Over the last 3 days I have been using netbeans for RoR development. Honestly I expected to hate it. I figured I would use it for a few days, then crawl back to Emacs begging her to take me back with promises that I wouldn’t stray again.
Here is the truth. I don’t hate it. In fact, I kind of like it.
I like all the integration with Subversion (which we use at work) and Mercurial (which I use at home). I like the Rails integration. It has intellisense type functionality (though with a dynamic language is often unwieldy). The syntax highlighting (while having a white background) is nice.
One of my big complaints however was a lack of really good keybindings. I was missing my C-a, C-e and C-k. A quick google later and I realized you can switch to Emacs keybindings. Sweet. So I have done that.
I hate to say it, but overall I am pretty happy with Netbeans. If you are doing RoR development, and are chronically dissatisfied with software as I am, give it a shot.
My only complaint so far (and this might be fixable) is that tab navigation is chronological and not spatial (or serial you might call it). It’s like using Alt-Tab to cycle through windows versus using virtual desktops to navigate. I have to look into that further.
I just started using Netbeans for a Java project I’m on, and I like the instant bitching it does when something isn’t quite right. The messages it provides are directly actionable, unlike interpreter errors. It’s pretty easy to use so far, and I like the syntax wizards that know what you’re trying to do and fill in anything it can figure out for you on its own.
Good to know about the keybindings – I’ll have to do that.
I have been using Eclipse for the past few years and am happy. Have tried Eclipse as well? Does this mean that you would recommend Netbeans over Eclipse.
“The syntax highlighting (while having a white background) is nice.”
You can change the editor color scheme in Preferences|Fonts & Colors (see the Profile drop down list). I’m using the Netbeans 6.5 beta, but this feature is in 6.1 as well.
I like the ‘Norway Today’ profile – works well with Ruby code.
Kamal, if you like Eclipse, I would stick with it. I have used Eclipse in the past, but it has been a few years.
Mike, good call. That’s much better. I did look in there, and noticed I could change things around, but I didn’t really want to take the time to create a theme.
I have been using eclipse for Java development for over a year now and I have been time after time trying to switch over to netbeans. Going from eclipse to netbeans is frustrating in some aspects since I am so used to eclipse I feel like I should know how to do it in netbeans and I don’t. As for Java development my only other issues is how netbeans wants to generate its own ant tasks from the IDE which really does not integrate well with existing source.
I do however use netbeans for Scala and Ruby stuff (Spare time) and after I started using it for the HTML/CSS I feel silly when I go back to eclipse for doing work. Auto-complete for CSS is so nice since as often as I do it I tend to forget propertys.
Sun seems pretty big on language support so if anything Netbeans is only going to be getting better.
As far as switching from Emacs I have no idea.. only crazy 1990s linux enthusiasts use that! (Actually I was told Ola Bini (Main JRuby contributer) uses Emacs )
Be warned, emacs keybindings in Netbeans don’t implement the kill ring like emacs does. Multiple CTRL-k presses will only keep the last line killed. This drove me nuts!
I love NetBeans for RoR projects. The only complaint I have is that I would like to use it for quick-and-dirty editing of a ruby file every once in a while, but I can’t, because it wants me to set up a project.
Yes Nethan, I have tried Netbeans but could not find any good reasons to leave Eclipse. So I would stay with my old friend, Eclipse.