The best Javascript editor so far

I'm always looking out for better Javascript editors, and I now have a new favorite: JSEclipse. Check this out:

JSEditor appears to have an ESP layer that I've not worked out yet. This ESP layer enables it to give you completions that ought not to be possible.

Scarey

 

I have no idea how it can work out what the members of employee are since employee is an object that is dynamically generated by DWR, and the JavaScript file we are editing has no mention of even the path to the DWR server. (Maybe it's working it out by how employee is used? Either way it is fairly fancy)

Another example of it grokking Javascript much better than the Eclipse WTP Javascript editor is how it understands prototype.js. Sam doesn't hold back from exploiting Javascript features, and JSEclipse keeps up with him better than any other Javascript tool I've seen:

The outline right shows it correctly finding the things that prototype.js declares. The WTP editor makes a right mess of this.

Update: It appears to work based on usage - it remembers how an object is used and completes based on that.

 

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Posted by Joe Walker on 27 September 2005 08:07:55 BST #


Re: The best Javascript editor so far

Comment from Jake Robwood on 27 September 2005 09:26:47 BST #
So you are saying that it's better than IntelliJ IDEA 5 for JavaScript?
If so, could you please post on the IntelliJ forum/newsgroup?
I suppose they'll give you more attention since you made DWR :).

regards,

Jake.

Re: The best Javascript editor so far

Comment from "Joe Walker" on 27 September 2005 13:00:47 BST #
I'm not an expert with the IntelliJ IDEA 5 JS editor, but from the time I did spend with it, JSEclipse is smarter.

I don't remember the IDEA one doing completion, but it did do some refactoring (that I couldn't get working) plus the error highlighter was a bit overzealous. So I think the IDEA one had some nice features, but not ones that hit home properly. Maybe it was in beta when I was using it.

Re: The best Javascript editor so far

Comment from Jake Robwood on 27 September 2005 15:46:51 BST #
OK, I understand.
I just thougt that after the temptation described in you blog:
http://getahead.ltd.uk/blog/joe/2005/06.html
after IntelliJ went final, you made the switch :).
In this context, I thougt that if you(as the author of DWR) could mention about JSEclipse on the Jetbrains newsgroup, it would motivate them to imporove and to put more intelligence in their JS plug-in - since for Java it is the most intelligent IDE.

regards,

Jake.

Re: The best Javascript editor so far

Comment from Remus Stratulat [InterAKT] on 28 September 2005 08:11:42 BST #
Hello,

Your words are kind and proves our efforts are spent in the right direction.

Did you know that will also complete elements IDs from the html files that includes the current js file when writing getElementById()?

Anyway, any suggestion that you may have to improve JSEclipse will be welcomed as we are constantly looking for opinions from experienced programmers.

Best regards,
Remus Stratulat
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[SpikeTuesday] 7 years of Google, JavaScript Eclipse plugin, Open Source trials, flatulence that lights up rooms

TrackBack from compiledby.spikesource.com on 27 September 2005 09:45:01 BST #
Google celebrates its 7th year, and according to the child development plan its a little behind. Joe Walker discovers a very good JavaScript plugin for Eclipse. Jono Bacon talks about his experience with open source. Cows light up the house.