ActiveState Ships Komodo 7 IDE

ActiveState, a provider of software development environments for dynamic language programmers, has announced version 7 of its Komodo integrated development environment (IDE), for Python, PHP, Ruby, JavaScript, Perl, web and cloud development.

ActiveState, which prides itself on its ability to deliver software to help developers and enterprises to innovate from code to cloud smarter, faster, and safer, calls Komodo 7 the “world’s fiercest IDE”.

New features

Komodo IDE 7 delivers several new features in addition to technical and performance improvements, including integration with Stackato, ActiveState’s cloud platform for creating your own private Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

Komodo IDE 7 also delivers Komodo Sync, which enables users to access their saved preferences on any computer, while Code Collaboration enables real-time, multi-user editing for faster team programming. In addition, Komodo IDE 7 supports new languages and frameworks including Node.js, CoffeeScript, LESS, SCSS, EJS, and Mojolicious.

“The development community is changing rapidly,” noted Jeff Hobbs, vice president of engineering at ActiveState, in a statement. “Users are demanding more efficiency in their coding, they’re adopting new languages and frameworks, and they’re moving applications into the cloud. Komodo IDE 7 has evolved to meet these needs, staying on the leading edge of new languages and enhancing all the tools from previous versions. Early feedback is extremely positive – Komodo IDE 7 will build on Komodo’s reputation as the go-to multi-language IDE.”

Deploy from desktop to cloud

Using Komodo IDE 7, developers can deploy directly from the desktop to the cloud using new integration with Stackato. With the Stackato client interface, developers can test and debug applications in the environment that they will be deployed.

Meanwhile, Komodo Sync enables developers to securely share their important data across multiple machines, including toolbox items, remote server accounts and templates. With per-user licensing, Sync makes it easier for developers to work across multiple computers and operating systems such as Windows, Mac, Linux.

The new version of Komodo also enables developers to speed up team programming by editing with other users simultaneously. Code Collaboration shares changes with other Komodo IDE 7 users that developers authorise, in real time, with helpful highlights to identify what changes were made.

In addition, Komodo IDE 7’s Code Profiling feature helps developers create applications that provide for better CPU usage. It highlights code hotspots and detects performance issues faster. Code Profiling generates a graph of a developer’s application, so the developer can see exactly where and how the program is spending CPU time.

Built on Mozilla 7.0, the same codebase as Firefox 4, Komodo IDE 7 gives developers a better user experience with less loading time, ActiveState officials said. Komodo IDE 7 also adds syntax checking within multi-language documents, enhanced navigation and searching, and smarter auto-complete.

‘Smarter and faster’

“Now, with every major Komodo IDE release we’ve aimed to make things work smarter and faster than they were working before,” said Todd Whiteman, ActiveState’s resident Mozilla “Python Wrangler”, in a blog post. “Komodo IDE 7 is no exception to this rule and you’ll notice a lot snappier Komodo startup time, lower CPU utilisation – particularly when idle, and lower memory usage for large projects. Additionally, tools like the fast-find bar make it even quicker to do the common things you use the most.”

Whiteman, who is a Mozilla, Python and JavaScript hacker working on ActiveState’s Komodo IDE, added, “There are way more features in Komodo IDE 7 than I can outline in a single blog post, so check out the full release notes to see other great enhancements like multi-language syntax checking, HTML end-tag completions, moveable side panes and much more.”