Ever since I started doing client-side scripting using Javascript, I’ve been looking for a complete IDE. After trying different editors, I came across Aptana IDE. Well, by far the best IDE for JavaScript I would say. The only draw back is that it consumes a decent amount of main memory. So, I gave JSEclipse plugin a try in Eclipse. To an extent the JSEclipse is good for coding JavaScript with the usual code completion and stuff like that, but Aptana scores over JSEclipse when it comes to debugging. Aptana has a fantastic debugging environment when compared to any other JavaScript editors out there. Again there was a limitation, Aptana’s debugging environment could only work with Firefox. So, I had to use another debugger to test the application on IE. Though I managed to find the Script Debugger that works on IE, I couldn’t use it in Vista.

I’m hoping to find an IDE that could possibly have the following features:

• Source code completion
• Auto formating of the source code
• Built-in framework support (such as Scriptaculous, prototype, ext)
• JavaScript compression
• Document generation (convert comments to html based documents)
• Debugging Environment for all the browsers (atleast for Firefox and IE)
• Syntax error highlighting (possibly similar to JSLint)
• Outline of the functions and variables
• Highlight browser support information of the functions as they are coded
• Lastly, the main memory usage should be on the lighter side.

The list could well go on for ever. Recently Aptana has released Studio 1.0, which is basically the next version of Aptana IDE. As far as I can see from their blog, these are the updates for the free version.

• CSS Preview
• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Formatting
• Code drag and drop
• Visual ScriptDoc Explorer
• Enhanced Dynamic Help System
• Better User Interface

Though they haven’t satisfied all my ‘wishes’, at least they have taken the development environment to the next level. Let me give it a try and analyse the extent of improvement they have done in Studio 1.0 as they have been working on it for almost an year.

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