Version 0.7.2 of the Arachno Ruby IDE is now available for download.

As I’ve mentioned before, Arachno is my Ruby IDE of choice..

As always, Arachno supports fast editing, indexed full text search, easy debugging of Ruby and Rails apps, and gem and class browsing.

In addition to a number of bug fixes, the following are the key new features I’ve noticed so far in the new version.

1. Scriptability: You can extend the IDE using scripts in Ruby, Python, or PHP to add custom behavior around keystrokes or events like opening files.

2. Smalltalk style interactivity: There is an interactive console built into the application. Rather than working in a line by line mode, you can enter multiple lines and press Ctrl-E to evaluate the expression. There is an option to reload all modified files whenever the console is reactivated so that you can always interact with up to date classes.

3. Filewatcher window: This allows you to tail one or more files (Rails log files, for exampl)

4. A real help file

5. Support for Ruby 1.8.4

Arachno is built by a small company called Scriptolutions in West Germany, headed by Lothar Schultz. Perhaps because of its origins in a small team, its refreshingly free of bloat or complexity, and has a generous 24 month free upgrade policy. Scriptolutions is also very responsive. I’ve filed a bug using their automated tracking tool after a crash and had a direct email from Lothar shortly after informing me of a fix.