# IDE vs. editor

**URL:** <https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255>\
**Category:** ruby-talk\
**Created:** [16 August 2002 23:49 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255 "2002-08-16T23:49:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Holden\_Glova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/57b2e6/32.png) [@Holden\_Glova](https://rubytalk.org/u/Holden_Glova)\
**Post date:** [16 August 2002 23:49 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/1 "2002-08-16T23:49:47Z")

</div>

Hello all,

I have always watched people comare using IDE’s over straight text editing and  
they end up only ever comparing the editing ability of IDEs. I guess that is  
because that is about as much as the two have in common. What I think people  
avoid discussing is how much benefit a decent IDE can provide. I’m talking  
about things like:

- 
  - built in debugger

- 
  - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test  
fails

- 
  - built in source control

- 
  - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having  
that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.

I find through using some sort of class browser it also helps me keep a better  
view of the overall object model because navigating within hierarchies is  
just easier (assuming you do one class per file).

Sure I love the editing power of ViM, but I find that the productivity I can  
get out of using a decent IDE like eclipse or IDEA outweighs the power of the  
editor. Now if someone could just write ViM bindings for eclipse I’d be  
pretty happy 🙂

What do you guys think? I don’t want this to be an editors suck, or IDEs suck  
debate - rather, I’m curious how people that have used both IDEs and straight  
text editors decided on one or the other. What where the show stoppers?

I’ve listed what I think the showstoppers are for me above. I like it all in  
one tool so I can spend more time solving the problem and keeping my flow  
well ummm…flowing 🙂

* * *

Signed,  
Holden Glova

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikkelFJ1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MikkelFJ1](https://rubytalk.org/u/MikkelFJ1)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 01:37 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/2 "2002-08-17T01:37:52Z")

</div>

> What I think people  
> avoid discussing is how much benefit a decent IDE can provide. I’m talking  
> about things like:
> 
> - 
> - built in debugger

Most of the features are either have or have not. Nothing much to dicuss. I  
you don’t have it there is no argument, if you do have it you won’t give it  
up. It’s not like you are spoiled for choice when it comes down to IDE’s  
that sports the features you mention.

Integrated debugger, source control and automated makefile management (where  
applicable) is great. Yet I sometimes simply sit with multiple instances of  
the Scite editor because it is superleightweight, it can execute makefiles  
and does jump to the line of error. When the IDE is with you it is great,  
but sometimes it is not - especially when working with multiple programming  
language makefiles and unit testing that is not supported by the IDE. Also  
the IDE eats memory, mismanages screen real-estate and makes it difficult to  
do simple things such as creating a new file (3 layers of wizard: do you  
want a HTML file yes / no? no. Do you want a C++ file yes / no…).

I really appreciate IDE’s they have just grown so much and simpler  
alternatives have gotten the most frequently used features.

So there is a time and a place for everything.

> What do you guys think? I don’t want this to be an editors suck, or IDEs  
> suck  
> debate - rather, I’m curious how people that have used both IDEs and  
> straight  
> text editors decided on one or the other. What where the show stoppers?

If it wasn’t for Scite, you’d not finding me hacking around in some complex  
editor where I would have to remember a lot of codes. Vim is not too bad.  
Although I do not do much Linux currently I find it important that the  
editor I do use supports both platforms, otherwise you are completely  
handicapped when you occasionally uses the other platform.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jim\_Weirich2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@Jim\_Weirich2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Jim_Weirich2)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 01:49 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/3 "2002-08-17T01:49:20Z")

</div>

> I have always watched people comare using IDE’s over  
> straight text editing and they end up only ever comparing  
> the editing ability of IDEs. I guess that is because that  
> is about as much as the two have in common. What I think  
> people avoid discussing is how much benefit a decent IDE  
> can provide.

Wow … you are entering territory where angels fear to tread …

But I’ll jump right in 🙂 For background … I am a “give me Emacs or  
give me death” type of developer, who despite all expectations,  
started using Eclipse recently (for Java code). So perhaps I have  
some perspective (more likely I just have a warped viewpoint).

```
> I'm talking about things like:

> built in debugger
> built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test 
> fails
> built in source control
> built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having 
> that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.

```

Ummmm … Emacs can do all of those things (except refactoring, and  
few IDEs are doing refactorings yet … I expect that will change in  
the future).

```
> I find through using some sort of class browser it also
> helps me keep a better view of the overall object model
> because navigating within hierarchies is just easier
> (assuming you do one class per file).

```

Agreed. Emacs does have a class browser (OOBrowser), but I have never  
found it to be that useful. On the other hand, I love the JavaBrowse  
view in Eclipse.

```
> Sure I love the editing power of ViM, but I find that the
> productivity I can get out of using a decent IDE like
> eclipse or IDEA outweighs the power of the editor. Now if
> someone could just write ViM bindings for eclipse I'd be
> pretty happy :)

```

Even with Eclipse, there are times when I need the power of the  
command line. For many things, it is still faster than the IDE  
version.

But there are things I would rather do in the IDE. Renaming classes,  
or even moving classes from one package to another is a breeze in  
Eclipse. The “organize imports” feature is slightly better than what  
I use in Emacs.

```
> [...] I'm curious how people that have used both IDEs and
> straight text editors decided on one or the other. What
> where the show stoppers?

```

Currently I’m living in both worlds and feel little need to switch.  
For straight code writing, emacs (for me) provides a smooth platform  
writing code with little that gets in the way. Eclipse is great for  
Java-specific power edits and refactoring. Currently my source code  
lives on the Unix development box at work and I run emacs on the unix  
box. I also keep Eclipse open on my PC and can jump between the two  
environments with a keystroke.

I’ve rambled on enough about Java specific things. On to Ruby topics  
…

Currently the Ruby plug-in for eclipse provides the bare minimum  
editing functionality. I haven’t explored it fully, but it is not up  
to speed with the Java offering. To make Ruby development in eclipse  
more attractive, I believe you need (in rough order of priority) …

o Class Browser  
o Code formatter/indenter  
o Refactorings

I haven’t tried any of the pure Ruby IDEs yet. I’ve only used Eclipse  
because of the Java support. I would really like to see a pure Ruby  
IDE really take off, but in addition, good support for Ruby in Eclipse  
will help penetrate the Java-shops where Eclipse is already in use.

Just my few cents with a lot of ramblings.

> **···**
>
> ## – – Jim Weirich [jweirich@one.net](mailto:jweirich@one.net)[http://w3.one.net/~jweirich](http://w3.one.net/~jweirich)
> 
> “Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct,  
> not tried it.” – Donald Knuth (in a memo to Peter van Emde Boas)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gavin\_Sinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gavin\_Sinclair](https://rubytalk.org/u/Gavin_Sinclair)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 03:10 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/4 "2002-08-17T03:10:12Z")

</div>

> Hello all,
> 
> I have always watched people comare using IDE’s over straight text editing  
> and  
> they end up only ever comparing the editing ability of IDEs. I guess that is  
> because that is about as much as the two have in common. What I think people  
> avoid discussing is how much benefit a decent IDE can provide. I’m talking  
> about things like:
> 
> - 
> - built in debugger
> 
> - 
> - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test  
> fails
> 
> - 
> - built in source control
> 
> - 
> - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having  
> that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.

Similar to Jim, I was a Vim freak who streamlined the editor to do heaps of  
stuff to help me with Java coding. Someone put IDEA under my nose and I hardly  
looked back. Refactorings, CVS & Ant \* JUnit integration, _super_ intelligent  
coding support, instant context-sensitive JavaDoc, code reformatting etc. were  
all just too good to be true. And when I needed raw coding power, opens  
Vim at the current line in the current file. But due to the super-power of  
IDEA, I rarely needed that.

Now, with Ruby, Vim is all I need. This is largely due to the design of the  
language. Java is so obtuse and verbose that IDEA is a necessary crutch. Ruby  
is so terse and well-designed that such a level of support is unnecessary. I’d  
like a class browser, but wouldn’t mind running that separately. Vim handles  
errors and all that well.

My needs may change, however. At the moment I am not engaged in any Ruby  
projects of significant size, so most of the necessary information fits in my  
head. An IDE for Ruby that I would _love_ to see would actually be a Ruby  
program running in Vim. This was you don’t need to implement an editor. If  
the ruby interpreter can expose a low-level parse of the program, surely some  
intelligent IDE help can be provided.

> I find through using some sort of class browser it also helps me keep a  
> better  
> view of the overall object model because navigating within hierarchies is  
> just easier (assuming you do one class per file).
> 
> Sure I love the editing power of ViM, but I find that the productivity I can  
> get out of using a decent IDE like eclipse or IDEA outweighs the power of the  
> editor. Now if someone could just write ViM bindings for eclipse I’d be  
> pretty happy 🙂
> 
> What do you guys think? I don’t want this to be an editors suck, or IDEs suck  
> debate - rather, I’m curious how people that have used both IDEs and straight  
> text editors decided on one or the other. What where the show stoppers?
> 
> I’ve listed what I think the showstoppers are for me above. I like it all in  
> one tool so I can spend more time solving the problem and keeping my flow  
> well ummm…flowing 🙂
> 
> Holden Glova

Gavin

> **···**
>
> ----- Original Message -----  
> From: “Holden Glova” [dsafari@paradise.net.nz](mailto:dsafari@paradise.net.nz)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tom\_Sawyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Tom\_Sawyer](https://rubytalk.org/u/Tom_Sawyer)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 08:55 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/5 "2002-08-17T08:55:14Z")

</div>

well, i’ve done a some VB work in the past and so truly appretiate a  
good IDE, not to mention RAD. but thank god those days are over! VB? no  
thanks! but for my ruby work, running on linux, i don’t know of any good  
options. are there? currently i use scite, though sometimes i use vim.  
i’m not to big on vim’s modes, and having come from the dos/windows  
world (after amiga passed away), i have really come to like ctrl-z thru  
ctrl-v, and a few other, shortcuts. but if vim were to become a corner  
stone of a good ruby ide, i’d make the full switch.

freeride is a ruby ide i’m keeping my eye on and i beleive the intention  
there is to use scite.

also i wonder if anyone is interested in making a wrapper for ddd. i  
just discovered ddd recently and it looks to be a very cool debugger.

> **···**
>
> On Fri, 2002-08-16 at 17:49, Holden Glova wrote:
> 
> > What do you guys think? I don’t want this to be an editors suck, or IDEs suck  
> > debate - rather, I’m curious how people that have used both IDEs and straight  
> > text editors decided on one or the other. What where the show stoppers?
> > 
> > I’ve listed what I think the showstoppers are for me above. I like it all in  
> > one tool so I can spend more time solving the problem and keeping my flow  
> > well ummm…flowing 🙂
> 
> –  
> ~transami

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bbense\_Comp\_Lang\_R10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Bbense\_Comp\_Lang\_R10](https://rubytalk.org/u/Bbense_Comp_Lang_R10)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 14:58 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/6 "2002-08-17T14:58:36Z")

</div>

In article [200208171145.23023.dsafari@paradise.net.nz](mailto:200208171145.23023.dsafari@paradise.net.nz),

> Hello all,
> 
> I have always watched people comare using IDE’s over straight text editing and  
> they end up only ever comparing the editing ability of IDEs. I guess that is  
> because that is about as much as the two have in common. What I think people  
> avoid discussing is how much benefit a decent IDE can provide. I’m talking  
> about things like:
> 
> - 
> - built in debugger
> 
> - 
> - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test  
> fails
> 
> - 
> - built in source control
> 
> - 
> - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having  
> that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.
> 
> I find through using some sort of class browser it also helps me keep a better  
> view of the overall object model because navigating within hierarchies is  
> just easier (assuming you do one class per file).
> 
> Sure I love the editing power of ViM, but I find that the productivity I can  
> get out of using a decent IDE like eclipse or IDEA outweighs the power of the  
> editor. Now if someone could just write ViM bindings for eclipse I’d be  
> pretty happy 🙂

- 
  - I can do all this in Emacs and have a powerful editor. Is it  
easy and simple and out of the box? Well, for C lang  
programming it pretty much is. It’s a bit harder for Ruby,  
but it’s all possible.

- 
  - I suspect you can do the same with a sufficently powerful  
version of VIM. I think the key thing for me is that the  
tool has to be scriptable. Ultimately you will run into  
a place where the IDE or editor just doesn’t do the  
“right” thing. With most IDE’s you’re stuck then, you’re  
stuck then with a lot of editors. IMHO, there’s something  
wrong when a programmer is using a tool that isn’t  
programable.

- 
  - I think the big problem with most IDE’s is that the designers  
get confused and actually just build a specialized editor.  
Any IDE worth the name should allow the editor to be a  
pluggable tool. The fact that you are asking this question  
implies to me that the tool you’re using is broken. It  
shouldn’t be an either/or choice, environments with both  
have been around for twenty years.

- 
  - Booker C. Bense

> **···**
>
> Holden Glova [dsafari@paradise.net.nz](mailto:dsafari@paradise.net.nz) wrote:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Massimiliano_Mirra4)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 18:44 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/7 "2002-08-17T18:44:58Z")

</div>

Does anybody know modes that bring these two in Emacs?

Massimiliano

> **···**
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 08:49:47AM +0900, Holden Glova wrote:
> 
> > - 
> > - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test  
> > fails
> > 
> > - 
> > - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having  
> > that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Holden\_Glova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/57b2e6/32.png) [@Holden\_Glova](https://rubytalk.org/u/Holden_Glova)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 10:48 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/8 "2002-08-17T10:48:42Z")

</div>

I too have been following FreeRIDE - this week I stumbled upon some  
screenshots. One of them shows the beginnings of the debugger in action -  
looks nice. Great work FreeRIDE team!

[http://www.moldus.org/~laurent/FreeRIDE/screenshots/](http://www.moldus.org/~laurent/FreeRIDE/screenshots/)

* * *

Signed,  
Holden Glova

> **···**
>
> On Sat, 17 Aug 2002 20:55, Tom Sawyer wrote:
> 
> > freeride is a ruby ide i’m keeping my eye on and i beleive the intention  
> > there is to use scite.
> > 
> > also i wonder if anyone is interested in making a wrapper for ddd. i  
> > just discovered ddd recently and it looks to be a very cool debugger.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alan\_Chen2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Alan\_Chen2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Alan_Chen2)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 16:06 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/9 "2002-08-17T16:06:39Z")

</div>

> - 
> - I can do all this in Emacs and have a powerful editor. Is it  
> easy and simple and out of the box? Well, for C lang  
> programming it pretty much is. It’s a bit harder for Ruby,  
> but it’s all possible.
> 
> - 
> - I suspect you can do the same with a sufficently powerful  
> version of VIM. I think the key thing for me is that the  
> tool has to be scriptable. Ultimately you will run into  
> a place where the IDE or editor just doesn’t do the  
> “right” thing. With most IDE’s you’re stuck then, you’re  
> stuck then with a lot of editors. IMHO, there’s something  
> wrong when a programmer is using a tool that isn’t  
> programable.

The other thing is that it’s nice to have a low entry overhead to  
add scripts. Visual C++ can add in programmable components, but you  
have to spend significant time learning how to get all the misc  
glue code working. Emacs is a little easier (but more intimidating)  
in that respect.

> **···**
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 11:58:36PM +0900, bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Aug.17.02@telemark.stanford.edu wrote:
> 
> > - 
> > - I think the big problem with most IDE’s is that the designers  
> > get confused and actually just build a specialized editor.  
> > Any IDE worth the name should allow the editor to be a  
> > pluggable tool. The fact that you are asking this question  
> > implies to me that the tool you’re using is broken. It  
> > shouldn’t be an either/or choice, environments with both  
> > have been around for twenty years.
> > 
> > - 
> > - Booker C. Bense
> 
> –  
> Alan Chen  
> Digikata LLC  
> [http://digikata.com](http://digikata.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lothar\_Scholz1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lothar\_Scholz1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Lothar_Scholz1)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 16:38 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/10 "2002-08-17T16:38:43Z")

</div>

It is impossible to offer a lot of facilities when using an external  
editor. Code Navigation tree (or call it function list) and debugger  
integration and tooltips (and even refactoring) are not pluggable in a  
generic way.

If you want to provide it for a few editors then you  
will see that this is economically impossible. There are two many out  
there. And the community of hard core vi or emacs persons is to  
small. Everyone else is willing to use another editor.

The problem is IMHO that most integrated editors are less powerful.  
I need the windows handling from Emacs and the simple way of  
macro defining and specificing a prefix count for play back.

> **···**
>
> On 17 Aug 2002 14:47:35 GMT, [bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Aug.17.02@telemark.stanford.edu](mailto:bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Aug.17.02@telemark.stanford.edu) wrote:
> 
> > - 
> > - I think the big problem with most IDE’s is that the designers  
> > get confused and actually just build a specialized editor.  
> > Any IDE worth the name should allow the editor to be a  
> > pluggable tool. The fact that you are asking this question

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Massimiliano_Mirra4)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 18:45 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/11 "2002-08-17T18:45:00Z")

</div>

How do you run tests and then jump to offending lines? I use to run  
tests with just a keypress by writing them in the same file they test  
within a if **FILE** == $0 … end block and then eval’ing the buffer,  
but I get another buffer with Test::Unit results as plain program  
output, not anything that Emacs parses go get anchors.

Massimiliano

> **···**
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 10:49:20AM +0900, Jim Weirich wrote:
> 
> > ```
> > > built in source control
> > > built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having 
> > > that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > Ummmm … Emacs can do all of those things (except refactoring, and

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Massimiliano_Mirra4)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 21:49 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/12 "2002-08-17T21:49:49Z")

</div>

Same questions to you: how do you have a method’s renaming propagate,  
and how do you have the cursor jump to the line of a failed test?

Massimiliano

> **···**
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 11:58:36PM +0900, bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Aug.17.02@telemark.stanford.edu wrote:
> 
> > > - 
> > > - built in debugger
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test  
> > > fails
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - built in source control
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having
> > 
> > - 
> > - I can do all this in Emacs and have a powerful editor. Is it  
> > easy and simple and out of the box? Well, for C lang  
> > programming it pretty much is. It’s a bit harder for Ruby,  
> > but it’s all possible.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikkelFJ1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MikkelFJ1](https://rubytalk.org/u/MikkelFJ1)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 13:58 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/13 "2002-08-17T13:58:27Z")

</div>

“Holden Glova” [dsafari@paradise.net.nz](mailto:dsafari@paradise.net.nz) wrote in message  
news:200208172244.26638.dsafari@paradise.net.nz…

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----  
> Hash: SHA1

> I too have been following FreeRIDE - this week I stumbled upon some  
> screenshots. One of them shows the beginnings of the debugger in action -  
> looks nice. Great work FreeRIDE team!
> 
> [http://www.moldus.org/~laurent/FreeRIDE/screenshots/](http://www.moldus.org/~laurent/FreeRIDE/screenshots/)

Yes it looks good.

BTW: what about Web based IDE’s. Recently some Web sites almost look as  
desktop applications and are almost competive with some cross GUI tools -  
for example the new beta version of Yahoo mail.

It does require a fast server and a fast internet connection. The bulk of  
the IDE could be server based and editors could use a socket protocol to  
interact with the server separately. Some Wiki’s support integration with  
text editors for example.

RDoc already has many features of a would be Web based IDE - click on a file  
get the source open in your favorite editor. Save the changes to your  
private online workspace. Merge to development branch whenever it suits you.  
Now you can continue development anywhere your favorite editor is  
installed - or even in a substand webform if need be.

Mikkel

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alan\_Chen2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Alan\_Chen2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Alan_Chen2)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 18:57 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/14 "2002-08-17T18:57:22Z")

</div>

I’ve been running my unit tests from a makefile, which triggers  
the output to be a compilation buffer which does jump to lines.

The only wrinkle is that Test::Unit inserts leading whitespace  
into the line numbers. My hackish solution was to pipe the  
standard error through a filter to remove leading whitespace.

## makefile

RBTE= ruby -e “while( (line=gets())!=nil); puts line.strip; end”

test :  
ruby -w tc\_unittest.rb 2\>&1 | $(RBTE)

## end of makefile

It doesn’t trap all lines, but I’ve been meaning to make it a full blown filter  
which recognizes some of occasional backtraces which have lines starting  
with:  
from file.rb:line:

> **···**
>
> On Sun, Aug 18, 2002 at 03:45:00AM +0900, Massimiliano Mirra wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 10:49:20AM +0900, Jim Weirich wrote:
> > 
> > > ```
> > > > built in source control
> > > > built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having 
> > > > that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_ help IMHO.
> > > 
> > > ```
> > > 
> > > Ummmm … Emacs can do all of those things (except refactoring, and
> > 
> > How do you run tests and then jump to offending lines? I use to run  
> > tests with just a keypress by writing them in the same file they test  
> > within a if **FILE** == $0 … end block and then eval’ing the buffer,  
> > but I get another buffer with Test::Unit results as plain program  
> > output, not anything that Emacs parses go get anchors.
> > 
> > Massimiliano
> 
> –  
> Alan Chen  
> Digikata LLC
> 
> > **[Digikata Blog](https://www.digikata.com/)**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_Campbell1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Michael\_Campbell1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Michael_Campbell1)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 20:23 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/15 "2002-08-17T20:23:14Z")

</div>

I haven’t tried this, but some combination of a regex (and or having  
your unit test spit out assertions, failures and errors using a  
format emacs’ compile command already understands) and a specific  
command to M-x compile would probably do it.

> **···**
>
> — Massimiliano Mirra [list@NOSPAMchromatic-harp.com](mailto:list@NOSPAMchromatic-harp.com) wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 10:49:20AM +0900, Jim Weirich wrote:
> > 
> > > ```
> > > > built in source control
> > > > built in refactorings - even simple things like
> > > 
> > > ```
> > 
> > rename method and having
> > 
> > > ```
> > > > that propagated throughout your code base is a _huge_
> > > 
> > > ```
> > 
> > help IMHO.
> > 
> > > Ummmm … Emacs can do all of those things (except refactoring,  
> > > and
> > 
> > How do you run tests and then jump to offending lines
> 
> ## =====
> 
> Use your computer to help find a cure for cancer: [Webspace nicht erreichbar](http://members.ud.com/projects/cancer/)
> 
> Yahoo IM: michael\_s\_campbell
> 
> * * *
> 
> Do You Yahoo!?  
> HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs
> 
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> >
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---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Massimiliano_Mirra4)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 21:49 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/16 "2002-08-17T21:49:48Z")

</div>

What planet do you live on? 🙂

Massimiliano

> **···**
>
> On Sun, Aug 18, 2002 at 01:38:43AM +0900, Lothar Scholz wrote:
> 
> > And the community of hard core vi or emacs persons is to small.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael\_libby1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@michael\_libby1](https://rubytalk.org/u/michael_libby1)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 23:51 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/17 "2002-08-17T23:51:40Z")

</div>

Method renaming: M-x query-replace  
Jump to line: M-x goto-line

The feature I most miss from using Visual Basic IDE (lousy day jobs _grin_)  
is not the ability of the code to jump to errors, but the autocompletion  
and hints for methods and arguments. There are lots of time I’m coding in  
Ruby I’ve got three windows open. One shell, one irb, and one emacs. I use  
shell to test, emacs to code, and irb to run quick tests of built-ins,  
often ending in “p instance.methods.sort”. Pop-up hints would get rid of  
that.

-michael

> **···**
>
> On Saturday 17 August 2002 16:49, Massimiliano Mirra wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 11:58:36PM +0900, bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Aug.17.02@telemark.stanford.edu wrote:
> > 
> > > > - 
> > > > - built in debugger
> > > > 
> > > > - 
> > > > - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when  
> > > > a test fails
> > > > 
> > > > - 
> > > > - built in source control
> > > > 
> > > > - 
> > > > - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and  
> > > > having
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - I can do all this in Emacs and have a powerful editor. Is it  
> > > easy and simple and out of the box? Well, for C lang  
> > > programming it pretty much is. It’s a bit harder for Ruby,  
> > > but it’s all possible.
> > 
> > Same questions to you: how do you have a method’s renaming propagate,  
> > and how do you have the cursor jump to the line of a failed tes
> 
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
> Michael C. Libby [x@ichimunki.com](mailto:x@ichimunki.com)  
> public key: [http://www.ichimunki.com/public\_key.txt](http://www.ichimunki.com/public_key.txt)  
> web site: [http://www.ichimunki.com](http://www.ichimunki.com)  
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bbense\_Comp\_Lang\_R11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Bbense\_Comp\_Lang\_R11](https://rubytalk.org/u/Bbense_Comp_Lang_R11)\
**Post date:** [18 August 2002 17:44 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/18 "2002-08-18T17:44:06Z")

</div>

In article [20020817192215.GB3299@prism.localnet](mailto:20020817192215.GB3299@prism.localnet),

> > > - 
> > > - built in debugger
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when a test  
> > > fails
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - built in source control
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and having
> > 
> > - 
> > - I can do all this in Emacs and have a powerful editor. Is it  
> > easy and simple and out of the box? Well, for C lang  
> > programming it pretty much is. It’s a bit harder for Ruby,  
> > but it’s all possible.
> 
> Same questions to you: how do you have a method’s renaming propagate,

- 
  - You need a ruby version of etags. Then it’s just a simple  
matter of using tags-query-replace. The hard bit is a ruby  
version of etags. I said it was possible, not that I knew  
exactly how to do it %-)!

> and how do you have the cursor jump to the line of a failed test?

M-x compile and next-error.

- 
  - Booker C. Bense

> **···**
>
> Massimiliano Mirra [list@NOSPAMchromatic-harp.com](mailto:list@NOSPAMchromatic-harp.com) wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 11:58:36PM +0900, bbense+comp.lang.ruby.Aug.17.02@telemark.stanford.edu wrote:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lothar\_Scholz1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lothar\_Scholz1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Lothar_Scholz1)\
**Post date:** [17 August 2002 23:22 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/19 "2002-08-17T23:22:37Z")

</div>

Earth.

But to be more precise: The community of persons who are buying and  
evaluating IDE’s. Even in companies with as low as 5 programmers that  
are normally not the geeks that what to use the editor.

I analysed this with the economic aspect in mind. And this will be  
hard to deny.

> **···**
>
> On Sat, 17 Aug 2002 21:50:12 GMT, Massimiliano Mirra [list@NOSPAMchromatic-harp.com](mailto:list@NOSPAMchromatic-harp.com) wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, Aug 18, 2002 at 01:38:43AM +0900, Lothar Scholz wrote:
> > 
> > > And the community of hard core vi or emacs persons is to small.
> > 
> > What planet do you live on? 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Massimiliano\_Mirra4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Massimiliano_Mirra4)\
**Post date:** [18 August 2002 01:17 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255/20 "2002-08-18T01:17:38Z")

</div>

> > > > - 
> > > > - built in unit testing which lets you jump to the failed line when  
> > > > a test fails
> > > > 
> > > > - 
> > > > - built in refactorings - even simple things like rename method and
> > > 
> > > - 
> > > - I can do all this in Emacs and have a powerful editor. Is it  
> > > Same questions to you: how do you have a method’s renaming propagate,  
> > > and how do you have the cursor jump to the line of a failed tes  
> > > Method renaming: M-x query-replace

I did not ask how do you search and replace in emacs. I asked how do  
you have a method’s renaming propagate, which you said can be done.

> Jump to line: M-x goto-line

Again, I did not ask how you jump to a line, I asked how do you jump  
to the line of a failed test, which you said can be done.

Massimiliano

> **···**
>
> On Sun, Aug 18, 2002 at 08:51:40AM +0900, michael libby wrote:

[Next page](https://rubytalk.org/t/ide-vs-editor/1255.md?page=2)
