5 ms·

Don't get all the gripes about slow startup time. How often do you launch your editor? We're programmers - the editor stays open all the time!

dawnerd 9y ago
I don't either. It's pretty fast as it is. Even if it took 10 seconds I don't think I'd mind too much as I close atom maybe once every few days, mostly by mistake (stupid cmd+q)
woolvalley 9y ago
There is also time to open new files as a subset of startup. Atom is significantly slower on large files than sublime.
BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
I would like to be the first to welcome you to the world where your personal preferences and experiences aren't universal. I don't use my computer exclusively for editing text, and therefore my text editor is not open all the time.
- joehewitt 9y ago
  > I don't use my computer exclusively for editing text, and therefore my text editor is not open all the time. Ok, well if I was developing a programmer's text editor I'd consider you a marginal user and design for the use case of the editor staying open 24/7. Startup time seems pretty low on the priority list.
  - BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
    Design for whatever you want to design for. Plenty of us are programmers who program all day every day and still don't agree with you. What you choose to prioritize is different from what you understand, though. So at least now you should "get" the gripes.
    - joehewitt 9y ago
      Well if the Atom developers are reading this I want to encourage them not to waste energy optimizing startup time due to Hacker News complainers who are using the product for a use case better suited to Notepad.
- oiuyh87yy3 9y ago
  I mean, one can turn that around: If slow startup time is no good for you, don't use an editor with slow startup times? Does a project need to consider each users edge-cases to be successful? Also, I read the original post as slightly tongue in cheek. Thanks for reminding us subjective experience is still a thing in this physical world.
loup-vaillant 9y ago
Every time I type `git commit`. Every time I visualise files with ranger (terminal based file browser). Every time I typed an email, back when I was using Mutt —which I might again. For such quick jobs, launching the editor should be instantaneous. And I don't want to use another editor for them, I like the key bindings of my main editor.
- acdha 9y ago
  > Every time I type `git commit` This is true with something like Vi but with a separate GUI app, wouldn't the most common case be setting EDITOR={atom,code,etc.} and it simply opening a new window in the already-running app? (Or, for that matter, don't most people using something IDE-like use the built-in UI to make a commit?)
  - Zarel 9y ago
    Opening a new window in the already-running app is also slow; they cover a strategy for increasing that performance in the linked blog post.
    - acdha 9y ago
      No doubt but e.g. VSCode’s sub-second performance shows that’s not a huge stretch while sticking with Electron and it has a subset of the challenges for startup performance
- joehewitt 9y ago
  Have you considered that Atom is not an editor meant for "quick jobs"? It's a workhorse for programmers who are coding all day every day.
  - seawlf 9y ago
    I don't think that's a good justification for slow startup time and general sluggishness. Despite having 30+ plugins and 800 color schemes installed vim starts up in just a few milliseconds on my work rig. I code all day every day.
Dirlewanger 9y ago
VS Code's update cycle is like once per month which requires a restart. It starts up so fast that it doesn't even matter. Can't say the same for Atom.
- BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
  If you're on the insider channel, the update cycle is daily. Microsoft's Code group is really knocking it out of the park with attention and responsiveness.
JurgenKlein 9y ago
I imagine you use arrow keys too.
earenndil 9y ago
I use vim, which launches almost immediately. I launch a new instance for every file I open, each in a new screen. It seems to work fine. Yet I wouldn't be able to do that under atom... (ignoring the issue of it doesn't work with tty).
maddyboo 9y ago
I launch instances of neovim all the time. So often that I have a keybinding for it (super + v). It launches and is ready to use in under 500ms.

dawnerd 9y ago

I don't either. It's pretty fast as it is. Even if it took 10 seconds I don't think I'd mind too much as I close atom maybe once every few days, mostly by mistake (stupid cmd+q)

woolvalley 9y ago

There is also time to open new files as a subset of startup. Atom is significantly slower on large files than sublime.

BugsJustFindMe 9y ago

I would like to be the first to welcome you to the world where your personal preferences and experiences aren't universal. I don't use my computer exclusively for editing text, and therefore my text editor is not open all the time.

joehewitt 9y ago
> I don't use my computer exclusively for editing text, and therefore my text editor is not open all the time. Ok, well if I was developing a programmer's text editor I'd consider you a marginal user and design for the use case of the editor staying open 24/7. Startup time seems pretty low on the priority list.
- BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
  Design for whatever you want to design for. Plenty of us are programmers who program all day every day and still don't agree with you. What you choose to prioritize is different from what you understand, though. So at least now you should "get" the gripes.
  - joehewitt 9y ago
    Well if the Atom developers are reading this I want to encourage them not to waste energy optimizing startup time due to Hacker News complainers who are using the product for a use case better suited to Notepad.
oiuyh87yy3 9y ago
I mean, one can turn that around: If slow startup time is no good for you, don't use an editor with slow startup times? Does a project need to consider each users edge-cases to be successful? Also, I read the original post as slightly tongue in cheek. Thanks for reminding us subjective experience is still a thing in this physical world.

loup-vaillant 9y ago

Every time I type `git commit`. Every time I visualise files with ranger (terminal based file browser). Every time I typed an email, back when I was using Mutt —which I might again. For such quick jobs, launching the editor should be instantaneous. And I don't want to use another editor for them, I like the key bindings of my main editor.

acdha 9y ago
> Every time I type `git commit` This is true with something like Vi but with a separate GUI app, wouldn't the most common case be setting EDITOR={atom,code,etc.} and it simply opening a new window in the already-running app? (Or, for that matter, don't most people using something IDE-like use the built-in UI to make a commit?)
- Zarel 9y ago
  Opening a new window in the already-running app is also slow; they cover a strategy for increasing that performance in the linked blog post.
  - acdha 9y ago
    No doubt but e.g. VSCode’s sub-second performance shows that’s not a huge stretch while sticking with Electron and it has a subset of the challenges for startup performance
joehewitt 9y ago
Have you considered that Atom is not an editor meant for "quick jobs"? It's a workhorse for programmers who are coding all day every day.
- seawlf 9y ago
  I don't think that's a good justification for slow startup time and general sluggishness. Despite having 30+ plugins and 800 color schemes installed vim starts up in just a few milliseconds on my work rig. I code all day every day.

Dirlewanger 9y ago

VS Code's update cycle is like once per month which requires a restart. It starts up so fast that it doesn't even matter. Can't say the same for Atom.

BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
If you're on the insider channel, the update cycle is daily. Microsoft's Code group is really knocking it out of the park with attention and responsiveness.

JurgenKlein 9y ago

I imagine you use arrow keys too.

earenndil 9y ago

I use vim, which launches almost immediately. I launch a new instance for every file I open, each in a new screen. It seems to work fine. Yet I wouldn't be able to do that under atom... (ignoring the issue of it doesn't work with tty).

maddyboo 9y ago

I launch instances of neovim all the time. So often that I have a keybinding for it (super + v). It launches and is ready to use in under 500ms.