[thelist] Text editor recommendations

[kasimir-k]

Paul Bennett scribeva in 20/02/2007 20:48:
> I've used jEdit for a couple of years, but am becoming disillusioned lately 

Same here.

> Can anyone point me in the right direction for a worthy replacement? 

I'd like to recommend Eclipse. I've used it with PDT[0] and 
JSEclipse[1]. Eclipse scans all classes in my project and offers 
autocompletion for methods and properties. It also hints parameters for 
methods, something that I've found a real time saver. It also has 
completion for any words, but it's not automatic.

I don't think it has (yet) support for macros, but there are plugins for 
that.

Keyboard shortcuts are really nice. For example one I've configured: I 
type fci and hit ctrl + space, Eclipse adds
for ($i = 0, $ii = count(...); $i < $ii; $i++) {
}
where '...' has a list of variables in that file, I choose one, hit 
enter and the cursor is moved inside the block.

I took some time to get used to Eclipse and learn its ins and outs, but 
surprisingly little after all. And while I do miss some jEdit's features 
(search and replace there is incredibly good) I'm not looking back - 
Eclipse has definitely increased my productivity.

.k



[0]http://www.eclipse.org/php/
[1]http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/jseclipse/