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Komodo 3.0 Released

Posted by michael on from the tools-of-the-trade dept.

darthcamaro writes "Looks like Komodo 3.0 has been released according to this article on InternetNews.com: If you use Perl, Python, Tcl, PHP and XLST in any combination than you've probably heard of Komodo and if you haven't you should have - it's the only IDE that I know of that handles all of those languages (in one real slick environment too)...and it looks like version 3.0 has also got an updated object browser and a new debugger that I'm looking forward to trying out."

54 comments

  1. Versus KDevelop? by JabberWokky · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Anybody familiar with this and KDevelop (or other open source and (lower case) free software)? Anybody care to state the differences or benefits to using this?

    I do like the idea of Window compatibility, but right now we have a "every developer uses their own tools" policy, and I use Linux.

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    1. Re:Versus KDevelop? by pnatural · · Score: 3, Informative

      I use Komodo at work (winders) and Eric3 at home (linux). I fire up kdevelop when I'm editing someone elses c or cpp project.

      Versus kdevelop, Komodo is less configurable and runs slower. The kdevelop help system, grep and terminal windows are all missing from komodo. Not sure on the debugger and make tools -- never use them.

      I use Komodo instead of other editors (on winders) because (a) it saves w/ unix line endings, (b) has python syntax highlighting, and (c) can open zope objects via ftp. Oh, it's also a very good xml editor, and that's nice. I used it in a past life to debug xslt, and it was usable for that, too.

      My problem is that I never use an IDE beyond it's editor. I've found that most debuggers are difficult to use and often introduce their own subtle differences in behavior. I guess I'm a command line guy at heart, but I just like pretty syntax hightlighting. I'm learning emacs (slowly) and can forsee a day where it's all I use.

    2. Re:Versus KDevelop? by burnitall · · Score: 1

      Kdevelop is free, sure but at this stage its support for dynamic languages specifically is very primitive compared to Komodo - i'm thinking specifically of PHP when i say this.

    3. Re:Versus KDevelop? by sien · · Score: 1

      Good IDE's with good integration rock. Variable completion is like crack. When it works it's fantastic.

      Really, Eclipse and Visual Studio .NET with Whole Tomato's Visual Assist are impressive. For many applications they speed things up considerably.

    4. Re:Versus KDevelop? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      beyond it's editor

      "its".

  2. Too sad... by Anm · · Score: 2, Informative

    Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl and XSLT are all available on Mac OS X, but this isn't. Not even as a X11 app (yet they do have Linux and Solaris).

    Anm

    1. Re:Too sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, like the virus du jour. Actually, that's not true. We get the viruses in our mailboxes just like the rest of you, except we're immune to stupidity.

      I've already gotten used to it. Keep your dollar to buy some protection.

    2. Re:Too sad... by burritoKing · · Score: 1

      I looked at Komodo, I even tried it. Didn't like it at all. Although to be fair it was an earlier version, but I found it clumsy and cluttered.

      Another problem I have is I use multiple OS's (Solaris at university) OSX and Linux at home. So I really want an Application that can be used in all of the above. Preferably with the ability to export/import projects.

      Java - Eclipse
      C/C++ - KDevelop*
      PHP - Zend Studio

      I havent found any better than those three IDE's

      *I have KDevelop running under OSX.

      --
      What is CSSRepublic
    3. Re:Too sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But emacs is available on a Mac.
      Was there a question?

    4. Re:Too sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Goody for you, but how does Java or C/C++ related to dynamic languages? That is what makes Komodo unique here.

    5. Re:Too sad... by burritoKing · · Score: 1

      No, what makes Komodo unique here is the fact it doesn't run under OSX. Perhaps you missed the point of this thread!

      Eclipse is fully extendable, for example it's only a matter of time before a python plug-in is released. In fact I know people who are working on one. FWIW Eclipse also has a PHP plug in and an XSLT, oh wait there is also a Tcl option.

      While I use KDevelop for C/C++ it also can be used for Ada, Objective-C (via C support), SQL, Fortran, Haskell, Java, Pascal,Python, Ruby, Bash, XUL

      While Zend Studio only handles PHP it does it well. It's the only IDE (so far) with PHP5 and it's features make it indespensible for PHP developers.

      These products are also cheap (read free) which is important whe you are a student. .

      I used Java C/C++ as examples because thats what I use them for. But these IDE's offer much more.
      To be honest even if Komodo released a OSX version I very much doubt I would use it, I am more than happy with my current choices.

      --
      What is CSSRepublic
  3. Re:Link by logicerror · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nice try. The real link: http://www.activestate.com/Products/Komodo/

  4. Re:Link - Avoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not an official (or working) link.

    Has nothing to do with Komodo

  5. not exactly an IDE but by Da_Slayer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am not sure why most feel the absolute need to have a full IDE. Code highlighting is usually good enough.

    I use Scite which supports syntax highlighting and support for more than a dozen languages, including commong config files like Apache. It does code folding, block comments along with compiler output and most of the normal features of an IDE but it is very light weight.

    Besides I do not want evaluate something and then get the features cut or it stops functioning if I do not buy it.

    --
    Push harder towards Open Media/Content
    1. Re:not exactly an IDE but by talaphid · · Score: 1

      I just want to emphasize parent. I was a 'edlin (and later) edit (and later) notepad or gedit is good enough' person - that is, whatever language, I'd write in a plain, mostly unadorned text editor. I've used many IDEs before, and I'd guess there'a a plurality who, like me, end up going back to the text editor. Load times, nuisances, 'features', crashes, eccetera...

      Anyone who dismissed parent (as I would have at one time) as Yet Another Editor... it's lightweight, it's quick, it's not really much more than notepad, but the productivity gain you will get from syntax highlighting (without every IDE's horrible load time!)... you must experience to believe. No matter how small the task, there's nothing I don't open up SciTE and go to town on ( warning: dangling participle alert!) In fact, this post is the first HTML I've written since 'discovering' SciTE without using SciTE.

    2. Re:not exactly an IDE but by gazbo · · Score: 0

      That's not a dangling participle, what with it not even containing a participle. It's merely a sentence ended on a preposition - the diet coke of grammatical errors.

    3. Re:not exactly an IDE but by Ignominious+Cow+Herd · · Score: 1

      What's the Jolt! Cola of grammatical errors?

      --
      Lump lingered last in line for brains, and the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane.
    4. Re:not exactly an IDE but by gazbo · · Score: 0

      Misplaced apostrophe's maybe lack of punctuation or run-on sentences are all pretty bad they could be Jolt Cola.

    5. Re:not exactly an IDE but by vandan · · Score: 1

      The parts I like about Komodo are the debugger and object explorer.

      You really can't program seriously without a good debugger.

  6. emacs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just use emacs. It will handle all of those languages, is included in OS X, and may even annoy RMS by the fact that you're running one of his programs under an Apple OS (or at least everyone that sends him a fullsize screenshot of it will).

  7. Trademark Infringement! by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wait...Komodo appears to be violating a trademark! Don't all software packages that start with a K(tm) have to be for KDE????

    (Yes, it's a joke, even if it's a bad one...)

    --
    Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
    1. Re:Trademark Infringement! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, here are the rules for KDE apps:

      1) begins with a K and 2) IS NOT a real word

      So Komodo is not a KDE app because Komodo Dragon is a type of lizard

      Now, if it was named Kide or KDevelop or Kkomodo or Enkironment or some Krap like that, it would be perfect KDE

      KDE - "If you don't sound like you're choking, you're not saying it korrectly"(tm)

  8. nitpick by Enrico+Pulatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    it's XSLT. XML Stylesheet Language Transformations.

    I remember it as x-slut. Transforming data into xml used to make me feel like a whore before I started using XSLT.

  9. Emacs? by Feztaa · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How does this compare to emacs? Emacs is an IDE that supports those languages ;)

    I dunno, emacs is great. syntax highlighting, auto-indent, and being able to check my revisions in and out of RCS with two keystrokes is really nice.

    1. Re:Emacs? by Thing+1 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Emacs is an IDE that supports those languages ;)

      Can you debug Perl using Emacs? As in, single-step through your program and watch variables, expand arrays/hashes, and have full control over what happens? If so that's great but I wasn't aware of it (I haven't used Emacs for many years, though...).

      I've been using Komodo since v1.0 and could not imagine developing Perl without it; one of the coolest features is that it runs "perl -c" on your script in the background and gives red squiggly underlines for errors, green for warnings--similar to Word's spelling and grammar highlights.

      That one feature alone has saved me countless hours, since I don't have to continually debug the script; I'll know it "compiles" properly before I even start to run it. Then I just have to fix the logic errors, which are more insidious but we tend to make "less" of them than syntax errors (over the scope of start-to-finish developing, that is). I think this feature is similar to Delphi; although I've never used it, I've heard people talk of "one second compile times" for million-line applications, because it does background compiling. I wonder why no C/C++ IDE does that? (Or do they?)

      Komodo also handles Python and PHP, among other formats (it syntax highlights many more styles than it can debug, for example HTML, XML, even straight text I got an error on yesterday--a line didn't end with CR/LF, just CR, and it pointed it out to me).

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
    2. Re:Emacs? by AnwerB · · Score: 2, Funny

      Best quote I read on emacs:

      "emacs is an increadible operating system! Now if they would just write a good text editor for it..."

      (Not a flame, really!)

    3. Re:Emacs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can use GUD mode to debug perl (and a zillion other languages) in emacs. As with all things emacs, it's probably a thousand times better than Komodo's way of doing things.

    4. Re:Emacs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      emacs is an increadible operating system! Now if they would just write a good text editor for it...

      dude, that joke stopped being funny years before "all your base are belong to us" was even translated.

      i was going to say that it's even older than "in soviet russia", but i guess the inspiration for that joke is quite a bit older.

  10. Other options by cornice · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ever since I switched from Perl and PHP to Python I've been looking for the perfect Python IDE. Kokodo 3.0 looks interesting. I think ActiveState does a nice job and the folks there put together what I think are the best Perl and Python installations for Windows (although I don't normally use Windows). I like the Komodo Tcl based designer for the the cross platform abilities but the resulting apps always look too "old". If Komodo used XUL and Mozilla to create gui apps then I would be really impressed.

    So I have yet to find the perfect Python IDE but here's a start.

    Kdevelop is very robust but is more focussed C++.
    Leo isn't pretty but the outlining features are very cool.
    BoaConstructor hold lots of promise for better cross platform support, zope support, a debugger and form designer but the project seems to have stalled.
    Eric might be my best bet with project mgt, CVS/Subversion and Qt-Designer but I've encountered stability problems.

    Actually I wish I could have something with the feature set of Eric with the stability, speed and maturity of Kdevelop plus Leo's outlining abilities. Oh yea, and I'd really like an form designer that uses XUL and Mozilla for building cross platform GUIs. ;-)

    1. Re:Other options by deicide · · Score: 2, Informative

      pydev and TruStudio give some hope for turning Eclipse into a Python IDE.

    2. Re:Other options by Coventry · · Score: 1

      BoaConstructor isn't stalled, but it does appear that way on the surface. Riaan makes few actual releases on SF, and the latest releases (0.2.8, which kicks 0.2.3's butt) can only be found if you paruse the mailing list archives. Very annoying. He claims that 0.3.0 is ready, and its the last wxPython 2.4 based release, but that CVS is broken and holding him up on releasing it.

      I say 'claims' because right now my confidence in Riaan isn't that high, to be honest - Someone I know has contacted Riaan about donating the time of one of his company's developers towards the project, and/or making direct donations - and Riaan doesn't seem to be responding now that he's found out the offer isn't a Huge Pile Of Cash(TM) , but would instead be small amounts spread over time and a dedicated # of hours of a paid developer a week. Of course, perhaps Riaan is just busy (Thats what my friend making the offer is hoping), but right now I'm nervous...

      Of course, his CVS being messed up is completely understandable - SF has problems these days, and I'm not just talking about longstanding bugs: simple requests for software installs on the webfarm (such as a modern python installation) seem to simply go into lala land and are never responded to. Even a 'No' would be better than no response in months! And thats just one example of the lack of support SF seems to have these days... yes yes, its free, but gee, I remember when it didn't stink, so the current SF is a bother.

      Another Python IDE is Black Adder, by The Kompany, but it costs $$ if you want to do anythign serious, and uses pyQT.

      Speaking of XUL, a magazine I have here goes over XUL and javascript application development using mozilla - its the latest issue of Linux Journel or Linux magazine - the cover story features cross platform development.

      One of the other articles covers python/GTK+ development using Glade and GladeGen - a python utility that takes the XML output from Glade and makes a python module for you with all the stubs you need where you created handlers in Glade. In fact, if the module already exists, it's even smart enough to only insert/change things and not overwrite your code. Its really sweet, and except for the integration, is nearing BoaConstructor butt-kicking status. SciTE + Glade + libglade + Python + GladeGen... yeowch that toolchain sounds deep, but its powerful. Throw things like PDO into the mix and you're good to go.

      ======== This post is not spell checked. It's 1:15am, I'm on darvaset, and I'm tired. deal.

      --
      man is machine
    3. Re:Other options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Emacs is the perfect Python editor. It indents automatically to whatever standard a particular file is using, it tells you what you've closed when you backspace an indent, it highlights syntax, and it integrates well with pychecker. Emacs makes outlining useless because you can jump to any part of the code without taking your hands off the keyboard. Of course it also integrates with whatever build system, source control system, etc. you're using as it has done since before your time.

    4. Re:Other options by EnglishTim · · Score: 1

      But does it have an integrated python debugger?

    5. Re:Other options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it does. You can debug python with GUD mode. What's even greater is that you can debug pretty much any other language you can think of with GUD mode, so by learning how to use it, you can become productive in more languages than one.

    6. Re:Other options by earlgreen · · Score: 1
      Don't forget Wing IDE -- probably the most advanced Python IDE out there. Doesn't have Komodo's level of support for non-Python (it's a Python-specific IDE) but worth a look.

      See also this list of Python IDEs (much more complete).

  11. Exactly my reaction! -- EMACS! by PaulBu · · Score: 1

    ... or, not to start a flamewar, even vim, I bet by now it has special modes for everything under the Sun!

    Paul B.

  12. Tcl, but not Ruby... by tcopeland · · Score: 1

    ...hm. Ah well... guess I'll be sticking with VIM/Ruby.

    --
    The Army reading list
    1. Re:Tcl, but not Ruby... by burnitall · · Score: 1

      the DBGp debugger protocol is open source, as is the php implementation. the idea is to make Komdodo extensible to any language that can implement a DBGp debuggger... including ruby =)

    2. Re:Tcl, but not Ruby... by rffrff · · Score: 1

      well, but activestate owns the ActiveRuby and VisualRuby trademarks, so I think they'll produce ruby goodies sooner or later (hope sooner)

  13. What about Visual Studio .NET? by Zephiris · · Score: 1

    To be fair, Visual Studio .NET (2002 edition and higher) has Perl, Python, and XSLT , and there's also PHP available. I've personally used all of these when on Windows, and the quality is pretty nice. Komodo always seemed to have problems on my 'slow' 600Mhz computer with speed. It'd take far too long to do anything, with a great deal of lag inherent in using the Mozilla codestuff to make such an IDE, though on Linux I almost always use KDevelop or Anjuta, which I believe support several of the mentioned languages.

    --

    "A Goddess rarely smiles for she is forced by others to be an island unto herself." - Zephiris
  14. I stopped using it when it went non-free... by stienman · · Score: 1


    I stopped using it when they stopped updating the free (as in beer) version - which appears to have completely left their website now. It simply wasn't worth the money with so many other free alternatives.

    It's nice to see tools for open source software being updated, but this is almost a commercial - why is a komodo update important enough for a slashdot post when no other commercial IDE gets articles? Is it because it supports Perl, and slashdot code maintainers like it? Recall that it uses the Mozilla engine as its core...

    -Adam

    1. Re:I stopped using it when it went non-free... by burnitall · · Score: 1

      because ActiveState is cooler than u =P

  15. Other options by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd buy Komodo for OSX too, but in the meantime you might like Affrus for Perl or Eclipse for just about everything. You need to get a perl plugin for Eclipse - they were working on a 3.0 version last I looked; you might need Eclipse 2 until that's out.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  16. The only IDE? by abrotman · · Score: 1

    Because nothing else could do this?

    I'm not 100% sure about jedit, but i eclipse does PHP,Python, and perl, and probably the others too. If not, there may be a plugin available soon.

    1. Re:The only IDE? by EnglishTim · · Score: 1

      Does Eclipse have a debugger? jEdit is lovely for editing python, but it doesn't have an integrated debugger.

  17. Current Komodo pricing by jtheory · · Score: 2, Informative

    It was kind of a pain to find out, so I figure I'll share the news... it's not particularly cheap to use ($245 - "Save $50!") unless you're just a student and not doing *any* paid work (then it's $30).

    As professional IDE's can go (I'm thinking of JBuilder and suchlike), this isn't bad, but it does price it out of my range just to help out with the occasional PHP or Perl work I do.

    --
    There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
    1. Re:Current Komodo pricing by EnglishTim · · Score: 1

      It was kind of a pain to find out, so I figure I'll share the news... it's not particularly cheap to use ($245 - "Save $50!") unless you're just a student and not doing *any* paid work (then it's $30)

      Not quite true - you can have the cheaper $30 version as long as you're not using it commercially. For instance, I'm a software developer, but I have Komodo Personal ($30) at home because I don't do any commercial stuff at home. At work I have a copy of Komodo Pro, but more recently I've been using Eric3 instead because I've found Komodo 2.5 to be rather slow on Linux (It seems fine on Windows). I wonder if it's better with Komodo 3?

    2. Re:Current Komodo pricing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can answer that: NO

      It is as slow as the previous version (on a 2000+ Mhz CPU + 512 meg).

  18. Eclipse has got Perl too ... by evolve75 · · Score: 1

    The Epic plugin provides a basic Perl perspective for the Eclipse IDE. Basic syntax-coloring is provided, along with syntax checking, content assist, outline mode and other stuff.

  19. "Great OpenSource News" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great.. komodo commercial bloatware :)
    Don't get me wrong.. I love activestate, but, komodo is slow as hell, and also, the oldest annoying bugs remain there.

    I'll stick with vim, one of the most advanced text editors out there.. "simplicity" pays off. ;)

  20. nitpicking the nitpick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dude, it's Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations

  21. komodo, why pay for free software by Da_Slayer · · Score: 2, Informative
    Komodo has all these super advanced features according to them. Well I find it funny that you could pay for this program or use the same exact source code parsing system for free. If you check the Scintilla website you see that Komodo uses the free open source code editing component.

    I just find it funny that people would buy an IDE based directly off of Open Source instead of just using one of the main scintilla projects which almost all of them are free and custom tailered for multiple languages. SciTE has syntax highlighting and support for the following languages/file formats:
    Ada, Assembler (NASM, MASM), AutoIt, Avenue, Batch files (MS-DOS), Baan, Bash, Bullant, C/C++/C#, CSS, diff files, E-Script, Eiffel, Erlang, Fortran, Forth, HTML (with embedded JavaScript, VBScript, PHP and ASP), IDL - both MSIDL and XPIDL, Java, JavaScript, LISP, LOT, Lout, Lua, Make, Matlab, Metapost, MMIXAL, nnCron, NSIS, Octave, Pascal/Delphi, Perl (most of it except for some ambiguous cases), PostScript, POV-Ray, Python, Ruby, Scheme, scriptol, Specman E, SQL and PLSQL, TeX and LaTeX, Tcl/Tk - using the cpp lexer, VB and VBScript, Verilog, XML, YAML

    Looks like it has a little something for everyone and is free like beer. Just an idea I wished to pass along.
    --
    Push harder towards Open Media/Content