Before you say yes, of course, listen to what I want.
Lately I am doing a lot of Python programming, using WingIDE
(I guess
people who read this blog are already bored by me mentioning Python).
And now that I am trying to write a little dashboard widget
which is nothing more than HTML, JS and CSS (btw Apple also brought up the cool <canvas> element for their dashboard clock) I realize what I am missing.
The WingIDE has a feature that I call dive into. It let's you dive into the
function/variable/class/etc. that your cursor is on. Actually it's exactly like
the "step into" in your debugger. It simply goes to the place where this item (your cursor is on)
is defined, also if it is located in another file than the current one or any of the
opened files. It just opens the file and jumps to the proper line.
Another item the WingIDE has is the auto-bookmarking. That is simply like a click and "dive" history. When you dive into a piece of code and want to jump back to where you came from (as I mostly do), you simply jump back in history. Just like in a browser. In this IDE you can define the shortcuts for it, which are the same as in my browser, of course. This allows very well to "just look how the function does it" and keep on working. You simply dive into and go back in the history.
What does all that have to do with HTML, CSS and JavaScript editing?
A hell lot I think. I guess you got my point by now. First thing where I realized I miss it was a simple define in a JavaScript file. I could not find the variable definition in the current JS file. But where did it come from? Well, just go back to the HTML file where all the JS files get included and look at all the files (or use a search over all files). That can really cost some time. All I wanted was a dive into from the current file to get to the defintion.
The same thing about CSS. There is a tag <div class="popup">. Now I would like to know what the CSS define for popup looks like. I open the CSS file do a search for the class popup. Ok, quite feasible for simple setups, but it could be easier. Simply press the shortcut for dive into the CSS class and you get there at an instance, like a finger snap.
The drawbacks of providing this are of course the effort that it would cost to implement it. The pages might be very dynamic also the includes etc. And the web environment might had to be simulated (or used) in some cases to detect the actual connection between the different items and/or files. But hey we got enough power in our computers and the applications we develop become more high level every day. So tools like those should be basic development tools. Or not?
Just a thought ...
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