Hi everyone,
Last night I uploaded an initial release of an application I’ve been
working on - IronEditor. This is a simple application designed to make
it easier to start coding against the DLR based languages, out of the
box it supports IronPython and IronRuby.
The reason why I decided to build this is because Visual Studio
Integration for the languages is a long way off and playing around
creating code to for the languages is painful via the provided console
applications. As such, the aim of the application is to provide a very
lightweight way to edit and execute code, great while learning the
languages and giving demos.
Blog Post:
http://blog.benhall.me.uk/2008/07/announcing-ironeditor-editor-for.html
Download: http://www.codeplex.com/IronEditor
Build: 1.0.0.46
This is a release early with not too many advanced features but it can
execute code! 
Over the next few weeks and months, I will be adding
more features and implementing additional parts of the Hosting API. I
will also try to blog about the actual implementation of IronEditor.
Any feedback or feature suggestions you have on the application would be
great!
Thanks
Ben
Blog.BenHall.me.uk
Microsoft MVP (C#)
Don’t mean to be a party-pooper - this project looks cool and could
provide
a really good alternative to VS for a range of developers.
But how about writing a plug-in for SharpDevelop instead? This would
give
you a head start on a lot of the base-line functionality and let you
concentrate on the Iron… stuff.
Pete
Hi Peter,
It’s definitely a valid suggestion! The reason why I didn’t go down
the route of plugging into SharpDevelop \ MonoDevelop is because I
wanted to provide something quick, lightweight and easy to start using
without having to install too many additional items. I want the
application to be focused on the DLR and dynamic languages, not sure
hacked on the side. If I want to write a quick Ruby script, I don’t
want to wait 10 minutes for the IDE to load and create a new solution
etc - I just want a way to write the code, maybe debug, maybe unit
test and execute. Hopefully, IronEditor will provide that support.
I’m not 100% confident you could easily fit a dynamic language into an
IDE developed with statically typed languages in mind without either
changing a lot of the core IDE functionality, or not taking full
advantage of the language itself. It will be interesting to see how
the team copes with VS integration.
Maybe I am going down the wrong route, if there is a strong feeling
for having this integrated instead of a standalone application then I
will take a much closer look.
Thanks for the comment.
Ben
On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 1:13 PM, Peter Bacon D.
Ben H. wrote:
I’m not 100% confident you could easily fit a dynamic language into an
IDE developed with statically typed languages in mind without either
changing a lot of the core IDE functionality, or not taking full
advantage of the language itself.
It can be done 
Standard Ruby (with all the bells and whistles -
editing/debugging/intellisense etc.):
http://www.sapphiresteel.com/Ruby-In-Steel-Developer-Overview
IronRuby (editing/design - more stuff coming later):
http://www.sapphiresteel.com/Ruby-In-Steel-For-IronRuby
Good luck with the editor. There will always be some people who prefer
an IDE and others who prefer an editor. I wish you well.
all the best
Huw
If it is Silverlight API based it “should” run on Mono as well.
2008/7/21 Oleg T. [email protected]:
But that isn’t at this time is it? AFAIK mono currently only supports
Silverlight 1.0 or am I wrong in my assumption?
On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 7:17 AM, Stefan D. [email protected]
Hi guys,
Thanks for the comments. DevHawk (Harry Pierson) mentioned on twitter
that he would have liked to see the application developed onto of WPF.
It would have added coolness (3D error syntax checking?), but there is
the added problem of Mono support which is why I went for WinForms.
The Engine is separated from the UI, so WPF could be added at a later
date, well almost - I think a bit too much logic is in the UI at the
moment 
As for Silverlight, yes this would be cool (more cool than WPF!)
however Moonlight’s current “support for Silverlight 2.0 is in
pre-Alpha stage”. I would love to have a Silverlight UI on top of this
(more than WPF) but I wanted to get WinForms app out the way (which I
think is more useful if not as cool). Maybe when the WinForms app has
the core functionality in place, I can look at doing something similar
for Silverlight.
Any other comments, suggestions or feature requests please let me know.
Thanks
Ben
This is cool! There is definitely a need for a lightweight cross
platform IronRuby/IronPython (or even any DLR language) editor.
I wish it was based on WPF, but then it won’t run on Mono
Let’s coordinate our efforts?
–
Oleg
Yep, that’s true. Moonlight today only has basic support for sl2 stuff.
However, if based on silverlight apis then eventually moonlight will run
it. And, a moonlight app can be run just like any desktop app on Linux.
On Jul 21, 2008, at 3:57 AM, “Ivan Porto C.”
<[email protected]mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
But that isn’t at this time is it? AFAIK mono currently only supports
Silverlight 1.0 or am I wrong in my assumption?
On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 7:17 AM, Stefan D.
<mailto:[email protected][email protected]mailto:[email protected]>
wrote:
If it is Silverlight API based it “should” run on Mono as well.
2008/7/21 Oleg T.
<mailto:[email protected][email protected]mailto:[email protected]>:
This is cool! There is definitely a need for a lightweight cross
platform IronRuby/IronPython (or even any DLR language) editor.
I wish it was based on WPF, but then it won’t run on Mono 
Let’s coordinate our efforts?
–
Oleg
Ben H. wrote:
As for Silverlight, yes this would be cool (more cool than WPF!)
however Moonlight’s current “support for Silverlight 2.0 is in
pre-Alpha stage”. I would love to have a Silverlight UI on top of this
(more than WPF) but I wanted to get WinForms app out the way (which I
think is more useful if not as cool). Maybe when the WinForms app has
the core functionality in place, I can look at doing something similar
for Silverlight.
Hi Ben,
I’d put in a big vote for an IronRuby editor done up in Silverlight.
I’ve got a bunch of 500 or so users who are struggling to get a grasp on
IronRuby who would thank you as well, we get lots of Ruby usage
questions on our forums
http://www.mysipswitch.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6 (that link is also
for a free, open source project so no plugging is involved here). Any
kind of syntax highlighting and/or test execution would definitely help
people who aren’t that used to scripting let alone Ruby to get a handle
on things.
Regards,
Aaron
It’s a shame Silverlight doesn’t offer the same flexibility.
Well, I say that. I have had Silverlight working in this way before so
maybe I could get it to work.
On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 3:58 PM, Jimmy S.
Hi Aaron C.
Sounds like you have some interesting requirements. Could you please
ping me offline? Email Blog {at} BenHall .me .uk
I would be interested to hear what your have to say and your scenarios
in more depth.
Cheers
Ben