Datasheet

Chapter 1: Taking the Web to the Next Level

Introducing Aptana

One particular programmer’s editor has really taken over the Web develop-

ment world in recent years. Aptana is a full-featured programmer’s editor

based on the powerful and popular Eclipse editor for Java programming.

Aptana has a lot to recommend:

✓ Extensive built-in support for Web languages: Aptana comes out of the

box with support for HTML/XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.

✓ Syntax highlighting: Most programmer’s editors have syntax highlight-

ing, but Aptana is especially capable in this area. Sometimes you’ll have

the same physical document with three or more different languages

active, and Aptana can usually sense by context whether you’re writing

CSS, XHTML, or JavaScript code.

✓ Code completion: This is one of Aptana’s most impressive features.

When you start writing a line of code, Aptana will pop up a menu of sug-

gestions. This helps you avoid mistakes, so you don’t have to memorize

all the various CSS attributes and JavaScript commands exactly.

✓ Error detection: Aptana can look over your document as you create it

and highlight some areas in real time. This feature can help you write

better code, and can also help hone your skills at writing code.

✓ AJAX support: AJAX is a relatively new technology, and most editors do

not directly support it. Aptana has a number of features that help you

with AJAX, including built-in support of all the major AJAX libraries.

Aptana is completely free. I’ve placed a link to Aptana (and indeed all the

tools mentioned here) on the Web site for this book. You can see Aptana in

action in Figure 1-11.

My personal setup varies from machine to machine, but generally I use

Aptana for my heavy programming, with notepad++ as a quick editor on

Windows, and emacs as my primary basic text editor on Linux or Mac

machines. Of course, you’ll develop your own preferences as you go. All

these editors are free and available at www.aharrisbooks.net/jad, so

they’re worthy of some experimentation.

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