What tools should I have as my core set for developing javascript?

Question

I have been developing ASP.Net applications for quite a few years, and I have always avoided learning JavaScript. Now I have been diving in and trying to learn as much as possible.

As a .Net developer I rely on Visual Studio heavily. What I am wondering is what tools, as a JavaScript developer, do you guys rely on heavily to develop JavaScript? I have just discovered FireBug which is awesome. What other tools out there am I missing that are a must have?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Firebug is pretty much the best. You'll need some solutions for IE too.

See this link: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/361635/debugging-javascript-in-ie7

Answer 2

Lately, Visual Studio itself has improved considerably in its JavaScript support. For example, IntelliSense is now available for JavaScript in VS2008, including for third-party libraries such as jQuery.

Answer 3

Why not continue to use the Visual Studio for convenience and download jQuery with intellisense support.

Scott Guthrie has a post on how to do it

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/11/21/jquery-intellisense-in-vs-2008.aspx

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/09/28/jquery-and-microsoft.aspx

Answer 4

Yes, Firebug is awesome. Be sure that you are aware of the profiling capabilities in there. Also, there is a new testing framework called FireUnit that works with Firebug as well.

I like Textmate for Javascript editing on my Mac. Aptana Studio (stand-alone or as an Eclipse plug-in) is really good too.

I've been meaning to try test-driven-development in Javascript with the YUI test library. It promises to be like NUnit/JUnit for Javascript, which would be great.

Check out JS lint.

If you're interested in Aspect-oriented Programming, look at AOP in Javascript from Dojo.

Lastly, for some good information about the current state of Javascript engines (cool stuff like TraceMonkey) and future directions, check out this episode of HanselMinutes.

Enjoy!

Answer 5

1. Visual Studio 2008 - has JavaScript intellisense and integrated Js debugging capability
2. FireBug - a must have for any web developer
3. FireBug Lite - "The solution is Firebug Lite, a JavaScript file you can insert into your pages to simulate some Firebug features in browsers that are not named "Firefox"."
4. JsLint - gotta make sure what you're writing is of decent quality, and JsLint will help you do that

Answer 6

Other useful tools:

• packer really good JavaScript compressor.
• Web Developer extension for Firefox
• JsUnit unit testing framework.
• SeleniumIDE feature, user interface and acceptance testing.