When comparing Light Table vs Leo Editor, the Slant community recommends Light Table for most people. In the question“What are the best Python IDEs or editors?” Light Table is ranked 25th while Leo Editor is ranked 39th. The most important reason people chose Light Table is:
With LT's inline evaluation, you don't have to re-compile your whole source file. Each time you want to see an output, all you have to do is hover your cursor over the line you'd like to evaluate and press `ctrl+enter`; LT will evaluate that line of code for you.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Inline evaluation
With LT's inline evaluation, you don't have to re-compile your whole source file. Each time you want to see an output, all you have to do is hover your cursor over the line you'd like to evaluate and press ctrl+enter
; LT will evaluate that line of code for you.
Pro Your code runs live as you write it
The "Watches" feature lets you see your code running live as you type it. This means that you can debug your code live while writing it, which leads to considerably less programming errors.
Pro Plugin manager available
LT has a plugin manager built directly inside of it. This plugin manager connects to LT's own registry of plugins, so whenever you want assistance while writing your HTML, JS, or even Python, just open up the plugin manager, search for it, and click the little install button beside it's name. Your plugin will then be installed.
Pro Outlines - better than folding
With outlines functions and classes can be arranged and grouped with their logical neighbours, even nested. Whole branch hierarchies can be expanded and collapsed in a single key stroke, or moved from this spot to that, as best fits the thinking or troubleshooting of the day. Outline trees make navigation across broadly different areas an effortless exercise. See your whole project in a single view, across any number of external files and modules.
Pro Internal command line
All Leo editor commands are available in a command bar, called a "mini-buffer", that feature tab-completion and command history. For example "Find all nodes containing phrase '...', clone them, and paste in a new tree" is a simple alt-x
, clone-find-flattened
(or cff
) away. As is toggle-split-direction
, expand/contract-log-pane
and execute-script
.
Pro Clones - when two or three or ... are better than one
Leo's unique concept of 'clones' means you can re-arrange sections of an external file to suit your way of thinking or tacking a specific issue without changing the organization of the source. This makes it a great tool for studying code from others, and perhaps contributing back to them without changing your or their preferred arrangement methods.
Cons
Con A different way of thinking means learning
There's no other code and text editor quite like Leo, so expect to put in some time learning. It can take some trying this and that before the "Aha!"s start to roll in. It's experiential.
