The Ultimate Web Based IDE
For those pressed for time the ultimate online web IDE is a combination of Shellinabox , GNU Screen and Vim .
If you've got a bit more time read on, find out why a solution for quick fixes has turned into to my favourite way to code.
A basic development iteration
I'm usually developing the following repeatedly through development/maintenace of a Ruby on Rails application.
- Have 1 tab open in firefox with shellinabox and make file edits using Vim.
- Have another open tab in firefox with my application running and test the changes.
- Repeat the first 2 steps until the fix is ready.
- Run the unit tests
- If all is OK commit changes to git.
- Push changes to production which in my case is Heroku.
Using Vim, screen and shellinabox I can run through this cycle quickly. After a while I realised that coding through the browser was no slower than coding in an IDE.
I also like the idea of being able to pick up from where I left off whilst moving from one computer to another.
I now code exclusively in VIM through shellinabox.
Setting up the IDE
Install shellinabox. I'm on debian so I used Install shellinaox on debian. I then point a subdomain to the shellinabox localhost url and port.Install screen - sudo apt-get install screen
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