Portable Programming IDE

Question

Frequently I'm brainstormed with programming ideas that I would like to directly code. More or less like "Wow, that algorithm will rock! I need to write it now!".

For this kind of "impulse" to write, I use http://www.jarte.com/ that is a cool portable text editor. If I'm near a cybecafe or a friend computer, I just plug the usb pen drive and start to write...

So, I would like: 1) a portable minimalist IDE 2) with minimal OS requirement (ie.: I want run from XP, Vista, etc...) 3) any modern language (I can learn a new language if needed. I just want write/test the algoritm) 4) Syntax Highlight/intellisense is good, but not required 5) Free

Is there something like this?

Answer 1

Emacs + a compiler/interpreter sounds like what you want.

Answer 2

Eclipse isn't "minimalist", but it does work installation-less. So as long as your USB key, or whatever, is large enough, you can put Eclipse in there and be ready to go.

Answer 3

For C/C++, DevC++ works off of a usb drive. It runs off of XP, and I believe Vista as well (never tried that). It also has syntax highlighting.

Only problem is (I'm assuming this) is that it doesn't work for other languages.

Answer 4

You can also carry NetBeans on your USB drives: http://nbide.blogspot.com/2008/03/portable-netbeans.html and http://nbide.blogspot.com/2008/04/portable-netbeans-part-ii.html

Answer 5

I frequently use Firefox + Firebug when I want to quickly hack together something.

Answer 6

You may be looking for vim. Now, it won't be easy to learn how to use vim, but I'd count it time well spent. This is an unix utility that has been ported to basically every architecture and operating system see Portable GVim for the portable version. For info on using vim as an IDE, see here and here

Answer 7

Well, IDEs are often better suited depending on the programming language you want to use. I'm not really sure if you're looking for a text editor or an IDE, but:

As far as I'm concerned, I'd use:

Java: Eclipse (though not very minimalist)

C/C++: vim and g++, Code::Blocks

Ruby/Python/Perl: vim + interpreter

TextMate (best editor ever) on Mac OS X ($39.99) and e editor (Windows' TextMate equivalent) I also find NotePad++ to be a decent text editor, very minimalist.

Some people are crazy in love with emacs, you might want to check it out.

Answer 8

I'm late to the game, but a something worth mentioning is Squeak Smalltalk, or one of its derivatives like Pharo or Croquet. No changes to the registry or OS, no installers, no Services, no Admin rights needed, and only a few files needed- a full install in half a dozen files.

1) binary and source portable code; nice IDE, but with a minimalist disk footprint (5-50 MB)

2) Runs on almost any OS- one cross-platform binary image and a small virtual machine executable for each platform- one for 95/98/ME/XP/2k/XP/Vista/7/2003/2008; one for WinCE, one for OS X, one for Linux x86, etc.; (0.5-2 MB) for each platform. You can even boot onto bare metal, if you're hardcore.

3) It's Smalltalk. Birthplace of most buzz-worthy Ruby features...

4) Syntax Highlight and some level of intellisense is good built-in.

5) Free as in speech and beer.

Smalltalk isn't for everyone, but it's my personal fave. The fact that I can use the same binary image on my XP desktop, Linux server, iPhone and WinCE PDA without recompilation is a great bonus.

Answer 9

i use Instant rails with netbeans from my stik

Answer 10

Please have a look at ideone.com - supports 40+ langugages

Answer 11

We are actively developing an online development environment at http://gnymb.us. This may suit your needs when it's ready.