

Bespin to move to Node.js - vier
http://groups.google.com/group/bespin/browse_thread/thread/6de8c718d64232a0?pli=1

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mgw
Has anyone used Bespin extensively and would be so kind as to give us an idea
of its current status and potential?

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iamdave
Sure.

I successfully built, tested and deployed a site for a client using nothing
but Bespin after my development machine tanked. Obviously there was some
adjusting to do, having different quirks than I was used to.

As a code editor, it's lacking a lot of things like effective keyboard-
shortcuts. There are a few gestures that are already in place, and I like the
ability to quickly save with a right-click which brings up a wheel of options.
The last time I used it was maybe Feb so I'm sure there have been a lot of
changes to this.

As a file manager, I think this is where Bespin shines brightest. The ability
to fetch and put files from remote servers is brilliantly executed; though
lacking-I'd like to be able to unpackage web directories that I grab from my
FTP server, but the fact alone that this exists given the form of Bespin (web
based) was a huge deal for me. A lot of the file management options are
replicated both in a GUI file tree and a CLI dialog box. Again, this is
probably the strongest features of Bespin.

Long story short: yes it does have quite a ways to go, but with the progress
that's been made so far, I think when Mozilla releases RC1 it will probably be
a damn good contender for code editing.

/note: I have not used the collaboration features, so obviously no comment is
made on that.

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dangoor
Thanks for the comments! Very interesting to hear about your experiences.

I'm the product manager for Bespin, so I'd certainly be happy to say a couple
of things about the status.

Since the Bespin that you've used, we've been putting a _ton_ of effort into
the infrastructure on the client side. We intend to keep pushing on the client
side until it's an editor that is very competitive with desktop editors. Right
now, there are still some gaps we need to fill in (for example, the editor
doesn't support real tabs). But the infrastructure we have has firmed up very
nicely. It's got the potential for lots of interesting plugins. Our keyboard
system supports pluggable keybindings (just waiting for someone to come along
and build up emacs and vi :) We've got an Embedded package that's easy to hook
up to whatever site/server you need to.

And that's where the server change referred to here comes from. We're going to
redo the server with an eye toward people running their own Bespins, which
eliminates scalability and security concerns that make it hard to implement
the most useful Bespin possible.

There are many people using Bespin in their own applications today, and that
package just keeps getting better. For the folks like you using the full
server, there will be a dip in functionality, but in the end you'll be able to
get a Bespin server that can do anything you care to make it do via plugins.

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swah
That's great for node.js!

