible. What IDEs can be recommended that offer this kind of extensibility and keep the price per copy reasonable? I have a small list already built, but I have no experience with any of these but Visual Studio and would like to hear both success and horror stories of integration."

Comments

IBM Eclipse Project

[jjn1056]

at www.eclipse.org has a extensible IDE, with a plugin toolkit. Out of the box it supports Java, and I think there is a late beta C++ plugin. I remember someone was working on a Perl plugin as well, but I'm not sure where that project went.

I has everything you would expect for a Java IDE right out of the box.

Supposedly IBM is going to put the Eclipse IDE at the center of their apache based application server, so expect to see JSP, J2EE, etc highlighted for this app.

Download is free, but you need a Java interpreter. This app is written in Java but uses a native widget toolkit to speed up the GUI. On my Pentuim III 600 The speed is more than enough to get my work done.

BTW, this editor has got the have the best diff+history system I have ever seen. You can diff the current version against snapshots, based on the undo buffer, I think, or diff any two snapshots against each other.

They also have a plug in developer kit and samples, but I don't have any experience with it.

Hope this helps!

jEdit

[vudmaska]

IDE's are just text editors with smarts. Check out jEdit.org. Its small, extensible, and runs anywhere there is a java runtime. Oh, and it's free.

You're doing it backwards

[AuMatar]

Ok. Let the flaming begin.

You're really making a very stupid, and potentially very costly, mistake. You NEVER dictate the language you use based on the tools. Thats a sure way to make a project come in over-budget and late. You base the language off two things- developer familiarity, and ease of use for the application. If the developers are not familiar with the language, no matter what whiz-bang features your tool has, they will be slow at writing it, and come up with ugly, inefficient, buggy code. The other factor is how good the language is for the job. Perl is great for scripting, if you dont need bleeding edge speed. C if you need every last bit of speed you can get. C++ if you want to lose a little speed for its OO features. Java if you need multiplatform capability. And so on. No matter how great the tool is, it will not turn C into a scripting language, or make perl as fast at math as C.

Here's what you ought to do. Pick a language. Make the decision off of what the program needs to do, its speed/memory requirements, and developer familiarity to pick the best language for your progra and team. THEN research tools. Remember, a tool can help ease a process, but it won't make anywhere near as big a difference as using the right language for the job, or as big as programmer experience. Trust me, your project will run smoother for it.

Some options

[jaaron]

I just wanted to second some of the thoughts brought up already. First off, as mentioned before, chosing your language before your tools is probably a BETTER idea. However, assuming your going to be working in several different languages, then here's some options:

1. Eclipse -- I would look at this one first. Still somewhat new on the block, it's probably got the most potential to it right now considering the community backing (not to mention IBM).

2. NetBeans (ie- Sun's Forte) Also very extensible, but you're going to be pulled more in a java direction with these tools. That may or may not be the right way to go.

3. Emacs -- After the initial investment of setting up your environment, emacs is a great tool to use. A huge user base, plenty of ability to extend. Runs of *nix, OS X, and Win32 (don't forget those cygwin tools though!).

Whatever tool you use, remember if you're taking advantage of the Open Source / Free Software tools available try to give something back. That's how these tool come into existance.