Codetown ::: a software developer's community
Just started with Ruby on Rails ( Rails 3) and I'm trying to figure out the best I.D.E. Here's what I've found so far:
Eclipse / DLTK - while researching this on the web I came across a number of broken links which was a bad sign and when I did get it installed I wasn't able to debug using it. Ater some more web searches I came across a few posts that said basically the Ruby plug-in had run out of steam and was not being pursued.
JetBrains/RubyMine - this installed and works, so far the *looks* like the best bet. The instant database diagramming looks really cool, do other I.D.E.s support this?
Ecliplse/Aptana - just got this installed, Will try debugging with it soon.
Does anyone have recommendations for their favorite I.D.E.? I don't need anythgin too fancy, as long as I can set a breakpoint and view variables and the call stack I'm happy. And it helps if its a free product.'
Tags:
Kevin, What have you found out so far with Eclipse/Aptana and JetBrains/RubyMine? Have you experimented with any other IDE's?
With Eclipse/Aptana I *think* I got installed, but the online references that showed how to start a debugging session accessed menu options that were not present so I was unable to use it. So far RubyMine looks the best, it also checks the syntax of of .html.erb ( Embedded RuBy ) files and generates a diagram of your DB tables, highlighting any relationships that look hinky. Worth noting RubyMine costs money, while the others I've looked at are open source and frankly I think the developers for the free plugins ran out of steam. The profit motive at work.
Codetown is a social network. It's got blogs, forums, groups, personal pages and more! You might think of Codetown as a funky camper van with lots of compartments for your stuff and a great multimedia system, too! Best of all, Codetown has room for all of your friends.
Created by Michael Levin Dec 18, 2008 at 6:56pm. Last updated by Michael Levin May 4, 2018.
Check out the Codetown Jobs group.

OpenAI Frontier is an enterprise platform for building, deploying, and managing AI agents, designed to make AI agents reliable, scalable, and integrated into real company systems and workflows.
By Sergio De Simone
jQuery 4 has launched, celebrating 20 years of innovation in web development. This major update modernizes the library by removing legacy code and outdated browser support while ensuring simplicity and performance. With enhanced compatibility for modern build tools and new security features, jQuery 4 remains a practical choice for developers, bolstering productivity while maintaining its legacy.
By Daniel Curtis
The OpenTelemetry open-source observability project recently published a comprehensive guide titled "Demystifying OpenTelemetry" aimed at helping organizations understand, adopt, and scale observability using the OpenTelemetry standard.
By Craig Risi
Alex Radovici explains the shift from C-ABI and scripting to the Wasm Component Model (WASI Preview 2). He shares how to build secure plugin systems that run at near-native speed across Rust, TypeScript, and C++. Architects will learn about Wasm Interface Types (WIT), resource management, and the practical lessons learned from deploying sandboxed extensions in safety-critical environments.
By Alex Radovici
JDK 26, the first non-LTS release since JDK 25, has reached its second release candidate with a final set of 10 new features, in the form of JEPs, that can be separated into five categories: Core Java Library, HotSpot, Java Language Specification, Security Library and Client Library. We examine JDK 26 and predict what features have, or could be, targeted for JDK 27.
By Michael Redlich
© 2026 Created by Michael Levin.
Powered by