What's a free Perl IDE for Windows?

Question

I am looking for a Windows Perl IDE with debugger like Komodo but free.

I have seen Eclipse+EPIC but I don't want to install Eclipse here.

Padre doesn't have debugger built in.

Graciagracie

Why don't you want to install Eclipse or use Komodo Edit? – Hermaphroditus

Komodo Edit doesn't have a Perl debugger (and Komodo IDE is not free) – Petrography

Well, I want ponies and rainbows, but I'm not going to wait for a pony with rainbows to take either of them separately. I'm always surprised the roadblocks and obstacles that people put in their own way. – Hermaphroditus

I want a pony with rainbows, and I consider it a worthwhile investment of a few minutes of time to look to see if one exists before I give up and take separate ones. – Petrography

...or work on a built-in debugger for Padre :) – Pediculosis

Actually Padre will have a debugger for Christmas. No, really :-). – Consecrate

Since version 0.53 Padre also has a built-in debugger. – Consecrate

Answer 1

I think ptkdb might be of help to you

Mohenjodaro

Answer 2

Komodo Edit is free. You can also check out Visual Studio, which in 2015 added Perl support.

Perl already comes with the best debuggers in the world: print and Test::More.

However, people keep asking this question, so we've listed all the ones we know about in perlfaq3.

Hermaphroditus

Calling print a debugging tool is like calling the clapper a "home automation tool." There's really no substitute for being able to stop, look around, and step. – Envious

@Michael: I call "holy war" (is there a Godwin's law for that?). This is one of those issues that simply divides people. For many programmers, judicious use of print is precisely a substitute for stopping, looking around and stepping (which they find tedious and annoying). – Ludhiana

@Michael: You forget the other half of what I said: unit tests. Write small, compartmentalized subroutines, have good tests, and use something like Log4perl to turn on debugging output. Maybe you don't like print(), but it's what most good Perl programmers I know use. And indeed, it is a holy war. That's why I gave my opinion, but also pointed to the extensive list of IDEs I maintain in the perlfaq. – Hermaphroditus

@brian: I'm a big fan of unit testing but I think it's disingenuous to suggest it as a debugging technique. Outside of the ideal situation you describe it's likely to be ineffective (or at least inefficient). The power of a debugger is being able to see exactly what the code is doing free of the human bias that selecting what to print and/or test entails. That said, maybe I'm just bitter because I recently had to debug embedded C code via printf over a serial port. The edit-compile-load-run-review cycle was maddening; a working debugger would have sped things up tenfold. – Envious

The situation I describe is how I actually develop, not some ideal situation. If you think that a debugger doesn't introduce bias, you just don't understand how debuggers work. If you want to talk about C, you're in the wrong place. – Hermaphroditus

@Michael Carman: +1 BRAVO!! Print is not a debug tool - for starters, it requires adding code to the code to see what the code is doing to the code; yes, that's extra code which then needs to be maintained, understand, and possibly debugged... :-) – Menial

What do you think the Perl debugger does? It adds code. You misunderstand adding temporary code and permanant code, too. – Hermaphroditus

Answer 3

For Emacs there's the Perl Development Environment. Just use -d/Ctrl-c Ctrl-d for the debugger. Emacs runs on Windows, by the way.

Seedcase

Answer 4

There's an early version of a debugger plugin for Padre (check CPAN). I don't think it's ready for prime time, but if you were willing to donate some of your own time to improve it...

Geostrophic

Answer 5

Why use an IDE when you can do pretty much everything with the good ol' perl debugger?

Incendiarism

Answer 6

See nbperl, a Perl plugin to netbeans.

Sammer