Around half way through this year, for a couple of reasons, I challenged myself to learn a new programming language or two.
Namely, Python and Ruby made it to the top of the list and now I was on the hunt for a good IDE that would assist me while I was getting my Python and Ruby legs. After searching the net for a few days, Eclipse with the Aptana plug-in seemed to be recommended more and more by fellow developers out there. And I can see why.
Eclipse, primarily a Java IDE (written in Java), has been around for quite a few years, has a rich history and is arguably the preferred IDE of many open-source developers. It’s ability to load plug-ins allows it to be extended to work with other programming languages like Python, Ruby, Perl, PHP, Rails, JavaScript, jQuery, Microsoft ASP.NET Ajax Controls and lots more. It’s like a developers dream come true.
Where Aptana comes in, is by providing a single plug-in base that gives you access to pretty much all of the languages I’ve just mentioned above (except Perl, I think). It has a fantastic library which gives you an awesome platform from which to work. You can also run Aptana as a stand-alone IDE without the need for Eclipse, but that’s a completely separate download.
Being able to write programs in Python, Ruby and jQuery with auto-completion has made development easier and fun again.
Best of all, this is all for free. Aptana offers a cloud hosting solution for which you can pay, and Eclipse has a donation-ware approach, but all the basics are absolutely free.