React Native has made it easier to build high-quality hybrid apps. This popular app development framework has proved to be a boon for the Mobile app developers. It's incredible to see the speed with which the React Native ecosystem is churning out great support tools and plug-ins.
The editors as well as the IDEs used in development holds a very important place when it comes to making the life a little easier for the developers. The best React Native App Developers have been making use of the Editors and IDE’s judiciously so as to build the best mobile app solutions. We’ll have a brief overview of some of them but before that let's find-out the difference between React Native Editors and IDEs before going to further.
Difference between an IDE and an Editor
IDE means an Integrated Development Environment. In an IDE, you will get all the tools like a text editor, compiler, debugging tools, and other such tools that are required for development in a single package. The peculiarity about all IDEs is that virtually all of them are dependent on a particular language or a framework.
An Editor, on the other hand, is just a tool that edits text. The peculiarity of the editors is that the programmers can use the editor with the language of their choice.
Now let’s find out the best React Native Editors that will make your life as a Developer much easier.
Best React Native Editors and IDE’S
With so many React Native editors to choose from, the choice sometimes becomes mind-numbing. Here, we have compiled some of the react-native editors that we think are the best for your convenience.
Atom
The most popular React Native editor, Atom, is also one of the easiest to use editors that a React Native developer can access. One can access this popular open-source editor on various platforms like Linux, Windows, and OSX. Having a large support community benefits the users of Atom as new updates, and better plug-ins are always readily available.
Highlights of Atom:
- Multi-pane system
- Auto-completion of text
- Cross-platform editing possible
- Built-in package manager
- Find and replace feature
- File system browser
Vim editor
Another good open-source editor, the Vim Editor, gives the developers freedom to create and edit any text easily. The Vim editor has great plug-ins that allow the developers to work efficiently with Facebook's React Library and a plug-in that will enable indenting in JSX and for syntax highlighting.
Highlights of Vim editor:
- Competent integration with many tools
- Good support of various languages and file formats
- A wide array of supportive plug-ins
- Robust search and replace function
- A tremendous multi-level undo tree feature
Sublime Text
Sublime text editor is one of the most popular editors as it offers a lot of packages and themes which are similar to Atom. A seasoned player in the tech market, the sublime text editor, is more than a decade old.
Highlights of Sublime text:
- The Goto anything function
- Split editing feature
- A mode to work in a distraction-free manner
- Nice command palette
- Anything is customizable in sublime text
- Supports cross-platform functionality
Visual Studio Code
A great cross-platform, flexible, and feature-loaded editor, Visual Studio Code, was released in 2015 and since then it has become a fan-favorite.
Highlights of Visual Studio Code:
- Built-in Git Commands
- Highly customizable
- Extensible
- Feature to debug the code from the editor
GNU Emacs Editor
A self-documenting, customizable, and real-time display editor, the GNU Emacs editor, is another open-source editor that is making all the right noises.
Highlights of GNU Emacs:
- Robust support for new users that includes a detailed tutorial and built-in documentation
- Great Unicode support for all human scripts
- Uses the Emacs Lisp code
- A well-managed packaging system for downloading and installing the extensions
- A project planner, debugging interface, calendar and another plethora of tools apart from the regular text editor
Nuclide
Considered as one of the best IDEs, Nuclide has built-in support for React Native, and it also offers robust support to JavaScript programmers. Backed by Facebook, Nuclide came into being to remove the limitations of other popular IDEs like Eclipse and Appcode.
Highlights of Nuclide:
- Auto-complete feature
- Code diagnostics
- Support for Hack language
- Mercurial support
- Support for Flow
- Debugging support
- Support for Remote development
Spacemacs
Spacemacs is an open-source editor that is very simple to use for those users who are familiar with the Vim editor. The main advantage of the Spacemacs editor is that a programmer can mix Vim and Emacs style at the same time.
Highlights of Spacemacs editor:
- Highly Customizable editor
- Robust documentation
- Command-line editing tool
- You can find the available packages and layers quickly by using the simple query system
- Same key binding for similar functionalities
Deco IDE
Deco IDE is another all-in-one solution that is designed for writing high-quality React Native apps. Deco has functions like editing UI in real-time and component reuse.
Highlights of Deco:
- Real-time tweaking in UI is possible
- One can search and insert components
- New file Scaffolds are available
Webstorm
Webstorm is a popular editor that is built on the IntelliJ platform. You can get advanced support for React Native and Javascript in Webstorm, which includes core coding assistance for building React Native apps.
Highlights of Webstorm:
- Advanced coding assistance
- Supports the latest technologies
- Support for tracing and testing in Debugging
- An excellent version control system
- You can integrate all tools in a seamless manner
Final edit
There are many IDEs and editors available for making good quality React Native apps. In this article, we have discussed the most popular ones. Which Editor/IDE to choose is, in the end, the choice of the developer who is writing the code.
All the editors mentioned above and IDEs have many features that help in making the life of the React Native developer a bit easier. So, what are you waiting for? Just pick anyone and start exploring the exciting world of React Native development.
Top comments (2)
For 4 years I used webstorm and I still choose it! it is not free but if you have and educational mail you could qualify for a free account for a year.
Would have been helpful to include links to the IDE's in the title maybe. Solid list though.