<p>I do mostly Java and C/C++ development, but I'm starting to do more web development (PHP, Rails) and Eiffel (learning a new language is always good).</p>

<p>Currently, I use Eclipse for Java, C/C++, and Ruby (not Rails). Since I know the environment, I'm thinking that it would be easier for me to find a plugin and use Eclipse for all of my development languages. But are there cases where a language-specific IDE (EiffelStudio for Eiffel, as an example) would be better than Eclipse?</p>

[{'answer_id': 50229, 'author': 'pete blair', 'author_id': 5119, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5119', 'pm_score': 4, 'selected': True, 'text': "<p>I have used many many IDE's and in most cases to me it breaks down to personal preferences. Sometimes the language specific ones have some addins/addons/features that are nice but unless they are things you can not live without you should go with what is most comfortable for you.</p>\n\n<p>I would think that if you are comfortable with the multi-language IDE it would be better to stick with that one. This way you dont have to memorize multiple IDE layouts, keyboard shortcuts etc.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 1449631, 'author': 'Christian Lemer', 'author_id': 167077, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/167077', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Mastering an IDE takes time and energy. Using a multi-language IDE is definitively beneficial for a programmer who needs to develop in several languages. It is for the same reason that tools like VI and Emacs are so popular.</p>\n\n<p>On the other side, IDE specialized in one language could sometimes go much further on some aspect and could be the preferred choice in some situations.</p>\n\n<p>I love Eclipse as Java IDE (so much that we decided to build some Eclipse based application) and I'm an Emacs fan. But I also like the Groovy support of IntelliJ and the efficiency of EiffelStudio.</p>\n\n<p>It's a matter of taste, you forgive the ones you love...</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 4437059, 'author': 'prassee', 'author_id': 516982, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/516982', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>It entirely depends on the user and the language itself, if you are comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts then you can consider the plugin else you can go for a IDE . However most of the IDE comes with a cross-functional key maps so you use the key maps which u are more comfortable with.... </p>\n'}]
['https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/50217', 'https://Stackoverflow.com', 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/572/']