IDE(s) or text editor for web + mobile app dev team?

Question

We are putting together a web dev team that will also be building complimentary iOS, Android and webOS mobile apps, and are trying to standardize our toolset between team members. We are working on OS X, but can run Windows or Linux virtual machines if necessary. On the web the majority of our work is currently in Drupal (PHP), but are looking at moving to Ruby on Rails in the next few years. Also, we use git for version control if it matters.

Our primary experience is in web development, so the tools we're most familiar with are glorified text editors like BBEdit, Coda, CSSEdit, etc. For Flash work we've just used what's built into Adobe Flash Pro.

Apple provides their own Xcode IDE for iOS, which is also the only native mobile app development we've done so far. webOS (Enyo) is so simple, we could continue doing that in a text editor. Google seems to be pushing Eclipse for Android work, but claim to be compatible with other environments.

Should we try to find one editor to rule them all, or just go with each of the separate environments above? Eclipse seems to be popular but not very intuitive. NetBeans seems to be popular mostly because it's free. IntelliJ seems to have a small but passionate following.

Web and web app development will remain our primary focus, so I'm reluctant to invest in a steep learning curve for a mobile IDE if it won't also benefit our web work.

Any input from similar cross-discipline experience is welcome.

Answer 1

I would strongly advise against using anything other than XCode for iOS development.

If you are familiar with Eclipse already, I would also strongly advise moving from Flash Professional to Flash Builder (which is based on Eclipse) as Flash Pro is not an IDE per se. Doing so will at least position you such that Android development and Flash development can be done in similar/the same IDE's.

Generally speaking, it's best to use IDE's that are designed for the task at hand.

Answer 2

Xcode is most likely to be able to handle everything best. I say this because you will find it difficult to impossible to effectively develop for iOS without using Xcode, even if you use tools like PhoneGap because at some point you'll almost certainly have to use Xcode anyway to get provisioning right. Essentially any tool can be made to work for webOS, and as for Android I think you'll find it possible to work in Xcode but it won't be as easy as if you worked in Eclipse.

In short, I'd say use the right tool for the right job, and don't worry about using multiple tools. In the end you'll probably be happier supporting multiple development environments than struggling to cram your work into a single tool.

Answer 3

I just attended a user group about developing for the major devices yesterday... The overriding opinion seems to be you should develop in the vendors preferred IDE (XCode for iOS, Eclipse for Android, Blend for WP7, TextPad or NotePad++ for WebOS).

Question for you though... Are you planning on developing WebOS for Mojo or Enyo? That may change your strategy slightly... My understanding is that Eclipse has a plugin to make Mojo development easier. I've been doing Enyo development in Notepad++ however, and it's been pretty simple.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 4

I don't see why Eclipse would not be intuitive for your needs. I've been doing web development and Android development in Eclipse for quite a while now. It helps to have an eclipse book, or a quick guide and it does take some time to get used to but you'd be hard pressed to a better platform, especially one that Google pushes for Android Development.

I should note that I have not programmed on Eclipse for iOS so another input might be needed in that regard.

But Eclipse is free. And it has a lot of documentation and users so you'll find a wealth of support if you get stuck.