Java Cookbook

Editing and Compiling with a Color-Highlighting Editor

Problem

You are tired of command-line tools but not ready for an IDE.

Solution

Use a color-highlighting editor.

Discussion

It’s less than an IDE (see the next recipe), but more than a command line. What is it? It’s an editor with Java support. Tools such as TextPad (http://www.textpad.com), Visual Slick Edit, and others are low-cost windowed editors (primarily for MS-Windows) that have some amount of Java recognition built in, and the ability to compile from within the editor. TextPad has quite a number of file types that it recognizes, including batch files and shell scripts, C, C++, Java, JSP (see Section 18.7), JavaScript (a client-side web technology), and many others. For each of these, it uses color highlighting to show which part of the file being edited comprises keywords, comments, quoted strings, and so on. This is very useful in spotting when part of your code has been swallowed up by an unterminated /* comment or a missing quote. While this isn’t the same as the deep understanding of Java that a full IDE might possess, experience has shown that it definitely aids programmer productivity. TextPad also has a “compile Java” command and a “run external program” command. Both of these have the advantage of capturing the entire command output into a window, which may be easier to scroll than a command-line window on some platforms. On the other hand, you don’t see the command results until the program terminates, which ...