Atom editor now has native GitHub integration

The direct integration with the code-hosting platform to make things easier for devs — but also ties them more closely to GitHub.

GitHub’s Atom, the Node.js- and HTML5-powered code editor, has traditionally integrated with Git repositories—including GitHub itself—only by way of third-party components.

All that changed this week with the unveiling of a new core package for Atom, called appropriately enough GitHub for Atom, along with new release and beta editions of Atom itself.

GitHub users, dock here

The new edition of Atom, version 1.17, introduces a new UI component called “docks,” which is a way to provide side- or bottom-dockable tool panels in the editor. IDEs like Visual Studio and Eclipse have had dock-like components for some time, but now Atom is adding such a component as a core element.

Atom developers can take advantage of a high-level API for manipulating docks, so that “tool panels written by different package authors [can] coherently share screen real estate,” according to GitHub’s blog announcement.

One of the first add-ons to use the dock metaphor is GitHub for Atom. With it, a developer can use a side panel in whatever current view is in focus to stage changes, create commits, work with different code branches, and resolve merge conflicts.

Technically, GitHub for Atom is still a preview, so it’s been bundled with Atom’s 1.18 beta version rather than included in the latest full release. The core functions work, but many other integrations, like browsing pull requests in the side panel, are still under development.

Source : http://www.infoworld.com