views:

147

answers:

6

Im keen on learning javascript and ui design. Im using visual studio 2005 but find it difficult to debug code, I use firebug also. Is there a javascript editor with intellisense out there that I can get for free im have a hard time using the syntax and some of the helper mthods like parseint etc.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers Pq

+1  A: 

I'd say Aptana should work for you. You can install it alone or as an Eclipse plugin.

It features :

  • HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Code Assist

  • Ajax Libraries

  • JavaScript Debugging

  • DOM Outline View

... so it seems like a good fit for your needs.

marcgg
+1  A: 

As well as Aptana (which is great) as suggested by marcgg you might want to try Komodo Edit or Netbeans both of which are also excellent and multi purpose.

meouw
A: 

Just to add in what will NOT work is your VS2005, see this answer on that.

Mark Schultheiss
+1  A: 

IntelliJ is a great editor and they now have an open source version.

Upper Stage
an open source version of intelliJ? didn't know that.
Yar
I downloaded it an hour ago and using it now!
Upper Stage
+1  A: 

Visual Studio 2008 has better Javascript support. You can debug it like normal C# code, although it's still buggy sometimes (it doesn't seem to like to set a break point in the first line of a function for example, nested functions give it also a hard time).

Also there is Intellisense support now but it works so-so. It depends a lot on how which JS framework you're going to use.

All in all, VS is surely not the best dev environment for JS around, but maybe the best compromise if you're already familiar with it and developing for .NET anyhow.

herzmeister der welten
+1: I use Rails and therefore work 50% behind the Rails helpers for Javascript. I would love to be inside an integrated environment like VS 2008. Switching to a "pure" JS editor like Aptana would force you to lose the backend integration on debugging... I think.
Yar
@yar you really use rails and develop with Visual studio?
marcgg
@marcgg, No, sorry, I was too concise perhaps. In Rails I develop in Netbeans (trying RubyMine, but Netbeans has been winning consistently), but I meant the cohesiveness of a VisualStudio 2008...
Yar
@yar ok, makes more sense ^^
marcgg
A: 

I prefer any (dev oriented) simple text editor (my choice is TextMate) and FireBug. Or any other browser developer tools (IE8 has it to). Why not use VS/Eclipse/etc? Its too heavy for JavaScript i think.

EDIT: And something like JSBin can help you with little expirinents!

NilColor