Perl Developer Tools
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Perl developer tools
From PerlNet
Perl programs are written using plain text files, so at a minimum all you need a basic text editor (e.g. Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on OS X). If you are new to Perl then the best combination are a text editor and a command window to run the Perl interpreter as IDE's can make life a little complicated when you first start.
Some more powerful development tools are listed below, roughly grouped as:
- Integrated Development Environment (IDE) - features perl syntax highlighting, integrated debugging support, and other advanced features
- Text Editor - at a minimum features perl syntax highlighting. Other IDE-like features may be possible through additional plugins/extensions.
- Helper Tools - applications such as GUI builders and reference documentation that may be used in conjunction with IDEs and editors.
Predominantly commercial programs are noted with $, although in some cases there may be exceptions for personal, educational, or government use.
Note: A listing here does not imply any endorsement or that a review has taken place. (Independent reviews welcome!)
Cross Platform IDEs
- Eclipse IDE with the EPIC plugin. Some hints at Perl Monks
- Geany has Perl support
- Padre - under heavy development.
- $ Activestate Komodo
- $ IndigoSTAR PerlEdit .. Windows and Linux
IDEs for Windows
- Open Perl IDE.
- Perl Express.
- $ DzSoft Perl Editor
- $ EngInSite Perl Editor.
- $ Perl Scripting Tool
- $ PerlWiz.
- $ Solution Soft Perl Builder.
IDEs for OS X
Cross Platform Text Editors
- Emacs, GNU Emacs for MS Windows, Emacs for OS X .. for perl-specific support read up on cperl-mode (or for Emacs prior to 21.2 perl-mode)
- jEdit
- Kephra is written in Perl
- VIM, Vim for Windows, VIM for OS X (Carbon) and MacVim (Cocoa). VIM includes perl syntax highlighting, but there are also numerous extensions that enable more IDE-like features such as debugging, tags, and sanity checks
- ActiveState Komodo Edit is an Open Source editor that supports Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Tcl, plus JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and XML, and template languages like RHTML, Template-Toolkit, HTML-Smarty and Django
- $ Rocket editor has Perl support
See also Google > Computers > Software > Editors
Text Editors for Windows
- Perl Code Editor
- Notepad++ with Perl mode
- SciTE - A free source code editor for Win32 and X
- Crimson editor, includes syntax support for Perl
- Geany free editor, includes syntax support for Perl and others
- $ EditPlus
- $ TextPad
- $ UltraEdit
Text Editors for OS X
- Smultron
- Bare Bones Software TextWrangler
- $ Bare Bones Software $ BBEdit
- $ TheCodingMonkeys SubEthaEdit
- $ Macromates TextMate
Cross Platform Helper Tools
- SWIG is a software development tool that connects programs written in C and C++ with a variety of high-level programming languages. SWIG is used with different types of languages including common scripting languages such as Perl
- Perl::Critic critiques Perl source code for best-practices. There is a gentle introduction
- Perltidy code formatter. The recommendations from Conway's Perl Best Practices may be downloaded and there is a front end tool to help configure your own preferences. There is also an introduction
- Devel::REPL Interactive Perl shell. Read Execute Print Loop shell (run
re.pl
from terminal prompt), as pioneered by Lisp. Handy tip, add "use v5.10.1
" to the~/re.pl/repl.rc
file and usesay $x
instead ofprint "$x\n"
- DBI::shell Interactive shell for DBI RDBMS layer
- Module::Starter::PBP Create a module as recommended in "Perl Best Practices"
Helper tools for Windows
- The GUI Loft: a WYSIWYG design tool (written in Perl) for designing Perl Win32::GUI windows.
- Perl Oasis: a POD/source/class browser tightly integrated with (currently) UltraEdit, gVim, EditPlus, and PFE (Programmer's File Editor).
- Regex Coach is a graphical application for Windows which can be used to interactively experiment with (Perl-compatible) regular expressions.
Helper tools for OS X
- Camel Bones: an Objective-C/Perl bridge lets you integrate perl code with your Cocoa / Xcode development projects (e.g. use the Apple developer tools to build user interfaces, and write the application code in perl!). Also includes an example app, ShuX, which is a perldoc browser.
- PerlPad: allows you to run perl code from the Services menu available in most OS X applications ; can also convert perl snippets into keyboard shortcuts
- Platypus: a tool for creating application wrappers around scripts (e.g. create Mac OS X applications that execute a bundled perl script).
- Pashua: a tool for generating native Aqua dialog windows from within perl (and other supported scripting languages). Data from the dialog can be passed on to the calling script; works well in conjunction with Platypus to create a simple application bundle.
- perlDoc: a perl documentation viewer.
Helper tools for Linux
- Regex Coach is a graphical application for Windows which can be used to interactively experiment with (Perl-compatible) regular expressions. There are reliable reports of it running successfully under Linux using Wine and older, native, releases are also available for Linux and BSD as well. RegexCoachInstallHints Installation Hints