> I am also a command-line type of guy when I am learning rails. I use
> RoRed
> to organise the files a bit (there are a lot - too much for a
> programming editor)
> but thats it. When I learn it, yeah I will use a big IDE that suits.

I've "discovered" my stance on this recently. I raelly like to
understand things properly, because then I know what to do. I'm very
poor at remembering random stuff, so I need things that I can
understand.

If an IDE (or any tool, really), presents a layer and interface that is
complete and consistent, that is, it does what is needed, and underlying
implementation details don't poke through and spoil the facad, then I'm
very happy using it.

The two problems with that are either: when you need to do something
that's not supported, or when the abstraction provided by the interface
breaks down.

For this reason, I like IDEs that do what they do well, and just work. I
really liked code warrior, and I love using irb because what it does is
consistant. It's horrible when you can't understand what they're doing
because they're showing you a fractured image of the underlying reality.

What I'd really like to see is a programming environment where the IDE
isn't a cunning layer over the underlying reality, but where it's an
equally valid interpretation of the data. Then you can work at what ever
level you like, and see what ever details you like. This isn't going to
happen while we're still storing our programs and data as flat text
files though, in my opinion.

Cheers,
 B