5 ms·

VSCode is much much faster than the popular IDEs (namely, IntelliJ) in my experience. I'd say it occupies a middle point between full IDE and text editor.

by zumu 5y ago

chrisan 5y ago
Very true, the more features a product has the slower it opens. That middle ground is why I don't use VSCode If I want the best IDE, its something from JetBrains. It's definitely the slowest to open up, about 9 seconds on my machine, and I wouldn't think of opening a multi GB json file in it, but past that initial open its just as fast as sublime (again on my machine). If I want the fastest text wrangler or dealing with a massive file, its Sublime. Having used all 3, VSCode just leaves me wishing I opened one of the others. The best thing about VScode is that it is a really good (just not the best) IDE that is also free
unknown_error 5y ago
Is VSCode still fast after you add enough plugins to make it reach feature parity with IntelliJ? I've tried VSCode a few times through the years, but it always seemed like I needed at least a dozen plugins to get all the features I have out-of-the-box with PhpStorm. I guess it's a philosophical difference between modular components and a big ol' monolith (though, beneath the hood, IntelliJ IS modular... most of their software is just a branded collection of plugins, though all the major ones are first-party instead of community-driven like in VSCode).
- thrownaway561 5y ago
  you're comparing a text/code editor with a full fledge IDE. VSCode is _not_ an IDE, it is a glorified text editor with an amazing plugin system. if you need an IDE for what you do, use PHPStorm. I myself still use Visual Studio for a lot of the stuff that I do in .Net as I find I need the features it has.
  - unknown_error 5y ago
    I mean, let's be honest, the difference is getting blurrier and blurrier as "text editors" gain more features over time. And workflows, too, aren't that clear-cut... is it wrong for a "text editor" to include built-in autocomplete or git support? What about project-wide regexp search, or is that a better tool for grep? Etc. At the end of the day, I don't care what a program is classified as, only if it can do what I need it to do. Like many here, I've used Sublime for its speed on simple edits and other editors/IDEs for more complex dev work. That's fine. But VSCode occupies that in-between space, offering a mix of performance and features. The holy grail for me would be something like PHPStorm but with better performance. I wonder if Java has something to do with it, vs it being built as a native OS app? I don't remember Visual Studio (the full IDE, not VSCode) being this slow, ever, even on old Windows 95 machines. And even back then it was pretty feature-complete too, especially compared to VSCode if not IntelliJ. I guess my underlying question is whether it's really impossible for an IDE to be both fast and featureful.
- zumu 5y ago
  I haven't had issues with plugin bloat, personally. A nice feature is you can disable/enable plugins per workspace so you can only load your Java plugins for your java projects, etc.
The_rationalist 5y ago
Intellij mitigate this with https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/lightedit-mode.html https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/lightedit-mode.html

VSCode is much much faster than the popular IDEs (namely, IntelliJ) in my experience. I'd say it occupies a middle point between full IDE and text editor.

by zumu 5y ago

VSCode is much much faster than the popular IDEs (namely, IntelliJ) in my experience. I'd say it occupies a middle point between full IDE and text editor.

chrisan 5y ago

Very true, the more features a product has the slower it opens. That middle ground is why I don't use VSCode If I want the best IDE, its something from JetBrains. It's definitely the slowest to open up, about 9 seconds on my machine, and I wouldn't think of opening a multi GB json file in it, but past that initial open its just as fast as sublime (again on my machine). If I want the fastest text wrangler or dealing with a massive file, its Sublime. Having used all 3, VSCode just leaves me wishing I opened one of the others. The best thing about VScode is that it is a really good (just not the best) IDE that is also free

unknown_error 5y ago

Is VSCode still fast after you add enough plugins to make it reach feature parity with IntelliJ? I've tried VSCode a few times through the years, but it always seemed like I needed at least a dozen plugins to get all the features I have out-of-the-box with PhpStorm. I guess it's a philosophical difference between modular components and a big ol' monolith (though, beneath the hood, IntelliJ IS modular... most of their software is just a branded collection of plugins, though all the major ones are first-party instead of community-driven like in VSCode).

thrownaway561 5y ago
you're comparing a text/code editor with a full fledge IDE. VSCode is _not_ an IDE, it is a glorified text editor with an amazing plugin system. if you need an IDE for what you do, use PHPStorm. I myself still use Visual Studio for a lot of the stuff that I do in .Net as I find I need the features it has.
- unknown_error 5y ago
  I mean, let's be honest, the difference is getting blurrier and blurrier as "text editors" gain more features over time. And workflows, too, aren't that clear-cut... is it wrong for a "text editor" to include built-in autocomplete or git support? What about project-wide regexp search, or is that a better tool for grep? Etc. At the end of the day, I don't care what a program is classified as, only if it can do what I need it to do. Like many here, I've used Sublime for its speed on simple edits and other editors/IDEs for more complex dev work. That's fine. But VSCode occupies that in-between space, offering a mix of performance and features. The holy grail for me would be something like PHPStorm but with better performance. I wonder if Java has something to do with it, vs it being built as a native OS app? I don't remember Visual Studio (the full IDE, not VSCode) being this slow, ever, even on old Windows 95 machines. And even back then it was pretty feature-complete too, especially compared to VSCode if not IntelliJ. I guess my underlying question is whether it's really impossible for an IDE to be both fast and featureful.
zumu 5y ago
I haven't had issues with plugin bloat, personally. A nice feature is you can disable/enable plugins per workspace so you can only load your Java plugins for your java projects, etc.

The_rationalist 5y ago

Intellij mitigate this with https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/lightedit-mode.html https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/lightedit-mode.html