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Advice on a [learning] JavaScript IDE?

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widgewunner:
If they really want to know JavaScript (in the Neo: "I know Kung-Fu!" sense), then the IDE/Editor is of only secondary concern to actually learning the language! There are many good books on JS, but the best one IMHO (if you only get one), is JavaScript the Definitive Guide by David Flanagan. And guess what? There is a brand new edition about to come out! (looks like May) It's going to cover all the new HTML5 hoopla.

Also recommended are:
[*]DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith.
[*]JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford.
[*]High Performance JavaScript by Nicholas C. Zakas
[*]Bulletproof Ajax by Jeremy Keith.
[*]JavaScript Patterns by Stoyan Stefanov.
[/list]

I really like Jeremy Keith's work in particular (very clear writing style) and "DOM scripting" is an excellent first book. It is a quick read which covers important best practices including the notions of progressive enhancement and graceful degradation. His follow-up "Bulletproof Ajax" extends these concepts to the world of Ajax as he presents his notion of "Hijax". (i.e. A site should work just fine even when Javascript is turned off.)

Regarding the IDE, I'm no expert, but I just use a plain old text editor (EditPadPro) and debug using Opera's built-in Dragonfly JavaScript debugger (which I prefer over FireBug). And of course, I always keep a copy of "The Definitive Guide" within arms reach!

barney:
If they really want to know JavaScript (in the Neo: "I know Kung-Fu!" sense), then the IDE/Editor is of only secondary concern to actually learning the language!
-widgewunner (March 29, 2011, 08:43 PM)
--- End quote ---
There's no gainsaying that, but what they want is a tool to assist them in that endeavor.  JavaScript tends to be overly - to my mind - verbose, and if there's a true debugger for it, I've yet to find it.  Given that, an IDE that can point out possible syntax errors could be of inestimable value. 

'Twould seem, however, that such an IDE has yet to be devised.  Logs help, but they are only truly useful if you already know a language.
 
Logs show an end result, but they tend not to show the interim steps to that result.  A decent, dedicated editor could point out potential errors that would not show up in a server log.  There may be a few online, but online services are seldom satisfactory for such purposes - not everyone can be online when need arises.  (Being able to work on code while on a plane or train has saved my ass more than once.)

Hence the search for an IDE or intelligent editor.  It's not to replace learning the language, it is to enhance the process.

widgewunner:
Oh yeah, and don't forget about: JSLint by Douglas Crockford.

This free tool is easily integrated into an editor/IDE. (Finds lots of stupid syntax errors.)

barney:
JSLint has saved me many hours in the past.  (I tend to hose JS's camel spelling, especially since I rarely use JS in my primary endeavors.)  However, it is one of those online tools of which I spoke.  While that is usually acceptable for me, this young couple is on a data-capped connection, so online services are, for the most part, anathema to them.  (JSLint also, the last time I used it, has trouble with included .js files - cannot see a directory structure on a local drive, so it cannot detect the almost inevitable path errors/typos.)

mwb1100:
it is one of those online tools of which I spoke.  While that is usually acceptable for me, this young couple is on a data-capped connection, so online services are, for the most part, anathema to them.
-barney (March 30, 2011, 10:23 AM)
--- End quote ---

You can pull JSLint down to run locally: https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSLint

I'm not sure how easy it would be to set up.

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