What TADS 3 library and code editor do you use?

Authoring TADS
1
  • Adv3
  • Adv3lite
  • VSCode
  • Workbench on Windows
  • Workbench on Linux/Mac via WINE/etc.
  • Other Editor (specify in replies, and if there’s a T3 syntax extension)

0 voters

Hello folks, I’m curious what people are using lately. You can select more than one option (if I set this up right). Thanks for sharing.

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2

I use adv3 (+/- an ever-growing stable of modules).

For editing I mostly use vi. Or I guess vim, if we’re being pedantic. For situations where I have to make consistent changes project-wide I generally use atom.

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3

I use Visual Studio Code with Tomas’ vscode-tads3tools.

Jens

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4

As editor, I use Kate, whose has an excellent syntax evidentiation.

5

Seconded

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6

I very much enjoy the standard TADS 3 Windows IDE. The syntax highlighting and auto indentation provide a lot of feedback on errors (mostly punctuation) during the writing process and save me a lot of time.

For Inform 6, I prefer VScode. Its built in terminal window is perfect for testing while writing and it works well on my RPi. Inform 7’s IDE is incredible. I just prefer TADS and I6. BTW, the new version of I7 works well on the RPi too! :slight_smile:

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7

This might be an unpopular opinion around here, but don’t see the appeal of the Workbench at all. The UI really shows its age and the ide doesn’t do much a normal text editor + terminal window can’t. Plus, workbench tends to clutter your makefile unnecessarily.

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8

I find the interactive debugger in Workbench to be somewhat essential. Although at the same time, the total lack of autocomplete is annoying.

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9

I’ve often wondered how different my TADS life would have been with access to a debugger (on Mac)…

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10

Ditto on linux. So far I’ve been able to reverse engineer from lines of code but it is not painless. Or quick.

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11

Eh. Probably not too different.

I can solve 98% of errors without a debugger in less than 10 seconds, usually. Though I apparently have this weird curse that causes debuggers to go missing, so I’ve had to learn—out of necessity—to do without.

Literally the only language that can successfully open a debugger is Java, through the NetBeans IDE. Otherwise I’ve not had access to a debugger in Python, JavaScript, C, C++, or TADS 3. The C# debugger, meanwhile, hates me and refuses to open at all.

However, with that said, would I appreciate having a working debugger in TADS 3? Absolutely.

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12

For python, consider Wing IDE. I use it from time to time with good results.

(Even so, I am not a fan of Python - I find the indentation fiddly.)

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13

Same. I try to solve the problem with anything else first, lol.

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14

I’d probably use the debugger more if it was standalone/usable from the command line. But in practice the only thing it does that really seems useful is the ability to set breakpoints and step through execution, and so I end up faking them with my own roll-your-own debugging methods.

If T3 had a debugger like gdb and a memory profiler like valgrind that would be very cool, but I’m probably one of like 1% of the already tiny T3 user base that cares about that kind of thing.

15

I use Kate (Linux KDE desktop.) It supports syntax highlighting for TADS 3.

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