5 ms·

Keep VS Code from Becoming an IDE

49 points by bhalp1 8y ago

RubenSandwich 8y ago
I'm sorry but this headline doesn't reflect the content of the article. (The linked article has the same headline.) The article is more about enabling VS Code extentions by workspace in order to keep VS Code fast. The current headline strikes me as clickbait.
- nickwanninger 8y ago
  I think they mean to say "being bloated like an IDE is slow, here's how to not be slow because of bloat". Or at least thats what I got out of it
- jakear 8y ago
  Yeah, I read the headline as a call to action/complaint directed at VSCode developers.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
apetresc 8y ago
I don't know anything about how VS Code is architected, but surely if language support extensions are such a drag on performance, the plugin API has some way to load them dynamically only when a project of the relevant type is opened, right? Or does it really load every conceivable language plugin you have installed into memory whenever you open a scratch file in VS Code?
- ncallaway 8y ago
  It does have exactly that (dynamic loading of extensions).
- coldacid 8y ago
  Apparently that is indeed what happens, but VS Code still needs to load each active plugin's manifest and prepare hooks for when it'll be loaded. Still nowhere as bad as actually loading them all. There are still plenty of other extensions that provide language-specific features that aren't language support, and those will end up getting loaded every time if they aren't deactivated. I find it's still useful to keep those installed and disabled by default, and only enable them for appropriate workspaces. It does help with maintaining Code's great performance.
cup-of-tea 8y ago
I honestly think if more people gave emacs a chance they'd find it's exactly what they've always wanted.
- Someone1234 8y ago
  I find my mouse too expressive to throw out. emacs and vim have always had self imposed limitations by requiring that all of the core features work on a remote terminal (with mouse being an after-thought/optional extra). Sublime, VS Code, and even Visual Studio have no such limitation so I'll keep using them. Each to their own of course. :)
  - hartator 8y ago
    Exactly this. Vim key shortcuts are truly awesome, but most of the times, mouse selection is just so superior, specially now with multicursors, column selections, and live feedback.
    - z3t4 8y ago
      Do you have a demo on multicursor mouse selection !?
      - tomsmeding 8y ago
        That is most probably with a plugin; there are a number of plugins for vim that provide varying amounts of multicursor support. I haven't found one yet, though, that provides the amount of integration and speed that sublime text's multicursor feature gives; in my experience, the relevant vim plugins work mostly and are slow.
    - eptcyka 8y ago
      Whilst I'm unsure about multicursors, everything you've stated is possible with different visual selection modes. I think the biggest problem vim has is discoverability rather than direct ease of use or lack of functionality.
    - 8y ago
DrBazza 8y ago
tl;dr disable all extensions, and enable the ones you need on a per-workspace basis.
- ryanpcmcquen 8y ago
  The irony is, that this article is very short.
nuggien 8y ago
So you do want an IDE, just not all of it all of the time? Headline is pretty clickbait, sorry.
pikzel 8y ago
If you want a "snappy editor", don't use one written as a web app.
- jxub 8y ago
  I don't think that the issue lies there. Look at the likes of Eclipse, not using Electron and way slower, while offering a marginal increase in functionality compared to a customized VS Code with plugins. Also, would you spend 5 hours each day in front of a Winforms or Awt based usually ugly-ass editor? The only negative side of going with Electron in the VS Code case is the size increment that comes from bundling the chrome engine.
brightball 8y ago
This is why I use two. I use Sublime for my "should always be fast" because...it's always insanely fast but then use VS Code for more code-like things.
- rhodysurf 8y ago
  I have the same workflow. I prefer Sublime but the Go, Dart, and Python plugins are too good in VSCode to give up for me.
alexdima 8y ago
Hi, I'm a developer working on VS Code. VS Code is architected in a way where extensions are not eagerly activated by default. Each extension can declare a list of activation events, such as e.g. opening a file of a certain language, invoking a specific command, starting debugging, etc. See for example the quite long list of activation events for our built-in TypeScript extension [1]. However, we also offer an activation event called ' * ', which means an extension can ask to be activated on startup. Some over-eager extensions might be using ' * ' to start up as soon as you open a VS Code window. You can find those extensions at any time using F1 > Developer: Show Running Extensions which will show the subset of extensions running at any time, and if they were activated on startup or not. Moreover, that view can guide you into profiling the extension host and can help you easily figure out if any extension is consuming extensive CPU. This was added quite recently [2]. [1] https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/1638acdd62d94bc4d991e8cab1d672260493f82f/extensions/typescript-language-features/package.json#L30-L43 https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/1638acdd62d94bc4d99... [2] https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_19#_running-extensions https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_19#_running-extensi...
- ihsw2 8y ago
  This is an amazing guide to find misbehaving extensions and thank you for your work on VS Code.
- ThoAppelsin 8y ago
  This is a great insight, thanks! I wonder if there also is a place we can view the activation events of an extension from within VS code. If there isn't, I guess I can always find that info out from the hopefully available repository of the extensions.
  - alexdima 8y ago
    Hovering over the activation time will show the reason the extension is active. e.g. "Activated because you opened a javascript file", "Activated on start-up", etc.
- polskibus 8y ago
sus_007 8y ago
One can also install only an "Extension Pack" for a specific language/framework on VSCode and enable the only extension pack (in stead of going through each extension and disabling them) that he/she needs to work with at the moment. Like when I'm working with Django(Python) I only enable my Python Extension Pack(has Jinja Templating & Django Snippets Support) whereas I only enable Node Extension Pack while writing Javascript.
gildas 8y ago
Isn't VS Code (without any extension installed) already an IDE? As far as I know, I cannot disable the integrated NodeJS debugger or the integrated terminal for example.
- Sean1708 8y ago
  Except there's no real definition of what an IDE is, just a general gut feeling that we mostly agree on. VS Code is one of the things that people don't agree on, however, so some will say it is and some will say it isn't.
aphextron 8y ago
>Some people like a big, heavy, comfy IDE. Some people like a light, zippy, relatively simple text editor and a terminal window. And some people like Emacs. We don't talk about them. (I'm joking, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.) I'm part of the zippy editor/terminal group. I really, really, hate this often touted false dichotomy, and the smug sense of superiority it engenders. Some people just use the right tool for the right job. If I'm cranking out some bash scripts, of course I'll pop open Vim. If I need to edit a CSS file real quick, I'll open up Sublime. If I'm writing a new C# class to integrate with some large codebase based on a complex library, for the love of god give me Visual Studio. If I'm debugging a JSP stack trace in Java/Spring, I would hate my life without IntelliJ. People who "personally identify" with their preferred tools and use/advocate them zealously are idiots with narrow experience.
ryanpcmcquen 8y ago
I always struggle with extensions. Often I just want to go completely extension free (as I do with Vim and Emacs). But some extensions are too good. A few that come to mind for VS Code are: - Prettier - Regex preview
zwieback 8y ago
How much of that is a startup issue? My IDE sessions (VS, Eclipse, etc.) usually last several days but then I'm still using a workstation 90% of the time.

49 points by bhalp1 8y ago

I'm sorry but this headline doesn't reflect the content of the article. (The linked article has the same headline.) The article is more about enabling VS Code extentions by workspace in order to keep VS Code fast. The current headline strikes me as clickbait.

nickwanninger 8y ago
I think they mean to say "being bloated like an IDE is slow, here's how to not be slow because of bloat". Or at least thats what I got out of it
jakear 8y ago
Yeah, I read the headline as a call to action/complaint directed at VSCode developers.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

apetresc 8y ago

I don't know anything about how VS Code is architected, but surely if language support extensions are such a drag on performance, the plugin API has some way to load them dynamically only when a project of the relevant type is opened, right? Or does it really load every conceivable language plugin you have installed into memory whenever you open a scratch file in VS Code?

ncallaway 8y ago
It does have exactly that (dynamic loading of extensions).
coldacid 8y ago
Apparently that is indeed what happens, but VS Code still needs to load each active plugin's manifest and prepare hooks for when it'll be loaded. Still nowhere as bad as actually loading them all. There are still plenty of other extensions that provide language-specific features that aren't language support, and those will end up getting loaded every time if they aren't deactivated. I find it's still useful to keep those installed and disabled by default, and only enable them for appropriate workspaces. It does help with maintaining Code's great performance.

cup-of-tea 8y ago

I honestly think if more people gave emacs a chance they'd find it's exactly what they've always wanted.

Someone1234 8y ago
I find my mouse too expressive to throw out. emacs and vim have always had self imposed limitations by requiring that all of the core features work on a remote terminal (with mouse being an after-thought/optional extra). Sublime, VS Code, and even Visual Studio have no such limitation so I'll keep using them. Each to their own of course. :)
- hartator 8y ago
  Exactly this. Vim key shortcuts are truly awesome, but most of the times, mouse selection is just so superior, specially now with multicursors, column selections, and live feedback.
  - z3t4 8y ago
    Do you have a demo on multicursor mouse selection !?
    - tomsmeding 8y ago
      That is most probably with a plugin; there are a number of plugins for vim that provide varying amounts of multicursor support. I haven't found one yet, though, that provides the amount of integration and speed that sublime text's multicursor feature gives; in my experience, the relevant vim plugins work mostly and are slow.
  - eptcyka 8y ago
    Whilst I'm unsure about multicursors, everything you've stated is possible with different visual selection modes. I think the biggest problem vim has is discoverability rather than direct ease of use or lack of functionality.
  - 8y ago

DrBazza 8y ago

tl;dr disable all extensions, and enable the ones you need on a per-workspace basis.

ryanpcmcquen 8y ago
The irony is, that this article is very short.

nuggien 8y ago

So you do want an IDE, just not all of it all of the time? Headline is pretty clickbait, sorry.

pikzel 8y ago

If you want a "snappy editor", don't use one written as a web app.

jxub 8y ago
I don't think that the issue lies there. Look at the likes of Eclipse, not using Electron and way slower, while offering a marginal increase in functionality compared to a customized VS Code with plugins. Also, would you spend 5 hours each day in front of a Winforms or Awt based usually ugly-ass editor? The only negative side of going with Electron in the VS Code case is the size increment that comes from bundling the chrome engine.

brightball 8y ago

This is why I use two. I use Sublime for my "should always be fast" because...it's always insanely fast but then use VS Code for more code-like things.

rhodysurf 8y ago
I have the same workflow. I prefer Sublime but the Go, Dart, and Python plugins are too good in VSCode to give up for me.

alexdima 8y ago

Hi, I'm a developer working on VS Code. VS Code is architected in a way where extensions are not eagerly activated by default. Each extension can declare a list of activation events, such as e.g. opening a file of a certain language, invoking a specific command, starting debugging, etc. See for example the quite long list of activation events for our built-in TypeScript extension [1]. However, we also offer an activation event called ' * ', which means an extension can ask to be activated on startup. Some over-eager extensions might be using ' * ' to start up as soon as you open a VS Code window. You can find those extensions at any time using F1 > Developer: Show Running Extensions which will show the subset of extensions running at any time, and if they were activated on startup or not. Moreover, that view can guide you into profiling the extension host and can help you easily figure out if any extension is consuming extensive CPU. This was added quite recently [2]. [1] https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/1638acdd62d94bc4d991e8cab1d672260493f82f/extensions/typescript-language-features/package.json#L30-L43 https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/blob/1638acdd62d94bc4d99... [2] https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_19#_running-extensions https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_19#_running-extensi...

ihsw2 8y ago
This is an amazing guide to find misbehaving extensions and thank you for your work on VS Code.
ThoAppelsin 8y ago
This is a great insight, thanks! I wonder if there also is a place we can view the activation events of an extension from within VS code. If there isn't, I guess I can always find that info out from the hopefully available repository of the extensions.
- alexdima 8y ago
  Hovering over the activation time will show the reason the extension is active. e.g. "Activated because you opened a javascript file", "Activated on start-up", etc.
polskibus 8y ago

sus_007 8y ago

One can also install only an "Extension Pack" for a specific language/framework on VSCode and enable the only extension pack (in stead of going through each extension and disabling them) that he/she needs to work with at the moment. Like when I'm working with Django(Python) I only enable my Python Extension Pack(has Jinja Templating & Django Snippets Support) whereas I only enable Node Extension Pack while writing Javascript.

gildas 8y ago

Isn't VS Code (without any extension installed) already an IDE? As far as I know, I cannot disable the integrated NodeJS debugger or the integrated terminal for example.

Sean1708 8y ago
Except there's no real definition of what an IDE is, just a general gut feeling that we mostly agree on. VS Code is one of the things that people don't agree on, however, so some will say it is and some will say it isn't.

aphextron 8y ago

>Some people like a big, heavy, comfy IDE. Some people like a light, zippy, relatively simple text editor and a terminal window. And some people like Emacs. We don't talk about them. (I'm joking, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.) I'm part of the zippy editor/terminal group. I really, really, hate this often touted false dichotomy, and the smug sense of superiority it engenders. Some people just use the right tool for the right job. If I'm cranking out some bash scripts, of course I'll pop open Vim. If I need to edit a CSS file real quick, I'll open up Sublime. If I'm writing a new C# class to integrate with some large codebase based on a complex library, for the love of god give me Visual Studio. If I'm debugging a JSP stack trace in Java/Spring, I would hate my life without IntelliJ. People who "personally identify" with their preferred tools and use/advocate them zealously are idiots with narrow experience.

ryanpcmcquen 8y ago

I always struggle with extensions. Often I just want to go completely extension free (as I do with Vim and Emacs). But some extensions are too good. A few that come to mind for VS Code are: - Prettier - Regex preview

zwieback 8y ago

How much of that is a startup issue? My IDE sessions (VS, Eclipse, etc.) usually last several days but then I'm still using a workstation 90% of the time.