# Using netbeans as a Ruby IDE

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-netbeans-as-a-ruby-ide/88765>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 14, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-netbeans-as-a-ruby-ide/88765 "2007-03-14T05:26:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sharon\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Sharon\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sharon_P)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-netbeans-as-a-ruby-ide/88765/1 "2007-03-14T05:26:33Z")

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Up till now I’ve been using Scite on Windows and Smultron on OS X for  
Ruby development. I’ve also been using Netbeans for about 12 months  
for Java, but it looks like it may be time for a change as Netbeans  
is now adding some pretty decent Ruby support.

Here’s a short video showing some of the things that got me interested:  
[http://www.netbeans.org/download/flash/jruby\_editing/jruby\_editing.html](http://www.netbeans.org/download/flash/jruby_editing/jruby_editing.html)

Only downside so far is that Netbeans is no lightweight. Scite,  
though lacking a few things, has a brilliant startup time and as such  
is very practical for quick scripts etc. Netbeans takes nearly a  
minute to load on my work machine (old and under-specced) which is  
fine for a project I’ll spend the next few hours on, but not much fun  
for a quick job.

How are other people finding Netbeans as a Ruby IDE?

Cheers,  
Dave

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**Author:** ![Sharon\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Sharon\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sharon_P)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-netbeans-as-a-ruby-ide/88765/2 "2007-03-14T05:43:34Z")

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Spring for TextMate, it’s not free but it really is worth it.  
Starts fast as can be.

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**Author:** ![Sharon\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Sharon\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sharon_P)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-netbeans-as-a-ruby-ide/88765/3 "2007-03-14T16:36:15Z")

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On Mar 13, 9:42 pm, John J. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> > Here’s a short video showing some of the things that got me
> 
> > How are other people finding Netbeans as a Ruby IDE?
> 
> > Cheers,  
> > Dave

I agree, TextMate is worth the money. I am also finding the Ruby and  
Rails support in IntelliJ to be very useful. I tend to use TextMate  
for small Ruby projects and for a “background code browser” when  
working with Common Lisp+Emacs on large systems. I like IntelliJ  
better for Rails work.

I tried NetBeans+Ruby and it was not the joyful experience that  
TextMate or IntelliJ provided, but I expect NetBean’s Ruby support to  
get better fast.

-Mark W., author and consultant  
-www.markwatson.com for free web books