Most versatile IDE with multiple language support IYO ?

Question

Im trying to gauge which IDE would be best for coding a variety of languages (C/C++, Python, Java...). I'd ideally like something with plugin support, so that you can extend its functionality as desired, and write your own add-ons should the need arise. It'd be great if there was inbuilt support for less common languages such as OCAML, and for more recent languages like Ruby.
I've been using a solely CLI-based setup for 6 months now, with firefox being the only gui app I've used (coding: vim, IM: centericq, IRC: weechat, Music: mpd). I converted to that setup thinking that it would boost my efficiency, since Ratpoison with GNU Screen makes every mouse action replaceable with a keyboard combo. Recently though, I've been frustrated at certain limitations of Ratpoison, and while I have gained speed with some of its features, I've lost speed with others.
The gist of this is that I'm going to go back to Openbox with the expose-like Skippy, and the Mac OS Dock-like yab (via adesklets). I'll miss the versatility of using nought but the terminal, but it sure will be a breath of fresh air to seem some aesthetically pleasing interfaces, lol
Ive looked at what IDEs are on offer, and the most interesting ones are jEdit (perhaps you'd like to convince me Dusty? ), Eclipse (which I've used for Java and Python, and I like it, but it's so fat! lol) and PIDA (not used and can't find screenshots - the ones on the Berlios project page for it won't display: they say I'm unauthorized for access). I'd love to hear any feedback from people who've used any of these development environments and wish to sing their praises, or point out any flaws. Similarly, it'd be great to hear of any other software that Archers have used and found to be productive.
Any offers?

Answer 1

phrakture wrote:Everyone hates vim, methinks:
[URL=http://img422.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot200512270240442fo.png][/URL]
I already wrote this, but it disappeared... weird.
I don't hate Vim by any means; I think it's a very impressive piece of software, and very efficient in terms of speed. But I'm no longer of the school of thought who consider mouse-usage alone to be the most efficiest interface, or the opposing school of thought that consider just using keyboard combos is the way forward.
I used to think the latter, but after using ratpoison and CLI apps for so long, I've changed my mind. It is very fast to use the keyboard for coding - keyboard shortcuts for auto-completion, indentation etc, very handy. But what if you want to traverse a tree of modules you're working on, looking at separate, random pieces of code you've written in different files. It's a lot faster to just click on whatever module/interface/whatever you want to see the code of, rather than manually scrolling up or down said tree.
Also, for something as simple as scrolling page contents, I prefer to use a mouse. it feels more pleasant than using the keyboard, and it's faster when using the mousewheel. If there's a particular chunk of code on the page that you want to see in the centre of the window, with the keyboard you'd first use the page up/down shortcut to get near the desired area (which has a limited speed), and then you have to manually shift the page up or down by a few lines to get bang on whatever you wish to see. Using a mouse to do the same thing is much quicker. The same argument applies for copy-and-paste.
Some things in Ratpoison are very fast, like being able to launch applications via easily-customizable keyboard shortcuts. But other things, like window resizing (or rather, frame resizing in Ratpoison ) are very slow. True, you can set pre-defined frame layouts, and also resize frames with key combos... but I hate the inflexibility of this. Frame resizing via the keyboard is so slow; it's something you could do in a second or less using a mouse; the same with moving windows around - a simple action to perform via the mouse, yet in Ratpoison moving frames around is difficult, and moving windows around involves combinations of swapping frame contents, tabbing through available windows, or looking to see what number the window you want is, and THEN switching to it by number. This is slow IMO.
Don't get me wrong, I still think Ratpoison is really good, and completely achieves what it's going for - the easy-to-use Screen-esque WM - but as I say, I just feel that a keyboard-mouse combo is the way forward.
Some people may say that it's better to use CLI-only apps for SSHing, since if you've got a low speed connection, they're the best. But most businesses, colleges, schools and homes where you work/study and need to use SSH have broadband now, so as long as you set up X forwarding, which is a simple task, then you can use your gui apps anywhere you want.
I will never dislike Vim (or Emacs for that matter; both have pros and cons), I do not consider them to be archaic or unwieldy because they're CLI apps (ignoring their X counterparts); I simply feel that a combination of their do-it-by-the-numbers keyboard combos with the flexible-as-a-yoga-teacher mouse is an all-round safer (and faster) bet.
Anyway, I don't want to go too far off topic - I'm just trying to explain why I wish to return to gui-land after being in cli-territory for so long. I'd be grateful if people would mostly ignore this post, and respond to my first post by sharing information and opinions on other IDEs (although I welcome your opinions on what I've just said, Phrakture, since you're the longest Ratpoison/Screen user I know of, and it's clearly worked for you ).
I'd really like to hear from Dusty, if he reads this... I know he's working on Magnum (I *think*, anyway) and uses or did use JEdit, so I'd like to hear what he likes about them compared to vim etc.
Anyone who's got an IDE suggestion or opinion is most welcome to respond