Full Circle Magazine FR

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The last few issues of Command & Conquer have focused on programming aspects. However, I realized that I haven’t talked about development environments. For a long while, I generally used a terminal and Vim, but for a few months now, I’ve been using Atom. In this article, I’ll focus on what Atom is, how you can install it, and what the benefits are to using it.

What is Atom?

Atom is a text editor created by GitHub. It’s hackable (meaning you can configure it however you like), and is based on web technologies. This means you can adjust the look and feel of Atom by editing CSS files and adding features with HTML and JavaScript. If anyone has used Brackets or Adobe Edge CC, Atom should be familiar to you.

Install Atom?

Homepage: https://atom.io/

Atom has a precompiled debian package for Ubuntu (as well as an rpm package). It can also be built from source, but it’s easiest to just download the .deb file from the homepage, and install it in Ubuntu. Unfortunately, as it’s not in a PPA, it will not update automatically. You will need to re-run these steps to update it, or use an unofficial PPA such as https://launchpad.net/~webupd8team/+archive/ubuntu/atom.

Why should I try it?

Atom offers a large collection of plugins - ranging from themes, to syntax highlighting, to plugins that will compile and execute code directly from Atom. Due to its hackable nature, you can install exactly what you want, and configure it to run however suits you best.

The features integrated into its core (a file tree, tabbing, file management directly from within Atom, etc) are features almost every heavy-duty IDE has. However, not every text editor offers these same features out of the box while remaining relatively lightweight. Furthermore, support for things such as Emmet (a plugin for generating HTML using css-like selectors) can simplify your workflow.

A small list of plugins I use: • Stylus - syntax highlighting and snippets for Stylus files • web-browser - a browser that opens and runs directly in atom • atom-terminal - opens a terminal in the current directory • build - build your current project from within Atom • script - runs your code in Atom • color - css color viewer • color-picker - allows you to select a color from a pallet. • emmet • project-manager - allows you to save open folders/paths into a project for easy access later.

Of course, there are many, many more to choose from. Depending on what languages you program in, or your personal workflow, you may find packages I have never heard of.

Lastly, Atom also offers some IDE-like features (such as collapsing code, or auto-indenting the lines in a file).

One thing to note

One item that you might notice when you first open Atom is a vertical line running down the side of the editor area. This is intended as a visual guide for line wrapping (as most style guides recommend limiting a line to 80 characters, and then breaking it manually). If, however, you don’t want/need the visual indicator, you can hide it by disabling the wrap-guide package. This can be found under Edit → Preferences → Packages → wrap-guide. Then simply press the “Disable” button. It will not be necessary to restart the editor for changes to take effect, unless you uninstall the package. It can also be hidden in CSS, but as the package supplies only the visual guide, disabling it is easier.

Hopefully this has enthused some readers to give Atom a shot the next time they want a development environment. If you know of any useful packages, cool themes, or helpful tips/tricks, feel free to send me an email at the following address. Also, if anyone has any questions, suggestions, or requests, feel free to email me at lswest34+fcm@gmail.com.