4 ms·

Out of curiosity, how do you deal with not having some of the things that IDEs support? I too am firmly in a text editor camp, but I've recently been basically

by kctess5 11y ago

Out of curiosity, how do you deal with not having some of the things that IDEs support? I too am firmly in a text editor camp, but I've recently been basically forced to use Eclipse while writing Java (ick) at work. The fact that it knows a lot about the code is invaluable sometimes - auto-importing package names as you type, fixing build rules in other files automatically, code completion, type-definitions that appear with inline usage notes, etc. Granted, enterprise Java in a build environment is the ideal use case for an IDE, but many of those features are useful all the time. Now when I write other code, it feels somewhat archaic that my text editor of choice isn't giving me function docs/typedefs and managing dependencies as I write. As much as I despise the text editor in Eclipse, living without those things is basically impossible. I have "solved" this problem by constantly switching contexts between my editor of choice and Eclipse, whenever I need to do something crafty. What do other people do about this?

halosghost 11y ago
Actually, many of the advanced text editors offer plugins that replicate a variety of the functionality you mention. To better answer your question, I am forced to reveal the text editor I prefer (please do not take this comment as a slant to any other text editor): vim. For vim, there are several plugins that provide completion functionality (for various languages)[1]. There are things to deal with Java imports specifically[2]. (I don't know what you mean by fixing build rules.) Hey, there are even plugins meant to facilitate whole IDE functionality for some languages[3]. Personally, I avoid things like Java so I have less of a use-case for IDEs anyway. Specifically, I code in C and Haskell (and a touch of by-hand llvm-ir for fun). In C, automatic imports and the like, I do not even wish for (since it is so necessary for me to completely understand the function calls I make, I need to read the docs quite commonly which mention the header for #inclusion). And, for Haskell, I'm constantly prototyping in ghci, so I learn what I need anyway. In neithr of these languages do I feel it is helpful enough for me to desire such things. Having said that, I understand that many people disagree; not too long ago, there was a small uproar that Haskell did not have a proper IDE yet. And I am exposed to IDEs at $DAYJOB, but if anything, that has further soured me towards them. To all their own, text editors and IDEs alike; I think I'm likely to stick to my text editor :) [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5169638/autocompletion-in-vim https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5169638/autocompletion-i... [2] http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=325 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=325 [3] http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=213 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=213

by kctess5 11y ago

halosghost 11y ago

Actually, many of the advanced text editors offer plugins that replicate a variety of the functionality you mention. To better answer your question, I am forced to reveal the text editor I prefer (please do not take this comment as a slant to any other text editor): vim. For vim, there are several plugins that provide completion functionality (for various languages)[1]. There are things to deal with Java imports specifically[2]. (I don't know what you mean by fixing build rules.) Hey, there are even plugins meant to facilitate whole IDE functionality for some languages[3]. Personally, I avoid things like Java so I have less of a use-case for IDEs anyway. Specifically, I code in C and Haskell (and a touch of by-hand llvm-ir for fun). In C, automatic imports and the like, I do not even wish for (since it is so necessary for me to completely understand the function calls I make, I need to read the docs quite commonly which mention the header for #inclusion). And, for Haskell, I'm constantly prototyping in ghci, so I learn what I need anyway. In neithr of these languages do I feel it is helpful enough for me to desire such things. Having said that, I understand that many people disagree; not too long ago, there was a small uproar that Haskell did not have a proper IDE yet. And I am exposed to IDEs at $DAYJOB, but if anything, that has further soured me towards them. To all their own, text editors and IDEs alike; I think I'm likely to stick to my text editor :) [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5169638/autocompletion-in-vim https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5169638/autocompletion-i... [2] http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=325 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=325 [3] http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=213 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=213