What workflow should I use for JavaScript editing?

Question

Warning: I have very little JavsScript experience.

In my past programming experience, I usually have a standalone interpreter/compiler, a text editor and a command line to compile/run my software or my tests (I love test driven development). I really like it this way, since I have the feeling of being in complete control over the tools. However, editing JavaScript I need to put statements in a text file , open my web browser and click on reload. I don't feel comfortable with it, as I cannot really see what is going on (besides some alert boxes).

Can you suggest me (I'm on a Mac) another workflow? Perhaps with a debugger? Is there a standalone JavaScript interpreter?

Answer 1

Opera , Internet Explorer , Chrome and Safari all come with good debuggers built in (links go to information about the debuggers).

They are all modeled after Firebug , an extension for Firefox (and the existence of which is why Firefox doesn't have one built in).

Answer 2

Firebug has a javascript debugger ,a console, and a command line . I couldn't live without it.

Firebug is a firefox extension. They do have firebug lite for other browsers.

As far as workflow goes... Ctrl + S , Alt + Tab , F5 over and over again.

Answer 3

I would throw in validation there as well, use jslint either via one of the available command line tools, or via eg. Aptana which has builtin validation. Setting up a simple build script is also preferable. I do it with all my projects and lets it handle validation, conditional code (debug versions etc) and minifying.

This http://github.com/oyvindkinsey/easyXDM/blob/master/build.xml is for instance the build setup for easyXDM. It does everything from pushing out new versions to the website to creating documentation and zip files..