Multiple Language IDE

Question

I've been using Notepad++ for years and although it is comfortable I am feeling the need to move up into the IDE world for various reasons, which I'll outline below. I am looking for IDE recommendations for someone who works in multiple languages on a daily basis - I am currently looking at Eclipse and Netbeans but willing to consider any option.

The reason I have not made the switch to a full-fledged IDE yet is because they feel so bloated, they are slow to load and eat up a ton of memory. Recently, I have been working on an astronomical number of projects (5-6 at work, upwards of 10 personally) in a variety of languages (Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, Javascript, xHTML, CSS, TorqueScript to name a few). These are just the languages I am using on a daily basis - although I don't expect to find an IDE that will meet all the demands of these languages (especially the more obscure TorqueScript on the list).

So, what would you recommend for someone who needs a fast, configurable IDE that offers support for a variety of languages, syntax highlighting (preferably with various color schemes), project organization/browsing, Intellisense-ish code completion?

I forgot to mention I am primarily targetting the Windows environment here - when I'm on my Xubuntu machine (minimally) Geany works fine for what I need to accomplish.

Answer 1

Well, Netbeans covers Java, Ruby and PHP which are on your list. It's definitely a bit bloated though, and I understand your pain there.

Answer 2

With those requirements, the closest you're going to get is Eclipse.

You might also want to check out SlickEdit. It won't offer you all of the features you are looking for, but it should be a hell of a lot faster than working through Eclipse.

Answer 3

I would recommend Eclipse as the closest match for the multi-language requirements. There are IDEs that possibly shine better for a given language (e.g. I prefer IntelliJ for Java), but none that have such a broad coverage of multiple languages.

As far as memory/bloat, it's a price you pay for the convenience that an IDE provides.

Answer 4

Eclipse is kind of the Swiss Army knife of the programming world... With plugins, it'll handle pretty much any language you throw at it.

Answer 5

Emacs.

Seriously.

Answer 6

The Zeus IDE is pretty much language neutral, meaning it can be easily configured to work with almost any programming language.

It also has a lot of IDE like features (i.e project/workspace management, class browsing etc), yet still feels snappy and responsive like a light weight text editor.