3 ms·

If all you need is diffing source code, I’d really consider buying a Jetbrains IDE (disclaimer: no affiliated, just a fan) which provides this out of the box, i

by 9dev 6y ago

If all you need is diffing source code, I’d really consider buying a Jetbrains IDE (disclaimer: no affiliated, just a fan) which provides this out of the box, isn’t much more expensive and has an additional use as an IDE :)

michaelmcdonald 6y ago
I thought most of the Jetbrains products were subscriptions? Kaleidoscope is a one-time-purchase app. I paid for it a handful of years ago, one time, and it has worked perfectly for my needs ever since.
- justinlloyd 6y ago
  JetBrains offers a couple of models for licensing. One of those is a "subscribe until you don't want to pay for it, then the last major version that you subscribed too is yours to keep forever." Another is "pay for the specific version once and be done with it, here's your license key." I am not affiliated with JetBrains. I have a continuing "pay once a year" "subscription." Should I ever need to cancel that subscription, or let it lapse (I did that between July 2019 and August 2020), I can still use the last major version from the prior year. I think the JetBrains model of "we have a variety of ways for you to give us money that is fair to us and you" strikes a good balance. There are a number of tools I have taken off of my workbench because they have gone subscription only: Tower, 1Password, and so forth. I only purchase "one time licenses" of MS Office these days (we're about 3 years behind). I'm in the process of excising Adobe from my life, but unfortunately finding it rather hard.
  - danieldk 6y ago
    One of those is a "subscribe until you don't want to pay for it, then the last major version that you subscribed too is yours to keep forever." That's not completely accurate. First of all, this only applies if you subscribe for at leas a year (e.g. a 1 month subscription is not enough to get a perpetual license). Secondly, you only get a perpetual license for the product available at the time of purchase or 12 months prior. So, e.g. if you buy a yearly subscription for CLion now, then you will get a perpetual license for 2020.2.z (the current version), but not for 2020.3.z. Of course, you can renew the license after a year and get perpetual licenses for newer releases as well. (Maybe this is what you were saying, but it doesn't read like that ;).) Another is "pay for the specific version once and be done with it, here's your license key." They don't have that model for their IDEs anymore, right? That said, I am also a happy user of JetBrains products, and especially their All Products Pack is really a good deal (if you frequently switch between languages).
- gregoriol 6y ago
  Usually you use Jetbrains products for the whole IDE, not just diff. At their price tag, and their regular updates, it's much worth it.
- ysleepy 6y ago
  You get Intellij Idea Community Edition for free and its open source. It has everything you need.
  - cocoa19 6y ago
    IntelliJ Idea Community is for Java without Spring support. If you want Spring support, or you want to use other JetBrains IDEs for other languages, you have to pay. Personally, I'm happy to fork my money to them. They make the best IDEs out there.
jebronie 6y ago
Mac OS has also "FileMerge" as part of Xcode (free).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
capableweb 6y ago
> If all you need is diffing source code, I’d really consider buying That's a giant leap. If you just need one thing, don't buy a IDE! If you just need to diff source code, use `diff` cli. Available everywhere and in some more places. If you need something more than diff, find a proper comparison tool, unless you're already using an IDE of course. Or unless you need to also write/read code in the same tool. Then maybe IDE is fitting. Your recommendation is very strange.
stephenr 6y ago
I use IDEA Ultimate but I deliberately avoid the built in version control and diffing 99% of the time. They’re great tools for writing code (in spite of their not-quite-native UI and heavy resource requirements) but anything I can do separately (git/hg, vagrant, terminal/ssh, diffing), I do - the IDE-integrated interfaces for those things are pretty much always worse and slower.

by 9dev 6y ago

michaelmcdonald 6y ago

I thought most of the Jetbrains products were subscriptions? Kaleidoscope is a one-time-purchase app. I paid for it a handful of years ago, one time, and it has worked perfectly for my needs ever since.

justinlloyd 6y ago
JetBrains offers a couple of models for licensing. One of those is a "subscribe until you don't want to pay for it, then the last major version that you subscribed too is yours to keep forever." Another is "pay for the specific version once and be done with it, here's your license key." I am not affiliated with JetBrains. I have a continuing "pay once a year" "subscription." Should I ever need to cancel that subscription, or let it lapse (I did that between July 2019 and August 2020), I can still use the last major version from the prior year. I think the JetBrains model of "we have a variety of ways for you to give us money that is fair to us and you" strikes a good balance. There are a number of tools I have taken off of my workbench because they have gone subscription only: Tower, 1Password, and so forth. I only purchase "one time licenses" of MS Office these days (we're about 3 years behind). I'm in the process of excising Adobe from my life, but unfortunately finding it rather hard.
- danieldk 6y ago
  One of those is a "subscribe until you don't want to pay for it, then the last major version that you subscribed too is yours to keep forever." That's not completely accurate. First of all, this only applies if you subscribe for at leas a year (e.g. a 1 month subscription is not enough to get a perpetual license). Secondly, you only get a perpetual license for the product available at the time of purchase or 12 months prior. So, e.g. if you buy a yearly subscription for CLion now, then you will get a perpetual license for 2020.2.z (the current version), but not for 2020.3.z. Of course, you can renew the license after a year and get perpetual licenses for newer releases as well. (Maybe this is what you were saying, but it doesn't read like that ;).) Another is "pay for the specific version once and be done with it, here's your license key." They don't have that model for their IDEs anymore, right? That said, I am also a happy user of JetBrains products, and especially their All Products Pack is really a good deal (if you frequently switch between languages).
gregoriol 6y ago
Usually you use Jetbrains products for the whole IDE, not just diff. At their price tag, and their regular updates, it's much worth it.
ysleepy 6y ago
You get Intellij Idea Community Edition for free and its open source. It has everything you need.
- cocoa19 6y ago
  IntelliJ Idea Community is for Java without Spring support. If you want Spring support, or you want to use other JetBrains IDEs for other languages, you have to pay. Personally, I'm happy to fork my money to them. They make the best IDEs out there.

jebronie 6y ago

Mac OS has also "FileMerge" as part of Xcode (free).

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

capableweb 6y ago

> If all you need is diffing source code, I’d really consider buying That's a giant leap. If you just need one thing, don't buy a IDE! If you just need to diff source code, use `diff` cli. Available everywhere and in some more places. If you need something more than diff, find a proper comparison tool, unless you're already using an IDE of course. Or unless you need to also write/read code in the same tool. Then maybe IDE is fitting. Your recommendation is very strange.

stephenr 6y ago

I use IDEA Ultimate but I deliberately avoid the built in version control and diffing 99% of the time. They’re great tools for writing code (in spite of their not-quite-native UI and heavy resource requirements) but anything I can do separately (git/hg, vagrant, terminal/ssh, diffing), I do - the IDE-integrated interfaces for those things are pretty much always worse and slower.