[ANN] Nightcode 0.1.0, a Clojure IDE

[Zach Oakes]

Nightcode is an IDE written in Clojure. I announced a very half-baked 0.0.1 nearly two months ago, and after tons of bug fixes and feature additions, I'm happy to release a two-thirds-baked 0.1.0:

https://nightcode.info/

Here's what's changed since the first release:

- When holding down the Ctrl/Cmd key, you will now see a list of currently-open files that you can switch between with the left/right arrows and close with 'W'. It's Nightcode's clutter-free answer to tabs.

- In Java projects, the "Reload" button will invoke the JVM's HotSwap feature to compile all modified Java files and inject them into the running process. In Clojure projects, "Reload" will eval all modified Clojure files into the running REPL.

- Paredit is now optional, and can be toggled by hitting the "Paredit" button above any open clj/cljs file.

- Code completion for clj/cljs files is now available by hitting Ctrl/Cmd + Space or just hitting the "Doc" button. This feature was made possible by the compliment library from Alex Yakushev.

- In ClojureScript projects, there is now an "Auto" button in the build pane. Hitting it will run a process equivalent to "lein cljsbuild auto", allowing your cljs files to be rebuilt every time you save them.

- In addition to the existing game template for Java, there is now one for Clojure. Both use LibGDX and can compile for desktop and Android.

- There is now a "Replace" box to complement the "Find" box.

- It now consumes less than 100% of your CPU.

[Shantanu Kumar]

Thanks for the release! Is there a way to change the color theme, e.g. if I want to set a light background?

Shantanu

[Zach Oakes]

The theme is currently hard-coded. BTW I submitted it to HN, in case anyone cares:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6444413

[Mike]

Probably a dumb question, but for those of us who would love to use Clojure under Windows, is there a way to use this IDE in a Clojure-CLR environment?

In any case, thank you for your efforts.

[Zach Oakes]

It won't compile to the CLR, but you can certainly run the jar file on Windows. I assume you want to avoid installing Java, but that won't be possible because its UI is entirely Swing-based and it has JVM-specific stuff on the backend like the HotSwap feature.

[adrians]

Zach, have you considered using JavaFX instead of Swing and having an embedded JRE as a turnkey one file setup (see http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/deployment/packaging.htm)? You'd probably be able to build a UI with much more potential for the long run.

[Zach Oakes]

I messed with JavaFX and Clojure in the past. I found a neat little library called splendid on BitBucket that wrapped a few things, but nothing like seesaw. Also, I mainly was interested in it for its webkit-based WebView, but that turned out to be really crummy. I also didn't like that it wasn't in OpenJDK (thought I think that will change with Java 8).

I do remember being intrigued by the native packaging that JavaFX supposedly provides. Then I found a neat tool called JWrapper than seems to do the same thing, but for any Java application. Eventually I decided it may not be very secure to bundle a private JRE that I must worry about updating. Lastly, I'm not sold on installers at all; there's a nice simplicity to just running a jar file.