Really is good to have a Processing based IDE?

[0x2b3bfa0]

Hi! I think that the current IDE (that Processing based thing) offers a awful experience for power users.

Is there any milestone to make anything better?

Wouldn't be better to officially maintain a multiplatform package with the Arduino core and use the current IDE simply as interface?

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Example of new/advanced user workflow:

1.
        New: Download a platform-specific bundle with the Arduino core plus that awful IDE.
        Advanced: Download a platform-specific installer of the Arduino core.
2.
        New: Start learning.
        Advanced: Install [Atom](http://atom.io) bindings for the Arduino core and start coding. 

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Would be great to create a Atom package that includes the Arduino core and Atom bindings (adding a handy interface to build, upload, debug... along with a serial port monitor, a board selection menu, a menu for board-specific options, a library manager, a board manager...). This would be great. The current IDE has many improvements, but the font rendering, the syntax highlighting, the text editing, and the log viewing are really weird.

[lmihalkovic]

The sophistication of the IDE is by no means a function of the underlying technology. The codebase for the current IDE is actually clean, this issue is one of several attempts at showing how much can be done with a bit of cleanup in the editor, a bit of imagination and a bit of time. I have no doubt that the result can match, if not outpace any alternative you can think about (particularly when it comes to code completion).

[ffissore]

Thank you for your feedback. Our web team is working on Arduino Create, a web based editor https://blog.arduino.cc/2015/05/05/sneak-peak-arduino-create/
However, I'm going to close this issue as it's neither a bug or a feature request for the current IDE

[0x2b3bfa0]

@ffissore: This seems a good project. However, I think that would be great to have a offline, multi-platform and fully functional Arduino core and tools (avrdude, avr-gcc, etc.). The web IDE is more for learning, but (for me) is a irking process to load a webpage to build a C++ file... ;-)

About the issue closing, I agree, this is only a suggestion and not a valid issue.

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Off-topic questions:

1. Will this web IDE run offline (os-specific package with the web server and tools)?
2. How can a web browser open a serial port or use a AVRISP without depending on installed bindings?

[0x2b3bfa0]

@lmihalkovic: I didn't found this issue... Is really a good proposal, but... Is as ugly as the current IDE. I don't know how it behaves because is a tentative design only ;-)

[mastrolinux]

@crushedice2000 there is an agent to speak with the boards from the web, it is already open source: https://github.com/arduino/arduino-create-agent

And we are investigating a way to run the IDE offline. The agent and the new Arduino compiler CLI allows already to create your own IDE on top of those technologies.

[lmihalkovic]

@crushedice2000 I have to agree with you that the current IDE does not look particularly appealing. but I don't think it is a matter of technology at all. since I started playing with the ide code, I ran into the upcoming Arduino Create... I liked its fresh design, so I checked how much work would be involved in migrating the Java code. as I said, the code is mostly well written, and the migration straightforward... at the moment I am using the dark theme

@mastrolinux pretty amazed that the company would bet all its resources for an entire year on a new IDE when so many things can so easily be addressed/improved in the current one. why not do both in parallel?

[pedzed]

The current IDE just works, which is nice. However, for real programmers, this is quite a turn off. Why not build upon Atom? You have PlatformIO IDE as an Atom package, but it's a huge mess in my opinion. And besides, it would be nice to have an IDE backed by Arduino LLC.