From: Eric Promislow <eric.promislow@...>
Date: 2005-08-07T06:36:08+09:00
Subject: ANN: Ruby support is (finally) in ActiveState Komodo on OS X

Hi.

Last week at OSCON ActiveState announced an alpha for Komodo 3.x, our
multi-language IDE.  The main reason for the launch was that after
a year or so of relentless requests, we finally ported Komodo to
OS X.

You can get it now without reading any further here:

http://activestate.com/Products/Komodo/beta.plex

We've been quieter about the fact that this version introduces
support for Ruby.  This includes these features:

+ an integrated debugger -- simple breakpoints, variable
  inspectors/modifiers, etc.

+ the sort of editing facilities you expect in an IDE:
  - colorizing
  - automatic indentation
  - de-indenting on keywords like 'end', 'else', 'rescue', etc.
  - code-folding

+ syntax-checking as you type:
  - Basically we periodically invoke `ruby -c` to check the current
  buffer, and display any errors it reports with red squigglies
  under the offending text.  The code-folder also helps make
  missing 'ends' obvious.

+ a class browser that lets you move to modules, classes,
and browsers with a click or two.

Some of you might know that Komodo's editor is based on Scintilla (an
open-source editor based at http://www.scintilla.org).  I rewrote the
old lexer, which for some crazy reason was based on Python.  The new
one now supports all those Perlisms like here-documents, %-strings,
and in-line regular expressions.

Now for the catches...

The debugger isn't working with Rails yet.  I am close to having
it support Rails test files.  I did figure out how to support
mod_perl debugging in Komodo, so I'd be really surprised if
catching a Rails session would be harder.

I recommend at least 1GB of memory to run Komodo.  I've been
running it (and developing for it) with 256MB, and the beach
ball often kept me company.  I'm at 1GB now, and it does
perform better.

I should also mention that I haven't had time yet to work on
multi-byte issues with Ruby.  In Komodo 3.1 we worked on
support for multi-byte programs in Perl and Python, and made
sure non-ASCII, or for that matter non-latin1, characters
appeared in the editor and related widgets correctly.  If
you care about this issue, this release might be pre-alpha
in terms of meeting your needs.  Please let us know via the
links at the end of this post.

We also didn't have time to turn on the autocomplete feature,
but we do plan to integrate info from analyzing RDoc and
code to implement the usual autocomplete features you see in
IDEs.  Try Komodo with Perl, Python, Tcl, or PHP for an example,
if you're curious how it will look with Ruby.

OK, I won't use the "excited" word, since I am a developer.  But I've
had a lot of fun working with this language to get it in Ruby, and I'm
happy that ActiveState management is, well, excited that we're making
it a first-class member of the family.  It really is a fun language to
program in.  The only actual Ruby code in Komodo is the debugger
itself (which we ship -- it's in <installdir>/dbgp/rubylib/rdbgp.rb).
Bug reports and patches are welcome.  If you are curious about the
debugger, you can get the spec for the DBGP protocol at
http://www.xdebug.org/docs-dbgp.php

We welcome your bug reports, suggestions, and insights.  Copying
and pasting from the main announcement:

    We'll be using the komodo-beta email list for discussion of the OS
X
    port.  If you are on that list and do not wish to receive emails
    about the OS X alpha's and beta's, you can unsubscribe from the
    email list via the link below.

    Get the alpha: http://www.ActiveState.com/Komodo/OSX
    Join the list:
http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/komodo-beta
    Log a bug: http://bugs.activestate.com/Komodo
    Write a letter: komodo-feedback@activestate.com

Thanks for your time,

-- 
Eric Promislow    ericp@activestate.com