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The SciTE editor comes with the Ruby installer, and it's just a generic code editor. I installed FreeRIDE but it seems a little buggy; it actually just crashed on me for no reason. :(

So my question is...

What IDE / Editor do you use for Ruby on Windows? What are the best editors out there?

Chris Pietschmann
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  • possible duplicate of [Best editor or IDE for Ruby?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/59968/best-editor-or-ide-for-ruby) – Pablo Fernandez Jul 22 '11 at 02:45
  • Check this question: [Best Editor for Ruby?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/59968/best-editor-for-ruby) – Christian C. Salvadó Nov 02 '08 at 01:54
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    I can't see why this was closed. There might not be a canonical answer, but it is certainly a valid question in the context of "software tools commonly used by programmers", and it can certainly be answered with "[supporting] facts, references, or specific expertise". The "soliciting debates" or "engendering arguments or extended discussion" is a risk any answer on any question has, so is not a valid rationale for closing what is a good, on-topic question. Also, inconveniently, the two questions linked to above have been deleted. So Stackoverflow has been failed by its volunteer police, here. – Adam Cameron May 25 '13 at 08:46
  • +1. Though it does not have a definite right or wrong answer, it is a useful question. I have currently been asked to work on Ruby temporarily because the person maintaining the Ruby scripts of the system has left. I have no clue about what tools are the best for working with Ruby. – RuntimeException Jul 30 '15 at 13:40

20 Answers20

14

Netbeans IDE is quite good.

Alexander Kojevnikov
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    Unfortunately in Netbeans 7.0 there's no longer ruby support, nor could I find where the community theoretically is building it: http://wiki.netbeans.org/RubySupport – BeepDog Oct 31 '11 at 15:42
  • Please consider adding your name to this petition to ask Oracle to re-include Ruby/Rails support in Netbeans: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/re-include-ruby-support-in-netbeans/ – mydoghasworms Mar 04 '13 at 11:25
5

You can use either Eclipse with the Aptana Plugin and then install the Aptana RadRails plugin or you can use Aptana as a stand-alone application.

I like to use Eclipse with the Aptana plugins because Aptana seems to provide the best support for HTML, Javascript, and CSS that I've seen in an Eclipse plugin, and you still get the full benefit of using the core Eclipse application.

Noah Goodrich
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3

E-Texteditor is great.

Orion Edwards
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2

i think sublime text editor is best for pure ruby files.

its lite and fast.

Abhishek Patel
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2

I have been using Notepad++ for a while now. It has the basic features I want:

  • Drag & Drop file opening.
  • Detects changes to open files on the disk.
  • Ruby syntax highlighting (works out of the box).
David Grayson
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2

Farawla code editor.

Disclaimer: I built it.

ANaimi
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1

RedCar. It's a Ruby editor. And it's free.

brian d foy
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claudius
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  • Bad editor. I encountered three problems after using RedCar for a minute: it doesn't support opening files by dragging them into it. It took about 5 seconds to open the first file I tried. The Ctrl++ shortcut for increasing the font size is broken. – David Grayson Dec 03 '12 at 05:31
1

Eclipse with RDT plugin.

Ray Lu
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1

I've been using Aptana Studio, it's quite good, with lots of features (even in the free version, you probably don't need Pro).

If you want something more minimalistic, there is E Text Editor, which supports TextMate bundles (not free, though).

daniel
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1

Your individual needs should dictate whether/when you use a full-featured IDE or a lighter weight code editor.

For lightweight tasks, I still prefer SciTE, tweaking the settings and functions to meet my own needs.

For larger projects I use the NetBeans Ruby IDE. I tried NetBeans a couple years ago and wasn't impressed. But they've come a long way since, especially with regards to Ruby and Rails. Nothing against Eclipse/Aptana; NetBeans just seems to fit me better.

Textmate is very popular on Mac OS, and E (not free, but inexpensive) is the closest thing to it on Windows, and supports TextMate bundles. It seems to have gained many fans.

David Mullet
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After seeing alot of screenshots from Mac-guys writing ruby-code in TextMate I went for the E-TextEditor and I'm very pleased with it.

At first I didn't find any option in the GUI for changing the default tab-size from 4 to 2 but today I found it down on the statusbar :)

JHiller
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RubyMine is really great, even though it's $99 for commercial purposes (there are free flavors available) I think it's well worth the money.

It has great support for HAML/SASS, the most common revision control systems, console tools, templates, keyboard shortcuts, etc...

Andrew Grimm
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revgum
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1

You can find many IDE's for rails in windows such as

. For me NetBeans is the best IDE for rails developments but it may depend on your familiar IDE because earlier I have many experience with java developments in NetBeans. So if u have experience in NetBeans it could be the best but if you have experience with Visual Studio then Ruby in Steel would be good choice.

Coder
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0

I use NetBeans most of time, but occasionally Intype fit my needs for some quick code editing.

Intype has a simple project manager, also support bundles and snippets.

William Notowidagdo
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Ruby in Steel, is integrated in visual studio, but not free of charge ($199)

Daniel Kreiseder
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0

Textmate from Macromates has a clone call e-texteditor

I totally recommend it, it is actually made by a friend of the textmate author

Trausti Thor
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0

Another vote for E from http://www.e-texteditor.com

0

Vim with the help of a few plugins (Rails.vim, Project and Fuzzy File Finder Textmate) Really makes for a good--and cross platform--editor.

If you like the plugins but can't take the keybindings there is always Cream.

csexton
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0

rored is really nice for rails apps on windows

rogerdpack
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-5

Go for Eclipse for everything. I tried Netbeans but it sucks! It doesn't even have a word-wrap feature! Can you believe that?

ashokgelal
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    What is this obsession with word-wrap? I've seen several posts from people dumping an editor using lack of word-wrap as the primary reason. If you need to wrap your code, your lines are too long. – JesperE Nov 02 '08 at 06:43
  • I can believe it. Word wrap is trashy. – Joel May 21 '09 at 03:00