From: "Richard J. Barbalace" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:31:55 -0400
Perhaps the real problem here is that there are too many "old farts" who have
not experienced a modern IDE and what it can offer. In addition to easy
debugging, just a few of the useful features to expect are:
1) highlighting of code, comments, TODOs, errors, etc.
2) rollover documentation (displaying the docs for a function just by rolling
the mouse over its name anywhere in the code)
3) highlighting of references (highlighting, say, a selected variable name
everywhere in the code)
4) refactoring across files and projects (so if you change the name of a
function or variable, replacement everywhere happens automatically)
5) links within source code (clicking through the name of a function
automatically opens its file and jumps you to its definition)
6) outlining of files (including moving whole blocks of code w/drag-and-drop)
7) file management, including automatic refactoring when moving files
8) seamless integration with version control
9) spell-checking and warnings of many types
10) searching of code across projects, documentation, and the web for
anything
None of these should require any setup or effort.
I agree these are all nice features, but I've been able to do most of
them in Emacs for years (decades for some of it, though not with Perl).
I further agree that some bits of Emacs' Perl support could be better,
but the chief difference seems to be that an IDE gives you a heavily
mouse-oriented interface. This is usually much more impressive
visually, and is easier for occasional users, but I have little doubt
that, with practice, touch-typing Emacs is faster.
It is true that I haven't "experienced" a modern IDE, but as you can
see, I have close to zero motivation to do so. Like most GUIs, it might
make some things easier, but it would probably slow me down for most
things, and would in any case require a radical change in style.
Sure, you can write fine code with just a text editor, but it might
not be as easy, fast, or efficient as with an IDE. It would be nice
if there were a good one for Perl....
+ Richard
Have *you* tried Emacs?
What would *really* be interesting, though, is a head-to-head test of
IDE and non-IDE development tools for Perl. I know where I'd put my
money. ;-}
-- Bob Rogers, C.O.F.
(Certified Old Fart)
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