Aptana Studio 1.1

In computing, an integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, a compiler and/or interpreter, build automation tools, and (usually) a debugger.

Having used various IDE (JCreator, Eclipse & Microsoft Visual Studio) during the course of learning Java, ASP.NET and Visual Basic, I wanted something similar for developing web applications using Ruby on Rails. I honestly don’t mind coding with Textmate and having a Terminal window open but the tools and features available in an IDE is critical for any “nuby” picking up a new programming language. Here’s where Aptana Studio come into play..

Aptana Studio provides a full-featured web development environment with support for HTML, CSS, Javascript and Ajax right out of the box. A set of plugins are also available for server-side and platform/device support. These plugins seamlessly integrates with Aptana Studio, allowing users to develop apps for Adobe AIR and iPhone. PHP and Ruby on Rails development are made possible as well.

New features in the latest (v1.1) release include:

• CSS and JS can now be colorized when nested in HTML content along with ability to have rows alternate in color
• New Web project that allows server configuration and adding Jaxer support
• TailView for tailing, colorizing, and capturing log files for Jaxer, web servers, or Aptana Studio itself
• References view for enabling and disabling framework and DOM JavaScript content assist
• Ability to create and configure preview tabs against any server or URL
• Firefox Preview Console allows you to view error and warnings from pages viewed through the Firefox preview tab
• Editor toolbar with HTML, CSS, and JS snippets that can extended with created code snippets
• Jetty and Jaxer servers come configured with support for other popular servers
• A new improved Search interface enabling file systeam search, open editor searching, and multi-line text search
• New HTML outline showing external JS files inline, no more switching editors just to see the outline of a referenced file!
• Preferences are now automatically backed up before each update making it easier to restore and protect your settings

Aptana Studio comes in a free, open-source community edition or a professional edition which requires an annual subscription. Check back in a few weeks for updates on how I use Aptana Studio and my experience with Ruby on Rails.