Switching between languages frequently, VS Code is great. Other IDEs are better for specific languages/contexts. However, I credit my understanding to the time

Switching between languages frequently, VS Code is great. Other IDEs are better for specific languages/contexts. However, I credit my understanding to the time I spent in Notepad++ and times I explored code on the whiteboard while reading docs. Thus, I feel my "internal compiler" would not be anywhere as useful if I had always relied on productivity tools (IDEs). That said, my input isn't maximized by more efficiently producing the same thing, like a factory, in which case I say IDE all the way.