| Re: Mac editors / development environment [message #32277 is a reply to message #32273] |
Mon, 30 September 2002 17:08   |
Kenneth P. Bowman
Messages: 585
Registered: May 2000
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Senior Member |
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In article <20020930181550619-0500@laika.space.umn.edu>,
Doug Rowland <rowland@fields.space.umn.edu> wrote:
> I'm starting a new IDL project on Mac OS X and was wondering if anyone
> can help me with suggestions for a good development environment / editor.
>
> The caveat handed down by my employer:
>
> No "weird"/*NIX software. Make it mainstream. Don't worry about
> spending a little money.
>
> My background is mostly amateur software development, using vi and IDL
> on Solaris.
>
> I have a copy of BBEdit Lite, but haven't found a language module.
>
> Mostly, I want a "mainstream" editor that knows about IDL, at least as
> far as syntax coloring. I am also looking for a "mainstream" version
> control / documentation system. My ideal would be something like
> Project Builder that knows about IDL.
I use the full version of BBEdit, mostly because I like a really good
point-and-click editor. Unfortunately, BBEdit does not know IDL syntax.
I never cared that much for syntax coloring anyway. It's like the
rainbow color table, it emphasizes things that don't really need to be
emphasized. I just make sure that IDL words are uppercase, while
variables are lower case, and I indent and comment carefully.
I have asked Barebones to add an IDL mode, but IDL occupies such a tiny
part of their universe that it is not likely to ever happen. BBEdit is
definitely "weirder" than any Unix-ism like vi or emacs (just because
it's a Mac application). BBEdit does allow you to create file groups
(something like projects). It does not allow you to set breakpoints and
so on like you can in the DE.
You can use the the Unix IDLDE environment, but then you are stuck with
the X Windows DE (yuck).
So, having offended a long list of people (X Windows fans, vi fans,
etc.), maybe I need to go learn emacs. ;-)
If money isn't a problem, get a Cinema display. It will compensate for
a lot of problems with the interface. ;-)
Ken
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