Every True Rubyist Builds Their Own Code Editor in Ruby!

Gladiator (Glimmer Editor) 0.11.0 has just been released! It is my personal day-to-day code editor that I have built in Ruby using Glimmer DSL for SWT (JRuby Desktop Development Cross-Platform Native GUI Framework). It has syntax highlighting support for 40+ programming languages, split pane support with drag and drop, file look up support, directory tree navigation support, and many smart editing keyboard shortcuts. I use it for professional Ruby on Rails software engineering too.

That said, I am no code editor building expert, so Gladiator looks ugly! But, I love it because I built it 100% myself. Every self respecting Senior Software Engineer out there should build their own code editor, even if just as a toy app to later be discarded in favor of another code editor (though they might grow to prefer their own). And, if they are Rubyists, they should build their code editor in Ruby (whether using MRI Ruby, JRuby or Opal Ruby). If you think of yourself as a Ruby Senior Software Engineer, but cannot build your own code editor in Ruby, there are serious holes in your skillset!! Explore Glimmer libraries for many Ruby options to help you start the code editor building challenge and journey; whether using the Fukuoka Ruby 2022 Award Winning Glimmer DSL for LibUI, the 100% feature-complete JRuby-based Glimmer DSL for SWT, the brand new Glimmer DSL for WX, the Linux-focused Glimmer DSL for GTK, Glimmer DSL for Tcl/Tk, Glimmer DSL for FXRuby, Glimmer DSL for Swing, Glimmer DSL for JavaFX, or Glimmer DSL for Opal.

Nowadays, I see many Software Engineers on the Internet and social media who claim to be "Rubyists", but use non-Ruby code editors and non-Ruby frontend technologies, and that comes across as part hypocrisy and part lost opportunity!! After all, if they truly believed in Ruby, they would be building more things in it. Computer processors are so fast nowadays that many of Ruby's performance trade-offs are negligible in practice, except in some niche programming specialties like numerical computing, realtime systems, low-level programming, and performance-intensive game development. But sadly, in the last decade, many fake "Rubyists" entered the Ruby community just to associate with the "cool" factor of Ruby or to obtain Ruby job salaries without truly believing in Ruby 100% or even fully understanding the Ruby way of doing things. 

Thankfully, there are many litmus tests out there that reveal true Rubyists from fake "Rubyists", and one of them is whether a Ruby Software Engineer has built their own code editor in Ruby or not, or if they at least use a Ruby-based code editor like Redcar, Arcadia, or Gladiator, among others. Personally, I do not just write Ruby code in a web backend using Rails. I also write all my desktop applications in Ruby using Glimmer, including my code editor Gladiator, and I try to even build web frontend in Ruby using Opal Ruby.

Just think of how great it would be if the Ruby community had a feature-rich Ruby-scriptable code editor / IDE that makes it possible to build plug-ins with highly maintainable and productive Ruby code. It does not have to support every programming language out there. It can just be a Ruby community niche thing. With such a Ruby-based code editor, Rubyists would be practicing what they preach regarding the productivity/maintainability of Ruby programming by using Ruby to build the very tools they use in day-to-day Ruby software engineering.

Update: KOTP (keeperotphones) made a code contribution by email right after I posted this article to support missing Ruby file formats: 'rbw', 'gemspec'. Thank you KOTP!