6 ms·

I've been a long time emacs user and switched to vscode recently. Seriously, vscode is so much easier to configure and use.

lmedinas 6y ago
Well thats the thing with Emacs, its an extremely good Tool: Editor, browser, file manager, git frontend, notes, calendar, etc.. etc... you call it! but its also extremely old and outdated tool. I used Emacs for years and one day i realized i had a huge .emacs file and spend lots of time maintaining it, that's when i was conviced it was not the editor for me or I was using it wrong. I moved to sublime, vscode and now im giving vim/neovim a try. As much as i liked Emacs i dont see myself using it again soon.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  Well thats the thing with my table saw, its an extremely good Tool; ripping, cross cutting, router table, many different materials, coving cuts etc. etc. you call it! but its also extremely old and outdated tool. I used my table saw for years and one day realized I had accumulated a lot of very detail knowledge of how to use it and spend lots of time maintaining it, thats when i was convined it was not the tool for me or I was using it wrong. I moved to a hand-held jigsaw, then a crosscut saw, and now im giving a handsaw a try. As much as I liked my table saw, i dont see myself using it again soon.
  - stinkytaco 6y ago
    The fundamental difference in your analogy is that the table saw is a single use tool optimized for precisely one thing. It requires little maintenance or training (compared to emacs, anyway) and has been optimized for this one thing so much that it's hard to imagine something that is faster, safer or more reliable. The same cannot be said of Emacs. It is a general purpose tool on a rapidly evolving platform. Its C interpreter is starting to show its age, it requires some tinkering (and many outside tools) to interact with on mobile devices and as the world moves on it feels like it's trying to keep up with specialized tools. I'm an Emacs user, but I will also argue that the comparison with a table saw is not a fair one.
Spinnaker_ 6y ago
I used vscode since 2015 and have now switched to emacs. Yes, vscode is easier to configure and use right away, but that's not always a good thing. I was fully dependent on so much tooling which I didn't understand in the slightest. When you're cranking out react apps that's probably fine. With emacs I actually need to read documentation. I need to have some sort of understanding of what I'm actually installing. It's frustrating at first, but overall has made me much more aware of what's going on. I've learned so much throughout the process and it has made me a better developer.
JohnL4 6y ago
I'm a heavy org-mode user. I'll also pop into emacs for comment formatting, macro-running, and the occasional column-based copy/paste. Plus an auto-numbering function I wrote when I wore a younger man's clothes. Plus a colorful highlight mode (which I wrote) + htmlize for sharing said highlights, also from my callow youth. Other than that, yeah, 100% VS Code for typescript and regular VS + ReSharper for my regular life. Oh, also, emacs for Haskell. And whatever other weird language.
Siira 6y ago
VSCode is also a lot weaker in general text editing and extensibility, and doesn’t have a TUI. (I use both extensively.)
dmm 6y ago
It matters a lot to me that several of the interesting parts of vscode are proprietary and not free or open source. In particular the liveshare and remote features are proprietary. Many extensions contain proprietary parts, like the c# debugger.

lmedinas 6y ago

Well thats the thing with Emacs, its an extremely good Tool: Editor, browser, file manager, git frontend, notes, calendar, etc.. etc... you call it! but its also extremely old and outdated tool. I used Emacs for years and one day i realized i had a huge .emacs file and spend lots of time maintaining it, that's when i was conviced it was not the editor for me or I was using it wrong. I moved to sublime, vscode and now im giving vim/neovim a try. As much as i liked Emacs i dont see myself using it again soon.

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
Well thats the thing with my table saw, its an extremely good Tool; ripping, cross cutting, router table, many different materials, coving cuts etc. etc. you call it! but its also extremely old and outdated tool. I used my table saw for years and one day realized I had accumulated a lot of very detail knowledge of how to use it and spend lots of time maintaining it, thats when i was convined it was not the tool for me or I was using it wrong. I moved to a hand-held jigsaw, then a crosscut saw, and now im giving a handsaw a try. As much as I liked my table saw, i dont see myself using it again soon.
- stinkytaco 6y ago
  The fundamental difference in your analogy is that the table saw is a single use tool optimized for precisely one thing. It requires little maintenance or training (compared to emacs, anyway) and has been optimized for this one thing so much that it's hard to imagine something that is faster, safer or more reliable. The same cannot be said of Emacs. It is a general purpose tool on a rapidly evolving platform. Its C interpreter is starting to show its age, it requires some tinkering (and many outside tools) to interact with on mobile devices and as the world moves on it feels like it's trying to keep up with specialized tools. I'm an Emacs user, but I will also argue that the comparison with a table saw is not a fair one.

Spinnaker_ 6y ago

I used vscode since 2015 and have now switched to emacs. Yes, vscode is easier to configure and use right away, but that's not always a good thing. I was fully dependent on so much tooling which I didn't understand in the slightest. When you're cranking out react apps that's probably fine. With emacs I actually need to read documentation. I need to have some sort of understanding of what I'm actually installing. It's frustrating at first, but overall has made me much more aware of what's going on. I've learned so much throughout the process and it has made me a better developer.

JohnL4 6y ago

I'm a heavy org-mode user. I'll also pop into emacs for comment formatting, macro-running, and the occasional column-based copy/paste. Plus an auto-numbering function I wrote when I wore a younger man's clothes. Plus a colorful highlight mode (which I wrote) + htmlize for sharing said highlights, also from my callow youth. Other than that, yeah, 100% VS Code for typescript and regular VS + ReSharper for my regular life. Oh, also, emacs for Haskell. And whatever other weird language.

Siira 6y ago

VSCode is also a lot weaker in general text editing and extensibility, and doesn’t have a TUI. (I use both extensively.)

dmm 6y ago

It matters a lot to me that several of the interesting parts of vscode are proprietary and not free or open source. In particular the liveshare and remote features are proprietary. Many extensions contain proprietary parts, like the c# debugger.