# ED for Windows IDE released with comprehensive Ruby support **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 26, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908 "2007-02-26T21:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nevf)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908/1 "2007-02-26T21:06:36Z")
Folks here on the forum have been very helpful this past month with helping me work through nitty-gritty Ruby issues in relation to syntax highlighting etc. for our ED for Windows IDE. I finally released ED V4.30 last week, which I feel delivers more accurate and comprehensive support for Ruby than other editors, at least those I looked at. You can quickly get a good overview of what ED offers to Ruby developers by reading “Write Ruby code faster with ED for Windows” [http://blog.surfulater.com/2007/02/21/write-ruby-code-faster-with-ed-for-windows/](http://blog.surfulater.com/2007/02/21/write-ruby-code-faster-with-ed-for-windows/) This also includes a short critique on Ruby. ED4W is a full featured Programmer’s Editor/IDE with support for 30+ languages. It includes all of the editing capabilities you would expect plus a built-in Source Database Engine that tracks every class, method, module, struct etc. in real time enabling you to instantly jump to any function etc. and making navigation of large complex code bases much easier. ED4W can be downloaded from: [http://www.getsoft.com/download\_trial\_version.html](http://www.getsoft.com/download_trial_version.html) The ED Web site is at [http://www.getsoft.com](http://www.getsoft.com) I suggest you start with the Blog post though. I’m particularly interested in feedback on the new Ruby capabilities in this release of ED, either on the blog or here. Neville F., author of ED for Windows and Surfulater. ---
**Author:** ![nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nevf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908/2 "2007-02-27T00:25:31Z")
It looks pretty nice, congrats! Now that I work on a Mac, I’m not really in the market anymore, but if I might offer a suggestion? I want an editor with good syntax highlighting, color themes, and snippet support, in that order. I don’t see alternative color themes mentioned anywhere on your website. It’s just anecdotal, but I haven’t seen anyone use textmate with any of the “dark on light” themes, so I’ve always found it puzzling that most Windows editors make you jump through hoops, picking each and every individual color to get a decent “light on dark” environment. There are several editors on Windows that have decent syntax- highlighting, but not a single one (that I found) that makes getting a decent light-on-dark color theme going anywhere near as painless as TextMate. So for me, _that_ was the number 1 selling point. Maybe some people consider that stupid, or just don’t mind configuring the colors individually, but from my perspective it seems a woefully underserviced area in Windows editors, and someone is bound to make a killing in the market _someday_ if they get that right. You just can’t differentiate on technical wins, you have to make the interface something people don’t mind staring at for 8+ hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nevf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908/3 "2007-02-27T00:47:06Z")
Thanks for the reply. ED has user defined color schemes along with a wide range of syntax elements whose colors you can control. It comes with a selection of color schemes and these can be cloned to create your own. Of course it also meets and far exceeds your other requirements. I’ve just put up this screen shot: [http://www.getsoft.com/images/ed\_colorsetup.jpg](http://www.getsoft.com/images/ed_colorsetup.jpg) which shows the “light on dark” color scheme that’s included in the ED install. I completely agree with your comment “you have to make the interface something people don’t mind staring at for 8+ hours a day.” But you also need the functionality to go with it that makes coding quicker and easier. Neville F., [http://www.getsoft.com](http://www.getsoft.com) Sam S. wrote: > It looks pretty nice, congrats! > > Now that I work on a Mac, I’m not really in the market anymore, but if > I might offer a suggestion? > > I want an editor with good syntax highlighting, color themes, and > snippet support, in that order. I don’t see alternative color themes > mentioned anywhere on your website. It’s just anecdotal, but I haven’t > seen anyone use textmate with any of the “dark on light” themes, so > I’ve always found it puzzling that most Windows editors make you jump > through hoops, picking each and every individual color to get a decent > “light on dark” environment. > > There are several editors on Windows that have decent syntax- > highlighting, but not a single one (that I found) that makes getting a > decent light-on-dark color theme going anywhere near as painless as > TextMate. So for me, _that_ was the number 1 selling point. Maybe some > people consider that stupid, or just don’t mind configuring the colors > individually, but from my perspective it seems a woefully > underserviced area in Windows editors, and someone is bound to make a > killing in the market _someday_ if they get that right. You just can’t > differentiate on technical wins, you have to make the interface > something people don’t mind staring at for 8+ hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nevf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 10:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908/4 "2007-02-27T10:41:20Z")
> Yes … and it should be free, 100 percent compatible with Visual Studio > and all the other Microsoft development tools, and not infringe on > anyone’s intellectual property. 🙂 I think you’ve just described… [http://www.sapphiresteel.com/Ruby-In-Steel-PE-free-edition-1](http://www.sapphiresteel.com/Ruby-In-Steel-PE-free-edition-1) 😉 best wishes Huw C. [http://www.sapphiresteel.com](http://www.sapphiresteel.com) Ruby P.ming In Visual Studio 2005 ---
**Author:** ![nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nevf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908/5 "2007-02-27T04:46:52Z")
Neville F. wrote: > something people don’t mind staring at for 8+ hours a day." But you also > > > Now that I work on a Mac, I’m not really in the market anymore, but if > > There are several editors on Windows that have decent syntax- > > highlighting, but not a single one (that I found) that makes getting a > > decent light-on-dark color theme going anywhere near as painless as > > TextMate. So for me, _that_ was the number 1 selling point. Maybe some > > people consider that stupid, or just don’t mind configuring the colors > > individually, but from my perspective it seems a woefully > > underserviced area in Windows editors, and someone is bound to make a > > killing in the market _someday_ if they get that right. You just can’t > > differentiate on technical wins, you have to make the interface > > something people don’t mind staring at for 8+ hours a day. Yes … and it should be free, 100 percent compatible with Visual Studio and all the other Microsoft development tools, and not infringe on anyone’s intellectual property. 🙂 – M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, FBG, AB, PTA, PGS, MS, MNLP, NST, ACMC(P) [http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/](http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/) If God had meant for carrots to be eaten cooked, He would have given rabbits fire. ---
**Author:** ![nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nevf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nevf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ed-for-windows-ide-released-with-comprehensive-ruby-support/86908/6 "2007-02-27T23:16:43Z")
On Feb 26, 5:47 pm, Neville F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > need the functionality to go with it that makes coding quicker and > > > I might offer a suggestion? > > highlighting, but not a single one (that I found) that makes getting a > > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. > > Definitely looks like you’ve done it right! I almost feel bad about > > not using Windows now…almost. 🙂