Software maker Mozilla has launched a prototype of its new web-based XHTML code editor. It's called Bespin, and it's still in the demo stage, but the app is live and you can test it out right now.
The logo pretty much says it all -- it's a code editor that lives in the cloud. It definitely fills a need seeing how many web developers and programmers are working in co-ops or coffee shops, or collaborating with others from a home office.
You get all of the advantages of a webapp -- a synchronized work environment, real-time collaboration tools and access to your files from anywhere -- without the pains of other web-based writing tools. For example, the most popular web-based editors like Google Docs and Zoho Writer don't handle code well at all. They're mostly for writing regular old text docs. Bespin gives you coder must-haves like syntax highlighting and line numbering. The team plans to add emulation modes for vi and emacs (for the die hards out there).
