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up vote 214 down vote favorite
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What is your preference when it comes to editing/debugging large JavaScript projects, containing number of relatively big JS files?

Please list your choice, why do you like it compared to others; If it is already listed you can up vote it if you like.

Summary:

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locked by Gordon♦ Oct 20 '13 at 20:50

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closed as not constructive by Robert, duffymo, Marko, Samuel Neff, Roger Pate Oct 13 '10 at 5:48

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, visit the help center for guidance.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
1  
I think Webmatrix from Microsoft can be a good solution. microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/next –  Vivek Aug 4 '12 at 11:10
    
Guys, this question is not deleted and I hope not going to be deleted. It is just closed. It is normal and OK, because leaving these opinion-based poll questions open will create flaming and suggest to new users that such questions are OK. They are not accepted any more and kept as legacy. No one is prohibiting to revisit it and use information kept here. meta.stackexchange.com/questions/173549/… –  sashkello Oct 20 '13 at 12:31
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5 Answers 5

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Vim is my choice. IDEs cannot help you debug Javascript applications. Text editors are sufficient and fast.

But Vim's default configuration does not support Javascript well. Add-ons are prefered. You need a better indentation, Taglist for view and navigate through the outline, and custom syntax definitions for ctags (backend for Taglist) to support javascript better. To make a ctags support Javascript well, you need to tweak it yourself. There is no best solution available now. And, a little hack should be done to Taglist plugin/Vim's script for Javascript, I don't remember which of that, sorry.

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4  
NOTE There is now an easy and neat way to get JavaScript tag-listing and syntax checking for Vim using Mozilla's DoctorJS (formerly jsctags), community-driven jshint.com which is way better than JSLint, Syntastic, and TagBar Vim plugins (Note this is not the infamous unmaintained TagList). See my answers for this question and this question more info. –  Ory Band May 5 '11 at 7:24
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Eclipse has a plugin to connect the debugger to v8. Plus all the other standard IDE features, this makes it perfect for Node.JS. –  OrangeDog Oct 6 '11 at 17:03
31  
IDEs cannot help you debug Javascript applications. <- This is clearly false. In fact, it's probably easier to debug javascript than, for example, PHP - for several reasons. –  Christian Aug 24 '12 at 11:01
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An alternative to Vim, is Sublime Text. Much more user friendly, and I would also argue that it is more powerful than Vim. Google it ;) –  kornfridge Aug 27 '12 at 9:09
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OMG, I always hear VIM, VIM, VIM for everything.... –  Exception Oct 8 '12 at 12:21
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up vote -4 down vote

I code in MacVim or jEdit and do debugging in Firebug.

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32  
Debugging in Firebug wouldn't really be applicable here, because Node.js is server-side. –  Austin Hyde Oct 13 '10 at 1:15
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up vote 66 down vote

There's a cloud-based IDE specifically for developing JavaScript applications, called Cloud9.

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I love cloud9! it is not finished yet, but it looks very promising! –  Elmer Aug 16 '11 at 1:51
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I wish there was Vim plugin for cloud9! –  Art Sep 6 '11 at 1:45
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@Art, they incorporated vim style editing recently, check the blog –  Hortinstein Jan 10 '12 at 8:41
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Url is obsolote. New one is at c9.io –  iboware Apr 18 '12 at 15:55
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Cloud9 IDE is no longer 'in development' it is a full blown cross-platform IDE now. It has many more uses than just 'an IDE'. A quick example is to provide INSTANTLY a whole dev environment without having to configure or install anything at all. –  Marcel Valdez Orozco Jul 1 '13 at 0:00
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up vote 2 down vote

MacVim, with a heavily customized .vimrc. To me, there's no IDE out there that compares to how efficient one can be in Vim, if you properly use it. This is a tad subjective, as really, IDE's and editors come down to preference. You have to find your favorite. Find an IDE/editor that you like the best, and stick with it.

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up vote 11 down vote

I use Komodo Edit currently, since it's good for a handful of things such as pointing out some coding errors, and with the quick open extension it's really easy to get around projects. It also supports Ctrl+click to jump to definitions in JavaScript to some extent. Version 8 (April 2013) supports Node.js debugging.

However, it's not without its quirks and limitations. It's far from perfect, but it does a decent job for what I do most of the time.

But yeah, I'll also +1 Cloud9 IDE; I'm very interested to see where that gets eventually.

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1  
Version 7 (currently in alpha stage) appears to have some very solid Node.js support: activestate.com/blog/2011/06/nodejs-support-komodo-7-alpha-3 –  nickf Sep 13 '11 at 6:17
    
Komodo Edit(Free) doesn't support node.js debugging. But Komodo IDE (costs) does. –  Rap Sep 26 '13 at 19:42
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