[SOFTWARE] peppermint editor

[lewislepton]

hello all,

i like many others use sublime. it is nice, but for myself im not completely happy with it. but im not going to go into that, because i am having my prayers answered with an editor i got when it first came out called - peppermint.

now, let me first just say, peppermint is only for the mac. also i am not the dev for this, im just a fan
but i looked at peppermint as my sublime killer when it first came out, about october/november 2014.
one, it allows for insane amount of languages right off the bat
two, it allows you to build plugins
and three, you can make them in JS/coffeescript, and not python [which i do not like python ;)]

but just today, he has released beta 10 of version 1.5, which allows running of HAXE code, not OPENFL, yet. but with a plugin it will be possible.
i am constantly bothering the dev, because i like giving ideas [and giving challenges], and we converse as to what would be good. he is very nice, gets back very quickly in his mails and really takes things on board. which is great.
very soon sublime will no longer be on my machine. im going to be converting the haxe sublime plugin too peppermint as well. so then can exclusively use it for haxe and openfl

you can try peppermint for a full 24 hours, so plenty of time to think whether you want it or not. personally this is replacing sublime for me

and just to show you that haxe code is working. here is a screenshot.

[lewislepton]

so dr. kameleon has shown me using OPENFL with it. and ive done it. here it is. loads to do in terms of making a plugin, with auto-complete etc.
this is just using a simple keyboard input with OPENFL, but you can see in the console it works. you have to be focussed on the project.xml sheet to run. but hey, it does work

[lewislepton]

here is a little taster of whats to come in the upcoming update. this is not available yet, just so you know but will be coming soon
this has auto-complete/snippets helping out. right out the box plus has the tab to move to next editable name as well
please excuse the ‘no-color’ thing. dont know why it didnt do color on the gif

[yupswing]

I am a VIM happy user since ages, what can I say, I love it.
I played with Sublime Text for a while and IMHO is a good editor.

This peppermint looks good, it is an interesting project…

BUT

I’ve discovered ATOM few months ago and I moved to it immediately.

It is free, open-source, multi-platform, backed by github, fully hackable (not customisable, hackable!), it has extensions for the haxe ecosystem…

So the question is why stick with proprietary software when there is a huge community putting effort on a brilliant editor?
I thought about buying a Sublime licence at some point, but an open-source project will always be more successful: if tomorrow github dies somebody can get atom and make a fork and keep developing and releasing it.

This is my 5 cent opinion.

[lewislepton]

oh no worries. i actually do have a sublime licence [which i am selling by the way ;)], plus have used atom as well. both were missing something, but thats just me. im not speaking for the peppermint developer or anyone else
cant stand sublime python thing though. i dont like python
i really wanted to make some plugins, but really dont want to start learning a new language just for that

i found peppermint was nice. really nice. it fit with what i wanted, plus the languages it used to make things. im not a coffeescript person myself, but i am a javascript one
and with the latest beta applications have really gone way above what i was looking for, and thats nice

and i do agree, why pay for something that really is free in other respects?
how i see purchasing is that you obviously get the software. but i more see it as that that gives you permission to chat to the devs, you can send your 2 cents etc etc and you can voice an opinion. plus it helps the dev themselves. and in the peppermint one, it is just one guy, who is doing a great job.
this is not the case with sublime, it is more community driven, which is fine. but getting any word as to what is happening is grating at times. that has bothered me.

atom does have a great community, i wont lie, and it is a great piece of software. but there are some things people want out of an editor than others. i do agree atom is nice, though i would say the packages are actually really great. the code, how they are written. but for the editor not so much for myself.

peppermint for myself has filled the gap, a nice gap that i have been looking to fill with an editor

EDIT
im not saying that people SHOULD buy this. but just wanted to give another option of something i am using options are nice

[yupswing]

I am curious to understand what make you prefer peppermint over atom.

If I understood right peppermint use JS/CoffeeScript to write plugins so, and it is a great deal for you since you don’t like the use of python in sublime.

but Atom is the same as it use JS/CoffeeScript to write packages. (all the editor is based on chromium) ( https://atom.io/docs/v0.200.0/hacking-atom-tools-of-the-trade )

I understand the one-to-one with the dev, but Atom is on github, there is an issue tracker, and you can pull requests. It is not the same, but it can be actually a lot powerful.

I am not trying to argue, just try to understand what pro/cons this peppermint has over atom in your opinion, for my own sake

[lewislepton]

ha. no worries man. i dont like arguing either. no point really

i do admit atom is nice. it is. there are some thing which are really just my own silly little things.
i feel atom is a bit ‘big’, it feels sluggish. the package is also incredibly big i think.
its a html application. and whilst that should not be a problem since it uses JS/CS, to me i dont like that. i dont know why
i dont really care too much on the hack side myself. i just need an editor to be just that, and if i can add too it with say a plugin, or to easily make one myself. im happy.
the issues page is also good. but in turn some things might be just ‘hear say’ instead of the right answer for myself that solves the problem. but i can ask the peppermint dev right away and get an answer really quickly

peppermint is going to also allow things like atom packages in a later update. im currently using a private build and it really is nice. which is good, because as i said before, the packages are really nicely made.
peppermint also just feels right to me, and it is constantly being looked at and improved, and public effort is really nice, but sometimes its just good feeding something to 1 person who is lovingly making it. if you get me?
also its really fast and still open to so much more.
in a way, its like sublime. its not open source, but is open to so much more, but in a better language to build with things. and i like that

there is also the non-HAXE stuff as well. node, lua etc. and really making html is AWESOME, that and markdown. because right out the box you get a live preview of it. no plugin needed.
so i type, it changes right away. i like when things like that are looked at right away rather than someone having to do the work, when i feel it should be in there already. maybe im asking for too much, maybe, but really its so useful to just open it right away and start rather than searching for something to help

as said, atom is nice, it really is. but my own personal preference is towards something else. sublime has been on my table for a while, i admit that, but in a way has annoyed me because of the plugin stuff. now i can replace it completely. which is great
but atom is not on my list, i have tried it on many things, but it didnt feel right to me

EDIT
i did just recently delete sublime off my computer to be completely embeded in to peppermint

[yupswing]

Thanks for the answer.
Good on ya mate

[lewislepton]

HA, no worries. though its not me who is developing the software. i just get in contact with the guy to say what is wrong or what can do with looking at in terms of usability.
i take my hat off to the dev though, he is good at what he does, and pretty damn quick

EDIT
were currently going through version 1.5 beta, and whilst it still has its teething problems. it feels really nice. but thats what beta is for, to weed out those little bitty bitches

ANOTHER EDIT
the other thing that he has been looking at more is intellisense for most, if not all languages right off the bat. but that is a massive undertaking.
things like linter and packages which deal with linter have been great. but its all time and really if it works but som far its looking really good. so 1.5 is looking to be quite an update from the public release of 1.4

[drkameleon]

Hi guys!

So… Here I am - this Dr.Kameleon of this… Peppermint.

And happy to see some discussion going on. Really, no matter what, this is what I call “constructive”…

Now, it would be by no means objective to start saying things in favour of my little editor and how awesome it is (which it is, or at least aiming - very ambitiously - to become) and all that…

However, since I played a bit with Haxe and OpenFL and found it really interesting… what would be really beneficial for both sides is if you could just drop some suggestions as to what would make your OpenFL-related dev life a bit easier. Meaning: suggestions/ideas/what-you-need/etc.

And who knows… I may figure something out and add to the existing Peppermint plugin eco-system. So… I’m literally all ears!

Mettā!

---

P.S. Right now, I’m working on extending the API and adding Project/Workspace-specific functionalities. In a few words, a plugin will from now (or very soon) on be able to work on the active “Project” (be it OpenFL, or anything…)

[singmajesty]

I think the baseline is being able to write at “native” speeds, with syntax highlighting, and in a perfect world, with code completion. The Haxe compiler can provide code completion in numerous cases. It isn’t perfect, but it’s great because it does not burden the text editor to have to interpret all of that itself.

A nice command (like Cmd+Enter) to build using the current build platform (Mac, HTML5, Flash) would be nice as well

What is Peppermint written in? (if you don’t mind me asking?)

Thanks

[lewislepton]

well what peppermint has, is that when you make a plugin, or whatever that requires running, the first default one is cmd-R. but when making a plugin you can se it to whatever you want to. so could be cmd-enter, i guess, though have not tried that yet

everything else you said, thumbs up

[drkameleon]

Well, syntax highlighting and basic snippets+autocompletion is already included. Now, if you are talking about autocompletion like “intellisense” - it’s definitely being planned, but it’s not an easy task to complete (and it will most likely involve a live syntax-checker/linter at some point).

As for building, there is already a Run function (implemented as a plugin), but there’s sure room for improvement and even more features (any input or ideas are 100% welcome! )

Last but not least: Peppermint is written in Objective-C/C and JavaScript/CoffeeScript (especially the API). However, if I had to compile a list of all the languages being used at some point (even if we are talking about as few as 4-5 lines of code), then we’d definitely be talking about more than 20+ languages… (true story! lol)

---

P.S. Now as for the idea of open-source vs closed-source (as @yupswing had mentioned), I’m definitely with it. However, devoting 100% of my time (and it is a full-time thing) for something that doesn’t even pay the… bills, couldn’t be possible - and I believe you understand. That’s why I had to resort to Indiegogo - admittedly without any success so far…

[drkameleon]

And… to answer your last question… indirectly from within Peppermint

Peppermint (osxpeppermint)

[lewislepton]

oooh, there are some really sexy things happening in the latest beta of PP. involving openfl too. with its own syntax highlighting and basic auto-complete. really cool stuff

well done dr. kameleon indeed