Emacs as Erlang IDE for newbies

[egarrulo]

2009/12/23 Michael Turner <leap@REDACTED>
>
> Why should a newbie be fine with just a syntax-highlighting editor?
> Newbies
> do need more help from tools, not less. I maintain that an easy way to
> compile and run projects and a source-level debugger are vital.
>
> me:
> I'm starting to think that's the best choice for now -- no need to call
> it an editor, just say "here's a program that helps you write, change
> and run Erlang programs."
>

Bravo! That would be a smart move ;-)

Indeed, who cares about editors? They just need "a program that helps /them/
write, change
and run Erlang programs."

On the face of it, Wrangler might seem a strange choice -- for, surely,
> refactoring tools are for Real Programmers?  But maybe not.  Maybe
> beginners should have them at the beginning.  Some common refactorings
> are very simple, like "change this function name everywhere."  I wish
> I'd had that when I was starting out.
>

Agreed.


> As for Flymake, I really don't buy this idea that syntax error messages
> from the Erlang shell are now adequately clear.  Hardly a day goes by
> that I don't have to peel myself off the ceiling, shouting, "'Syntax
> error before: &'?!  Be specific!"  I want to know more.
>
> And so will noobs.
>

That's not a wrong thought.

I've suggested Emacs because, besides its uncluttered interface, you could
tailor its configuration and its packages' ones to suit your needs, exposing
as much functionality as you wish.