This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Recommended Tools
Developers are free to use whatever tools they prefer, but this page provides some suggestions that may help newcomers make the most of VuFind development.
Editors / IDEs
Some developers prefer to use a simple text editor to quickly and easily edit individual files. Others prefer a full-fledged IDE (Integrated Development Environment) which imposes a “whole project” view of the code and includes a built-in understanding of the code which enables it to detect errors, make suggestions and offer navigational shortcuts during programming. As a general rule, an IDE has a steeper learning curve than a basic editor and consumes more resources; however, it offers great advantages when undertaking more complex programming tasks. Basic text editors can offer more speed, and some also include plug-ins to enable certain IDE-like functionality.
At Villanova, Demian uses the Netbeans IDE for most of his work, while Chris uses the Notepad++ text editor.
Version Control
It is strongly recommended that you use some sort of version control software to keep track of revisions while programming. This provides a valuable safety net for reverting bad changes, remembering why particular adjustments were made, etc. In the case of Git, the tool used by VuFind, it also offers powerful collaboration and sharing capabilities. Whether you plan to work locally or share with the local community, Git is a tool worth learning more about, as is the GitHub platform, which enhances Git's native sharing capabilities with web-based collaboration tools.