Light Table IDE Finds Funding Success
omar.sahal writes "Chris Granger's Light Table IDE, covered here previously on Slashdot, has been successfully funded by a Kickstarter campaign. 7,317 backers brought in $316,720, obliging Chris to support the Python Programming language with his first release. Chris and his team have also been successful in being funded by Y Combinator. Here's some more background (video) on the concepts developed by Bret Victor found in Light Table.
Links to Kickstarter projects are much more interesting BEFORE the the funding round ends. It's too late for anyone to participate.
By the way, why can't I fund a closed (but funded) Kickstarter project past the deadline?
Did you even see their ideas? It's only similar to VI/emacs in that it's gonna have black background.
You obviously didn't see the presentation that Bret Victor guy churned out, I can spoil it by saying it was pretty damn awsome.
It's about fucking time that programming leaves the notepad + compiler stage.
VI and emacs are free.
No, they're not free. There is a cost associated with them - the time to learn the commands.
Do you think VI or Emacs is more expensive than Visual Studio?
Uh, huh. And this in this IDE you will be able to code fluently from second 0?
True, but all of those were developed for static languages in mind. Using them for dynamic languages is uncomfortable. This project might become for Python and Lisp what those environments are for C and Java.
Are we on Slashdot? Let's see...
Old as fuck Pedantic argument that applies generally to everything under the sun yet applied specifically towards an open source application to disparage it? Check.
Yep, we're definitely on Slashdot. DIAF
Uh, huh. And this in this IDE you will be able to code fluently from second 0?
Why do you think people will be able to code fluently from second 0 in this IDE?
Maybe if you've been coding using nothing but GCC and Vi this looks awesome but anybody who's been using Xcode or VS isn't going to be too impressed.
So are you saying that with light table you don't have to type code into an editor or compile the code? Great, we can hire programmers from the same demographic that McDonalds cooks come from now. Oh wait, you're saying we'll still have to write code? But not in an editor? Oh, we'll still have to use an editor? OK. But we won't need to compile the code? Oh, we'll still have to compile the code too. So what the fuck are you on about then?
This looks interesting, and it will be even more interesting to see how it might be applied to say enterprise java apps (or any enterprise scale application whether in C, Java, whatever) as opposed to web based scripting languages. I'm all for something that provides more real estate for working with code etc. but it still boils down to an editor and a compiler (unless you are using only scripting languages). I'm in the wait and see mode on this one.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Ummm... vi is the greatest editor ever created. That's what's with us "old guys". BTW, I'm not old
The guy was a VS Project Manager at MS. It's in his bio...
WIll I have to press 5 cryptic keys just to save and close my file with this one? :)
vi makes me press [esc]:wq (2 keys for
Word OTOH lets me press + then enter, so 3 keys
It took me a long time to figure out what is interesting about Light Table. If you've seen Eclipse or Visual Studio, you might think that it's really boring, because both of those can do all that and more.
What's cool about it is this works in Python, which is a late-bound language. So far, no IDE will give you thinks like autocomplete for a language like Python or Ruby. This isn't a huge problem, but it's nice to have.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Sounds like you also have problems with the English language. How can you possibly be competent in machine languages?
I've never had any use for IDEs, but Light Table looks nice. Very easy access to documentation would be a massive help with just about everything.
I'm playing with ruby on rails right now. Can anyone recommend a IDE that's actually better than using vi?
Maybe that is because some people don't want to waste time with these buggy, bloated and slow monsters you probably prefer. vi simply works and doesn't randomly crash every couple of hours like VS.
vi makes me press [esc]:wq (2 keys for :)
[esc]:x :wq was obsoleted in 1978, the only time to use it is when you have not changed a file but want to save it anyway to update the time stamp. It's nuts that most vi howtos still teach people to use :wq.
or
[esc]ZZ
Wow. Slashdot mashed up the spacing on that comment.
The commands are:
[esc]:x
or
[esc]ZZ
It's not about looking pretty, it's about being a effective coding tool.
uaaaa.. a random guy in the internets just told me my english sucks, I think I'm going to cry!
I speak e escrevo plus de langues que la plupart des mecs incluyendo lenguaje de máquina, portanto STFU e vai-te foder.
Emacs and VI are good editors, and are great tools for working on a codebase and project that you are intimately familiar with.
Eclipse and especailly VS are fantastic IDEs, but AFAIK they kind of suck on dynamic languages, because (1) they don't use any of the great opportunities for supporting a programmer using dynamic executing, inspection etc, and esp (2) because all the features that make most IDEs great (links to documentation, click-through to implementation, autocomplete) are done using static code inspection, which sucks with a dynamic language because you have no clue what type an object is or could be.
If this can bring the power of a modern IDE to dynamic languages and actually uses the dynamic element of it do enhance coding, it will be a great new tool in the box.
Vi is hard to learn and ugly but it's a really good editor. Ever wanted to change a few thousand lines in some complex way that find & replace just can't handle? It's the work of seconds. Vi is low bandwidth so can change those few thousand lines over a 300 baud link or a mobile data connection from some other country where graphical tools would kill you on data charges. Vi is also available on all UNIX systems.
I want to see you run VS over SSH on your mobile phone and manage to do anything productive with it.
I've no idea what emacs has going for it, I have never used it. Some people seem to love it.
Easy, formal languages are far simpler than natural languages.
stupid bitch lol
Emacs is a pretty cool project, and preferred mostly by coders, in my experience. Vi, on the other hand, is the only full screen text editor that is almost guaranteed to be in a default UNIX-type install, and if you work on many machines in a standardized production environment, you'd better at least learn the basics. I may not always use it at home but it has been the standard in almost every non-windows environment I have ever spent time on.
The beautiful thing with vi and emacs is syntax highlighting imho. Often I get examples of langauges that I don't actually use myself (but were part of a project I downloaded or whatever). The great thing with Vim and emacs is they usually will highlight things well for you helping you visually figure out some of the syntax to get a quick idea of what is going on in the code. Want to open a Matlab file and just see what it contains not wait 20 sec for matlab to open or settle for ugly text editor monochrome font? Vi is the way to go.
Anyways a lot of the time I find myself looking at code files without the need to edit them so I don't have the need for easy to use editing features I just want it to open quick with highlighting so if it is something like lisp (which I don't know) I can at least get a bit of training wheels to guide me around the code.
So on top of being cryptic, shortcuts get obsoleted?
And on top of being cryptic and getting obsoleted, the replacements are equally cryptic?
OK, got it.
Call me back when you've got Crl+S/Ctrl+Q or something saner like that.
VS and XCode support statically typed languages. How to provide anything like those services to dynamically typed languages has been complex. There are some IDEs out there for dynamic but the development is definitely much stronger on the static side.
From a quick glance at the sparse web page, it seems rather basic and nothing to get excited about..
So why should i care about this? ( no, not trolling, seriously. why should i want to jump ship from something like Eric or pyscripter? )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
He writes a decent amount of popular code if you check his GitHub profile.
Uh, huh. And this in this IDE you will be able to code fluently from second 0?
Why do you think people will be able to code fluently from second 0 in this IDE?
ELIZA program detected!
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
there is no such thing as a non-cryptic keyboard command. There is such thing as a useful keyboard command.
It would make sense for a funding system to have a limit, since there is only so much you're willing to give to investors.
But Kickstarter is not a funding system, it's a donation system. The fact that it tries to look like funding is probably to lure the common people into giving their money away without any returns, exploiting the fact people would quite like to play at investing. It is arguably a scam.
and bash.
all you haters suck my balls.
ctrl + o + enter
the vi people need to learn arithmetic.
Escape + shift + ; + x is not 'three keys', its 'four keys'.
Did you watch the videos? Some of the ideas presented seem genuinely innovative - like the ability to move blocks of code from within a single file to different portions of the screen. That's flexibility related to what code you have on screen that's a few steps past multiple tabs, split screens, and folding editors.
And Light Table will be open source, though I think the creator is considering the creation of some proprietary add-ons.
Is Light Table going to be an open source project or a close source project?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I use VS pretty heavily, and have never had it crash. I've had the project I was working on take down the operating system a few times, but I'm pretty sure that's independent of the IDE you choose.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
So what you're saying is that over the course of 30 years, they've managed to get the key count down 20%.
And wq was current on the version of vi I was using in 93. So apparently that change took a LOOOONG time to propogate.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
How about Geany, then? Lightweight, with syntax highlighting, and a decent GUI.
To be fair, I use VIM as well, but for most things, a GUI is quicker.
I never use the syntax highlighting in vim. I find it very ugly and prone to using unreadable color combinations like dark blue on black.
Maybe I'm using it wrong.
Geany is my favourite editor, though whether locally or remotely I often use vim anyway. It's so easy to type vi my, s/x/y/, :x. For quick changes, especially a config file, the command line and vim is so much quicker. For writing code Geany is nicer. One thing where vim rules is that it's impossible to lose data. If the computer dies then next time you run vim it automatically recovers the data. I wish Geany would do this.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
It looks like the alternative to IDEs written by a hipster who thinks notepad++ is an ide. No matter how much he hates it code is written in files and no matter how much he tries to pretend they're not, it's not going to change.
[Ctrl]+s
Save
[Ctrl]+n
New
[Ctrl]+o
open
b for bold, i for italic, u for underline
Much less cryptic than vi stuff
So you've clearly never used code written on, say, an Apple Newton or an iPad, or possibly even a PalmOS machine - all systems where the user (for which, read "programmer") has no access to the filesystem or there IS no filesystem.
You need to get out more. Learn about how much you don't know before you start confidently making statements about the world.
Liam P. ~ "Intelligence is a lethal mutation." (me)
Are you Tommy Wiseau?
perhaps you should code in oneNote - in doesn't require you to do anything to save a file.
Somebody who isn't familiar with keyboard commands and gets confronted with a UI that depends on stuff like Ctl-S to save is going to find it cryptic. What you wrote are simple mnemonics that also apply to VI: w = write, q = quit, x = eXit, d = delete, etc.
If you want really cryptic commands, try learning the Emacs equivalents (and I say this as someone who prefer Emacs over vi).
"there IS no filesystem"
You need to get out more. Learn about how much you don't know before you make stupid statements like that.
How many keys will I have to press to mark a position that I can recall or insert into a macro outside of Emacs? Or if that's too much, can I get something with a decent keyboard selection mechanism?
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
So which of those systems does no have a file system at all?
Just because a system doesn't give you full access to the file system doesn't mean things aren't represent their file structure.
The Newton.
Also note that iPad games written entirely on the iPad are being published now, e.g. CargoBot.
http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/
But the problem is that while showing some basic examples of "new" concepts, extending this into a fully functional IDE for "any" language and platform is going to take far more time and money to develop then what the Kickstarter project is going to provide. When was the last time you wrote code like 3 + 4 = that could provide immediate evaluation.
That shouldn't discourage the developer from proceeding, but I think his only goal would be to be bought up by Microsoft, Apple, Google, or some other prevalent software company with their own IDE to integrate those ideas rather the going it alone. I don't imagine Light Table ever competing with VS, X-Code or Eclipse, but any of those IDE's would certainly benefit from these concepts.
Bottom line is, this guy has provided a great resume in which any of those companies should consider for hire to work on their dev platforms. The future of mobile apps screams for easier and more rapid development.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.