This editor isn't intended for me. It's intended for teaching someone else Ruby. I largely use Emacs when writing Ruby. Does anyone know of an editor that indents the current line correctly when you press tab, can indent the whole file correctly (keyboard shortcut would be nice), has syntax highlighting for Ruby, other than that works kind of like Windows Notepad (maybe with a toolbar of icons), has a built in terminal (not absolutely required), has multiple editor tabs, and works on Windows, Linux, or both? Or anything somewhat close? Edit: I'm also going to add that I'd like to be available for free (legally for an indefinite period of time). Open source wouldn't hurt.

Reputation: 2204

Simple Ruby Editor?

This editor isn't intended for me. It's intended for teaching someone else Ruby. I largely use Emacs when writing Ruby. Does anyone know of an editor that

indents the current line correctly when you press tab,
can indent the whole file correctly (keyboard shortcut would be nice),
has syntax highlighting for Ruby,
other than that works kind of like Windows Notepad (maybe with a toolbar of icons),
has a built in terminal (not absolutely required),
has multiple editor tabs,
and works on Windows, Linux, or both?

Or anything somewhat close?

Edit: I'm also going to add that I'd like to be available for free (legally for an indefinite period of time). Open source wouldn't hurt.

Upvotes: 4

Answers (6)

cwoodall

Reputation: 49

If your main goal is to teach then you could try using Hackety Hack. It is somewhat weak at times, but I found it fun and simple to use, but then again I already knew ruby pretty well.

For a beginner being able to run the programs easily is very important so you want something where irb and ruby can be run very simply. Aptana seems to be a pretty good IDE for this sort of thing, but I have never used it myself aside for web development.

Aside from those two I suggest Notepad++... Also the free KomodoEdit might be worth a look. Personally I say teach the other person emacs, but then again shrug

Upvotes: 0

yasouser

Reputation: 5187

If you are not a die hard fan of emacs, then there's always vim and its plugins for any programming language. Here's one for Ruby: rails.vim : Ruby on Rails: easy file navigation, enhanced syntax highlighting, and more

If you are new to vim, this cheat sheet should help you: vim graphical cheat sheet

Upvotes: 2

Pablo Castellazzi

Reputation: 4209

Since it's about teaching ruby RedCar and Diakonos are good choices. They have most of the features you mention and as a bonus both are written in Ruby.

Upvotes: 2

Stephen Van Dahm

Reputation: 101

I don't think that jEdit has a built-in terminal, but I believe it does everything else you need. It's implemented in Java, so it should run on any platform for which a JVM exists, including Windows and Linux.

Upvotes: 2