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General Discussion

kevinthecoder
kevinthecoder
10,791 Points
Posted by kevinthecoder
kevinthecoder
10,791 Points

Need recommendations for using alternate local program that is similar to Workspaces.

Everyone,

Using Workspaces in Treehouse has been great. Along with IRB on my new Mac (10.10), I have also started using sublimetext2 text editor for putting together some basic Ruby code challenges and working with some local colleagues in my area. Please note that I am a total newbie to programming and am trying to make a transition from an existing technical career path to the web development path and am still learning everything from scratch. So even though I'm learning a ton daily, it is going slowly and every single day is a constant learning struggle/challenge/win with all areas (Ruby, CSS, HTML, Javascript). Between my Ruby pickaxe 1.8 book, recommendations for other local developers, meetings, Treehouse, gems, installing Dash, using Stackoverflow and just general searches, I have my hands full. I am averaging anywhere from 4 to 8 hours of study per day at 6 days per week.

I would like to download/install an alternate program locally on my computer that is similar in features to Workspaces; this would be used both in Treehouse as well as eventual creation of websites, Ruby coding and so on. In Treehouse workspaces, I noticed that there is a fork option in the top right of each new Workspace and so just like github, I am assuming that I can download each new workspace to my local computer (I haven't clicked on it yet to verify though). I would like something that is similar to Workspaces and user-friendly. For example, I am seeking something where I can import and see all of my files/photos on the left and where I am able to drill down into the various directories, go directly to the file that I want to manipulate and so on. Since there is practically a new Treehouse workspace every two or three sections in each track that I have taken, I do recognize that this is a lot of downloaded data and that it may be better to only use this new program for my local non-Treehouse stuff only (i.e. code challenges and my own eventual creation of webpages).

For you experienced folks and for the ones that are already in the field as a Web Developer, what do you recommend based on my limited skillset and background listed above? Also, what do some of you currently use? I did some searching and googling and I am still not able to find anything similar. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

ellie adam
ellie adam
26,377 Points

I use my text editor. Becasuse I feel more comfortable in my atom. :) Before atom I used sublime text editor and notepad++ these are best.

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-text-editors-1564907215

http://www.creativebloq.com/netmag/14-great-text-editors-web-designers-81412411

I hope this helps! Cheers!

3 Answers

Ben Brenton
Ben Brenton
266 Points
Ben Brenton
Ben Brenton
266 Points

I use an app called TextWrangler, which is free on App Store for Apple users. Having previously only used Notepad, I found TW much better as it highlights script appropriately for easier syntax correction. You can also choose to wrap text if you want easier to read lines. It isn't quite as good as Workspaces, but certainly worth a try and see if it works for you.

jamiemarsden2
jamiemarsden2
2,935 Points
jamiemarsden2
jamiemarsden2
2,935 Points

Personally I'm a coda 2 fan which is a paid editor but don't be put off by editors which are free, some are just as good as the paid versions.

Try [http://brackets.io/] it has everything you could want its free and its backed by adobe so it should be around for years to come.

kevinthecoder
kevinthecoder
10,791 Points
kevinthecoder
kevinthecoder
10,791 Points

Thanks, guys! I'm going to take a closer look at both atom and brackets.io . I just read about atom and believe atom has a privacy issue (google something built in) and some information is intentionally shared (including a hashed version of your computer name; ouch) unless you opt out; it appears that this information sharing can be removed with a simple command while inside atom. I have not checked into brackets yet but it also looks good.

On a separate note, I have absolutely zero interest in VIM (it was so confusing while trying to figure it out).

ellie adam
ellie adam
26,377 Points

lol

Ryan Drake
Ryan Drake
12,587 Points
Ryan Drake
Ryan Drake
12,587 Points

Hi Kevin,

I recently switched from Sublime to Atom and absolutely love it! It's so simple to use, and you can install some truly great packages that can potentially turn it into an IDE (integrated development environment).