Moving from aptana to 3rdRail

Rails
21

On 9/24/07, Matthew K. Williams [email protected] wrote:

Things seem to be doing just fine for me → It’s my experience that RAM
is the limiting factor for java apps; give them enough ram and they do
fine.

+1 on the RAM.

I typically run jEdit, NetBeans, and at least one instance of Tomcat,
along with Firefox, Konqueror, Thunderbird, VMWare, and assorted
minor apps simultaneously on a 2GB SuSE system. Oh, and Mongrel
of course :slight_smile:

And I’m definitely finding the new NetBeans great for Rails work…

FWIW,

Hassan S. ------------------------ [email protected]

22

On Mon, 2007-09-24 at 13:13 -0400, Joe C. wrote:

I have to concur with Greg, every java gui I use absolutely crawls if
I have anything but it open. Some apps behave better than others, but
when I see java app running I’m constantly having to shut things down
for it to behave well.

I’ve got the following running right now:
jboss 4.05
netbeans
firefox
evolution
emacs
vlc

Linux hunin 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Fri Aug 31 00:55:27 UTC 2007 i686
GNU/Linux

Dualcore AMD 64 bit processor, 1.6ghz, 2GB ram, 8GB swap (which I’ve not
hit)

Things seem to be doing just fine for me --> It’s my experience that RAM
is the limiting factor for java apps; give them enough ram and they do
fine.

I’ve also run 3rdRails; I’m not sure yet which one I like better.

23

If you’re real interest is resource consumption, you should use VI
instead of a development IDE, IMO. But, if you’re looking around for a
development platform with a rich feature set enhancing productivity,
compromising a little on CPU & memory usage is probably fair.

I don’t use TextMate because it is only available on OSX, but I know a
lot of developers who do use it and they really like it. TextMate looks
like a great lite-weight text editor with some ruby support built into
(syntax high-lighting for instance).

3rdRail is different though. It brings most everything right to your
finger-tips. It specifically targets Ruby & Rails with deep support for
both. It doesn’t just have syntax high-lighting for Ruby code. It has
code completion for practically everything – style sheets, rhtml
templates, ruby code, etc.

Code completion even follows through into the project commander where
you can execute script commands. When you start typing, it pop ups code
completion for the script commands and does it correctly.

Then there are the wizards. There are wizards for SVN, CVS, new projects
(which customize database.yml automatically for you), models,
import/export projects, RJS templates, and servers. You can setup
custom, individual servers for your projects using Mongrel for one,
JRuby for another, and WebBrick for yet another. Then start the server
from within the IDE, open a browser tab (from within the IDE), and start
interacting with the app while debugging it.

There are log watchers, built-in refactoring support, and pop-up help.
When you hover over a method for instance, any available help for that
method is displayed.

Ruby has and always will be a grass-roots effort, but it would be great
if Ruby takes the enterprise by storm right? So when companies such as
CodeGear release a commercial tool for Ruby/Rails, its a signal to take
Ruby (and there by all of us) seriously and moves Ruby toward that goal.
Whether you’re allergic to commercial tools or not, 3rdRail is a good
thing for everyone.

Try to be agnostic. Before you form an opinion, spend some real time
evaluating 3rdRail with other IDEs and see for yourself. Don’t just
read postings and opine about open source religiously. You might give
other developers an unexpected advantage… well, on second thought,
nevermind.

I umm, think you should shell out and pipe your code into a script.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. :slight_smile: <developer.self.returns_to /dev/null/>

24

I don’t know, guys. Since about Java 1.5, I haven’t noticed any major
differences when running Java apps. One possible reason that you
perceive them to be slow (aside from the the fact you are used to a very
light editor like Textmate) may be that they tend to load a lot of
things dynamically. Of course, the same problem occurs if you are
loading a ton of native plugins written in C++. Java just tends to be
very conducive to dynamically loading content at runtime… and Eclipse,
etc., is built around dynamically loading components.

Also, Cody…

Textmate is only available for OSX, but there is a port of it called
e-TextEditor which is actually very nice. It can even use the TextMate
bundles.

25

John L. wrote:

Hmm, I’d never heard of 3rdRail so I just checked it out: it appears to
be a commercial product.

I personally use Aptana and, yes it has its issues but I think it’s
better to support an open source initiative with a donation than walk
off to a close source solution.

However, if 3rdRail is streets ahead of Aptana then it may be worth
paying for. So, what does it give that Aptana doesn’t?

Well, for one - at least for me - 3rdRail works on my Mac Pro where
Aptana doesn’t… :wink:

If you take a few minutes to watch the following screencast you’ll see
some pretty neat features in 3rdRail…

http://dn.codegear.com/article/36985

26

Hello CCH! :slight_smile:

You seem to know a fair amount about Aptana. Maybe we could do a
side-by-side comparison of the two?

It would be great finding some experts to collaborate and objectively
compare IDEs.

  • Netbeans
  • Aptana
  • Ruby in Steel
  • TextMate

What I have in mind is actually comparing features and usability. If an
IDE doesn’t support a feature identify a work-around (plug-in, shelling
out, etc). That seems a like a better approach then a bunch of
developers standing in the school yard, “oh yeah!!?? Well my IDE’s
better than yours! (give atomic wedgie)”. :wink:

It would make for great blogging also.

Cody

27

Dave S. wrote:

Textmate is only available for OSX, but there is a port of it called
e-TextEditor which is actually very nice. It can even use the TextMate
bundles.

http://www.e-texteditor.com/

Yeap. It has a nice screencast and actually uses TextMate macros.

28

Hi Cody

On Sep 25, 9:29 pm, Cody S. [email protected]
wrote:

Hello CCH! :slight_smile:

You seem to know a fair amount about Aptana. Maybe we could do a
side-by-side comparison of the two?

cch: I am game :slight_smile:

IDE doesn’t support a feature identify a work-around (plug-in, shelling
out, etc). That seems a like a better approach then a bunch of
developers standing in the school yard, “oh yeah!!?? Well my IDE’s
better than yours! (give atomic wedgie)”. :wink:

cch: That was what I was trying to tell the 3rdRail team.
Only competition will make a product great !

29

CCH, email me at cody at skidmore dot us. We’ll put our heads together
and see what kind of a shootout can be arranged. It would be great if
others step forward to represent the rest of the IDEs.

Cody

30

Hi Cody

Nice to see you in this forum :slight_smile:

3rdRail is different though. It brings most everything right to your
finger-tips. It specifically targets Ruby & Rails with deep support for
both. It doesn’t just have syntax high-lighting for Ruby code. It has
code completion for practically everything – style sheets, rhtml
templates, ruby code, etc.

cch: try ctrl+space in Aptana

Code completion even follows through into the project commander where
you can execute script commands.

cch: I like 3rdRail Project Commander (to me something to shout about
by Codegear ) but I have just discovered that one can customise the
external tools to automate tasks. See my other post in this forum.

Then there are the wizards. There are wizards for SVN, CVS, new projects
(which customize database.yml automatically for you), models,

cch: I like the Model wizard and like I have said before newbies would
love it.
But once you use active scaffold, you’ll probably would not use this
feature.

import/export projects

cch: already a feature of Radrails or Eclipse ?

, RJS templates, and servers. You can setup
custom, individual servers for your projects using Mongrel for one,
JRuby for another, and WebBrick for yet another. Then start the server
from within the IDE, open a browser tab (from within the IDE), and start
interacting with the app while debugging it.

cch: It is trivial in Aptana Radrails to create numerous servers
(development, production etc) for a given project.
Once created, just clicking the start icon automatically launches your
apps.
Have suggested to the 3rdRail developers but has met with no
response :slight_smile:

31

3rdRails is a copy of Aptana RadRails [1] but with a great
difference RadRails is free and open source.

[1] http://www.radrails.org/download_rails_rdt.php

32

here is a show down already done

but there is a great review of netbeans + ruby at

http://lifeonrails.org/2007/8/30/netbeans-the-best-ruby-on-rails-ide

and a good screencast here
http://www.netbeans.org/download/flash/jruby_on_rails/jruby_on_rails.html

does no one use notepad anymore?

  • it has 3,112k memory footprint
  • find AND replace (Ctrl+H)
  • Word Wrap
  • comprehensive help
  • and an about
33

Jon,

You certainly seem impassioned about something. Do you feel strongly
enough about your opinion to join CCH & me and do a side by side
comparison?

I’m a lot more interested in facts than FUD personally.

Cody

34

The lifeonrails.org posting was very recent (30 Aug 07), but the other
one (tnlessone) was from back in February. I doubt RadRails (Aptana?),
IDEA, and Netbeans sat still since then.

Cody

35

Posted by Dion H. (Guest) wrote:

here is a show down already done

Nice! Lots of details. It doesn’t cover all the IDEs but no fault of
the authors.

This one:

conveyed information the fastest IMO. It used color and grid layout
affectively.

Thanks for pointing it out Dion.

36

Me too, after reading Lifeonrails I will most definately be trying out
netbeans.

One question, does the syntax highlighting work with extensions like
Markaby?

37

Check this for highlighting

http://www.netbeans.org/download/flash/jruby_on_rails/jruby_on_rails.html

/Frank Vilhelmsen

2007/9/26, John L. [email protected]:

38

It would be great finding some experts to collaborate and objectively
compare IDEs.

  • Netbeans
  • Aptana
  • Ruby in Steel
  • TextMate

Hi Cody,

If you want to know what Ruby In Steel can do, just ask and I’ll give
you all the info you need. I am pretty confident that, with the release
of 1.1.5 we have the best (fastest and most accurate) IntelliSense/code
completion and the fastest debugger. If there are any other things you
want to check, I’ll be happy to let you know.

best wishes
Huw
SapphireSteel Software
Ruby and Rails In Visual Studio
http://www.sapphiresteel.com

39

Hi Cody

Just read the lifeonrails.org article and was very impressed.I must
really take a secondlook at netbeans rubyide.

BTW, as a 3rdRail expert user, can 3rdRail do what netbeans rubyide
can do ?

On Sep 26, 9:43 am, Cody S. [email protected]

40

Unfortunately, Microsoft Express doesn’t support 3rd party packages. I
should clarify that Ruby In Steel is not a plugin but a full ‘package’ -
that is, it has the deepest integration possible in Visual Studio (in VS
terms, plugins and packages are very different things), so it can access
the full features of VS in a similar manner to C# or VB .NET.

The advent next years of the Visual Studio Shell (a free ‘empty’ version
of Visual Studio into which 3rd party developers can integrate their own
packages) may change this situation. We’ll give more information on our
strategy re the VS Shell closer to its release date.

best wishes
Huw
SapphireSteel Software
Ruby and Rails In Visual Studio
http://www.sapphiresteel.com