5 ms·

can you tell me what exactly in Atom or vscode is worth switching from ST?

by usaphp 10y ago

geoffpado 10y ago
The fact that a minor update got released isn't a rare enough occurrence to warrant a highly-voted post on HN. Snark aside, VSC has grown up quite a lot, very quickly. If you like Sublime, good for you, stick with it. But it looks like VSC is going to pick up support for more new things, faster. Personal favorite: support exists to plug in third-party debuggers and get debug tools/build errors inside VSC.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >The fact that a minor update got released isn't a rare enough occurrence to warrant a highly-voted post on HN. So, it's not as mature enough and still adds things regularly, including still struggling with speed issues? How often does Vim have updates released? Who even cares for most of them?
  - Artemis2 10y ago
    Well, Sublime Text 3 is still a beta. https://github.com/vim/vim/releases https://github.com/vim/vim/releases
    - coldtea 10y ago
      That doesn't mean much, it's just a label. ST3 has been stable (and my main editor) for 2+ years now. React was 0.15 until recently, and Node was adopted by major companies like Microsoft at 0.xx versions.
      - Artemis2 10y ago
        The way people number their versions does not mean anything (React is actually in v15 now). 0.xx has no meaning, except if the developer of the software explicitly indicates it's unfinished. Version numbers are entirely subjective by default. I agree with you on the stability of Sublime Text, but the label beta has, on the opposite of version numbers, a consistent meaning: it's not finished.
- stevetrewick 10y ago
  >The fact that a minor update got released isn't a rare enough occurrence to warrant a highly-voted post on HN. Reality appears to disagree with you on this point.
k3n 10y ago
Disclaimer: I haven't used any of the 3 extensively, but I do play around in them from time-to-time. The main difference to me is that ST comes as a bare-metal editor with the potential to do just about anything, while Atom and VSC come with some built-in features that just make life easier and the ability to extend it further. A concrete example would be VSC's git support; out-of-the-box, it's a full-featured git client, and even if you prefer the git cli for most operations like I do, VSC automatically reads the .git directory and then creates a tab that shows your current changelist (modified, staged) with a visual diff of the files. Also allows you to easily do the common stuff like checkout a branch, commit, push, etc. If you're a big fan of ST, you probably won't like the alternatives unless you have some frustrations with ST, because ST is probably more powerful overall, but compared to Atom & VSC, the learning curve is also quite a bit higher.
- slapresta 10y ago
  The git support is a big deal. I loathe SourceTree and the like, but VSC is basically a better `git add -p` for me.
  - k__ 10y ago
    It's funny that the Git support of VSCode is better than that of Atom, since Atom is from GitHub, haha.
plexicle 10y ago
This may or may not matter to you, but VSCode and Atom are open-source. That means a lot to me, but I understand that some people won't really care.
- usaphp 10y ago
  Can you tell me how many times have you used their advantage of being open-source? Everybody keeps talking about ST not being open sourced, but how many people have actually went and dig into the Atom code and changed something in a core of it? I just want to write code with a fast editor, I don't really care if its open source or not if it does what I want it to do
  - mevile 10y ago
    The benefit of open source is really better plugins. It's much easier to create plugins for an editor if you can see the editor's source code. This is true for IntelliJ IDEA and Atom in particular. I have been able to create pretty great UIs and other features in IntelliJ plugins from looking at and introspecting the IntelliJ code to see how it was done there. The other benefit is that if the company dies you know you wont have wasted all that effort with the editor because open source editors don't live and die at the behest of the company that started them.
  - sspiff 10y ago
    Even if you don't fix or extend anything yourself, a sufficiently popular open source project is immortal in a very real sense. Think of it as insurance for one of you most important tools.
  - throwaway84284 10y ago
    He cares deeply about open-source because it usually comes attached to free-as-in-beer-ness.
  - Strom 10y ago
    I'm still using ST, but there have definitely been times when I wished it would be possible to modify some functionality. [1] I've sent them feature requests, but as they barely manage to implement their own ideas, mine have been ignored. If it were open source, I could've implemented it myself, which I certainly do for other tools that I use and find lacking. [1] For example the find-replace dialog closes itself when I press "Replace All", as opposed to other editors I've used where it doesn't. It's annoying to have to reopen the dialog after every different search.
hrktb 10y ago
For me the OSX integration was better for Atom. Little things like the 'Duplicate' option in the project tree drawer. Also better PHP plugins.
ball_of_lint 10y ago
Atom is a small bit slower than sublime, but it has just as many or possibly more plugins, has a nicer settings and plugin interface, and is open source and free.
- profmonocle 10y ago
  I switched to Atom a few months ago, and I agree with all your points, but I think you're being a bit generous calling Atom "a small bit slower". On my machine (2013 MacBook Air) Sublime opens instantaneously, while Atom takes 2-3 seconds. Opening files is also noticeably slower, though not by as much. Memory usage is also far higher, in the hundreds of MBs vs tens.
  - eivarv 10y ago
    This has been my experience as well, in addition to an increase in energy use.
    - adrianhoward 10y ago
      Me too. I poke at Atom every few months — but speed + battery time are why I'm currently sticking with ST.
romanovcode 10y ago
VSC has built-in debuggers for node, go, python and c# that work very well.
- k__ 10y ago
  Also the linter/autocomplete stuff seems much better integrated and snappier.
be5invis 10y ago
They are free and open-source. The latest VSCode has my code to fix CJK word wrapping (and Kinsoku Shori).
drhayes9 10y ago
Atom and VS Code listen to your .gitignore when showing a folder of files. Quick searches ignore those files as well. In Atom those folders/files are still openable (the explorer pane thingy shows them as grayed out). To get the same functionality in Sublime, AFAIK, you have to create a couple of project files first and add folders into it. Then, if you later make a new folder via the terminal you have to edit your project file to include it. That's been my biggest headache around Sublime vs. Atom. It's the smallest thing but it's like sand in my shoe.
- geerlingguy 10y ago
  There are often times when I want certain files ignored in gitignore, but I still need to work with them and/or search them in the editor. For me, it's nice to have a separate way to tell Sublime what to hide.

can you tell me what exactly in Atom or vscode is worth switching from ST?

by usaphp 10y ago

can you tell me what exactly in Atom or vscode is worth switching from ST?

The fact that a minor update got released isn't a rare enough occurrence to warrant a highly-voted post on HN. Snark aside, VSC has grown up quite a lot, very quickly. If you like Sublime, good for you, stick with it. But it looks like VSC is going to pick up support for more new things, faster. Personal favorite: support exists to plug in third-party debuggers and get debug tools/build errors inside VSC.

coldtea 10y ago
>The fact that a minor update got released isn't a rare enough occurrence to warrant a highly-voted post on HN. So, it's not as mature enough and still adds things regularly, including still struggling with speed issues? How often does Vim have updates released? Who even cares for most of them?
- Artemis2 10y ago
  Well, Sublime Text 3 is still a beta. https://github.com/vim/vim/releases https://github.com/vim/vim/releases
  - coldtea 10y ago
    That doesn't mean much, it's just a label. ST3 has been stable (and my main editor) for 2+ years now. React was 0.15 until recently, and Node was adopted by major companies like Microsoft at 0.xx versions.
    - Artemis2 10y ago
      The way people number their versions does not mean anything (React is actually in v15 now). 0.xx has no meaning, except if the developer of the software explicitly indicates it's unfinished. Version numbers are entirely subjective by default. I agree with you on the stability of Sublime Text, but the label beta has, on the opposite of version numbers, a consistent meaning: it's not finished.
stevetrewick 10y ago
>The fact that a minor update got released isn't a rare enough occurrence to warrant a highly-voted post on HN. Reality appears to disagree with you on this point.

k3n 10y ago

Disclaimer: I haven't used any of the 3 extensively, but I do play around in them from time-to-time. The main difference to me is that ST comes as a bare-metal editor with the potential to do just about anything, while Atom and VSC come with some built-in features that just make life easier and the ability to extend it further. A concrete example would be VSC's git support; out-of-the-box, it's a full-featured git client, and even if you prefer the git cli for most operations like I do, VSC automatically reads the .git directory and then creates a tab that shows your current changelist (modified, staged) with a visual diff of the files. Also allows you to easily do the common stuff like checkout a branch, commit, push, etc. If you're a big fan of ST, you probably won't like the alternatives unless you have some frustrations with ST, because ST is probably more powerful overall, but compared to Atom & VSC, the learning curve is also quite a bit higher.

slapresta 10y ago
The git support is a big deal. I loathe SourceTree and the like, but VSC is basically a better `git add -p` for me.
- k__ 10y ago
  It's funny that the Git support of VSCode is better than that of Atom, since Atom is from GitHub, haha.

plexicle 10y ago

This may or may not matter to you, but VSCode and Atom are open-source. That means a lot to me, but I understand that some people won't really care.

usaphp 10y ago
Can you tell me how many times have you used their advantage of being open-source? Everybody keeps talking about ST not being open sourced, but how many people have actually went and dig into the Atom code and changed something in a core of it? I just want to write code with a fast editor, I don't really care if its open source or not if it does what I want it to do
- mevile 10y ago
  The benefit of open source is really better plugins. It's much easier to create plugins for an editor if you can see the editor's source code. This is true for IntelliJ IDEA and Atom in particular. I have been able to create pretty great UIs and other features in IntelliJ plugins from looking at and introspecting the IntelliJ code to see how it was done there. The other benefit is that if the company dies you know you wont have wasted all that effort with the editor because open source editors don't live and die at the behest of the company that started them.
- sspiff 10y ago
  Even if you don't fix or extend anything yourself, a sufficiently popular open source project is immortal in a very real sense. Think of it as insurance for one of you most important tools.
- throwaway84284 10y ago
  He cares deeply about open-source because it usually comes attached to free-as-in-beer-ness.
- Strom 10y ago
  I'm still using ST, but there have definitely been times when I wished it would be possible to modify some functionality. [1] I've sent them feature requests, but as they barely manage to implement their own ideas, mine have been ignored. If it were open source, I could've implemented it myself, which I certainly do for other tools that I use and find lacking. [1] For example the find-replace dialog closes itself when I press "Replace All", as opposed to other editors I've used where it doesn't. It's annoying to have to reopen the dialog after every different search.

hrktb 10y ago

For me the OSX integration was better for Atom. Little things like the 'Duplicate' option in the project tree drawer. Also better PHP plugins.

ball_of_lint 10y ago

Atom is a small bit slower than sublime, but it has just as many or possibly more plugins, has a nicer settings and plugin interface, and is open source and free.

profmonocle 10y ago
I switched to Atom a few months ago, and I agree with all your points, but I think you're being a bit generous calling Atom "a small bit slower". On my machine (2013 MacBook Air) Sublime opens instantaneously, while Atom takes 2-3 seconds. Opening files is also noticeably slower, though not by as much. Memory usage is also far higher, in the hundreds of MBs vs tens.
- eivarv 10y ago
  This has been my experience as well, in addition to an increase in energy use.
  - adrianhoward 10y ago
    Me too. I poke at Atom every few months — but speed + battery time are why I'm currently sticking with ST.

romanovcode 10y ago

VSC has built-in debuggers for node, go, python and c# that work very well.

k__ 10y ago
Also the linter/autocomplete stuff seems much better integrated and snappier.

be5invis 10y ago

They are free and open-source. The latest VSCode has my code to fix CJK word wrapping (and Kinsoku Shori).

drhayes9 10y ago

Atom and VS Code listen to your .gitignore when showing a folder of files. Quick searches ignore those files as well. In Atom those folders/files are still openable (the explorer pane thingy shows them as grayed out). To get the same functionality in Sublime, AFAIK, you have to create a couple of project files first and add folders into it. Then, if you later make a new folder via the terminal you have to edit your project file to include it. That's been my biggest headache around Sublime vs. Atom. It's the smallest thing but it's like sand in my shoe.

geerlingguy 10y ago
There are often times when I want certain files ignored in gitignore, but I still need to work with them and/or search them in the editor. For me, it's nice to have a separate way to tell Sublime what to hide.