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I really wanted to like Nova. I paid for it (and used it) for a year. In the end, though... I switched back to VS Code. Native apps like this are much faster t

I really wanted to like Nova. I paid for it (and used it) for a year. In the end, though... I switched back to VS Code. Native apps like this are much faster than such things, but I had too many use cases for the plugins. Kind of the same experience as Sublime Text. It's _really fast_, but I just rely too much on plugins when the experience requires something more than vim.

chipotle_coyote 5y ago
I had a similar experience, but -- possibly counter-intuitively! -- ended up going mostly all-in back on BBEdit 14 when it was released with LSP support which has proven to be a lot less, well, flaky than Nova. I like VS Code a lot and may yet return to it as my main coding editor if I go back to a big project, but BBEdit has always been my old warhorse when it comes to my technical writing because it's just such a Swiss Army Knife for text processing. And BBEdit with Intelephense for PHP or with my own Elixir package for (surprise) Elixir has worked really well. Nova is pretty, and I'm impressed that they've added a Vim mode, although I haven't been able to really give it a try (my year expired before that was added!). But for me, it wasn't just a lack of plugins, it was that functionality I wanted wasn't there and the functionality that was front and center, like integrated Transmit and Terminal tabs, just wasn't that important to me.
- bovermyer 5y ago
  Sounds like we really did have a similar experience - Nova is _great_, but not what we need. I have very specific and weird needs. For example, I need syntax highlighting for LaTeX, but in a non-mathematic-but-programmatic-control-of-layout way. VS Code supports that, oddly enough. No other text editor does.
- artdigital 5y ago
  fwiw, I just checked it out again and there is a basic VIM emulation layer now
  - dgl 5y ago
    I tried out the Vim mode, it's actually one of the better emulations I've seen. Still suffers from the fact that for someone used to Vim there will be some keys you use regularly that aren't yet part of the emulation. I lasted a few days, but turns out I'm happier with actual Vim. A shame, as they claimed to fix some of this in the newer versions... but of course my 30 day trial has expired and their model means I can't try out the fixes to see if it's actually worth paying for now.
daydream 5y ago
About a year ago I decided it was time to finally modernize my Python coding setup. I really, really wanted to use Nova, would have paid full price no problem, but for some reason the one main Python plugin was extremely flaky for me. Linter highlighting would sometimes work and sometimes not, unaffected by the plugin settings, and the primary Python plugin I was using was based on somebody’s github repro that hadn’t been touched in a year or two. I spent a bunch of time but couldn’t figure it out. So I ended up going to VS Code. It works well. The Python plugins work well. It’s a pain in the behind to configure, and it’s not the prettiest thing to look at. But I can grind out working code fast, partially because those plugins catch problems almost as fast as I can type them. I would try Nova again in a heartbeat if the Python support improves.
- hutattedonmyarm 5y ago
  I’m still using it for Python, but I agree, its support for the language is incredibly flaky
- codingkev 5y ago
  What plugin(s) exactly are you using in VSCode for Python support?
  - rcarmo 5y ago
    You only really need the official one (which bundles the language server and interpreter detection).
  - daydream 5y ago
    I have the official Python plugin and the Pylance plugin. I also have mypy enabled though that's not a separate plugin. I've avoided bugs because of that.
- brailsafe 5y ago
  Is there a reason you didn't go with PyCharm? I tried vscode, and it works out of the box for particular things, but Pycharm is just a breeze on latger projects.
osener 5y ago
After trying Nova and looking at other paid editors, I ended up using these funds to make donations to authors of my favourite VSCode and Emacs plugins instead.
phgn 5y ago
I don't understand why they're not supporting the VSCode extensions format [0]. There could be a different UI integration, but why duplicate the rest? Maybe they're really targeting a different audience. [0] https://open-vsx.org/ https://open-vsx.org/
- jonwinstanley 5y ago
  Totally agree. I only use a small number of extensions, but would struggle to manage without them.
billbrown 5y ago
I'd encourage you (or anyone) that likes Sublime Text and says "but it [small problem]" to give it another go. _Really fast_ is an amazing feature: I am never waiting on my text editor. The incidental features and details that make a bigger IDE more compelling are all there: you just need to find them if they're native or install a plugin if they're not. Once you've got it set up and then committed your process to muscle memory, the speed makes the software recede and your work the focus. (_The Pragmatic Programmer_, a book I highly recommend, advised me to "use a single editor well" and that has really made a huge difference in my career. I don't look for new tools until the current ones go unsupported or perform poorly—looking at you jEdit and TextMate—and my work flows are ingrained.)

chipotle_coyote 5y ago

I had a similar experience, but -- possibly counter-intuitively! -- ended up going mostly all-in back on BBEdit 14 when it was released with LSP support which has proven to be a lot less, well, flaky than Nova. I like VS Code a lot and may yet return to it as my main coding editor if I go back to a big project, but BBEdit has always been my old warhorse when it comes to my technical writing because it's just such a Swiss Army Knife for text processing. And BBEdit with Intelephense for PHP or with my own Elixir package for (surprise) Elixir has worked really well. Nova is pretty, and I'm impressed that they've added a Vim mode, although I haven't been able to really give it a try (my year expired before that was added!). But for me, it wasn't just a lack of plugins, it was that functionality I wanted wasn't there and the functionality that was front and center, like integrated Transmit and Terminal tabs, just wasn't that important to me.

bovermyer 5y ago
Sounds like we really did have a similar experience - Nova is _great_, but not what we need. I have very specific and weird needs. For example, I need syntax highlighting for LaTeX, but in a non-mathematic-but-programmatic-control-of-layout way. VS Code supports that, oddly enough. No other text editor does.
artdigital 5y ago
fwiw, I just checked it out again and there is a basic VIM emulation layer now
- dgl 5y ago
  I tried out the Vim mode, it's actually one of the better emulations I've seen. Still suffers from the fact that for someone used to Vim there will be some keys you use regularly that aren't yet part of the emulation. I lasted a few days, but turns out I'm happier with actual Vim. A shame, as they claimed to fix some of this in the newer versions... but of course my 30 day trial has expired and their model means I can't try out the fixes to see if it's actually worth paying for now.

daydream 5y ago

About a year ago I decided it was time to finally modernize my Python coding setup. I really, really wanted to use Nova, would have paid full price no problem, but for some reason the one main Python plugin was extremely flaky for me. Linter highlighting would sometimes work and sometimes not, unaffected by the plugin settings, and the primary Python plugin I was using was based on somebody’s github repro that hadn’t been touched in a year or two. I spent a bunch of time but couldn’t figure it out. So I ended up going to VS Code. It works well. The Python plugins work well. It’s a pain in the behind to configure, and it’s not the prettiest thing to look at. But I can grind out working code fast, partially because those plugins catch problems almost as fast as I can type them. I would try Nova again in a heartbeat if the Python support improves.

hutattedonmyarm 5y ago
I’m still using it for Python, but I agree, its support for the language is incredibly flaky
codingkev 5y ago
What plugin(s) exactly are you using in VSCode for Python support?
- rcarmo 5y ago
  You only really need the official one (which bundles the language server and interpreter detection).
- daydream 5y ago
  I have the official Python plugin and the Pylance plugin. I also have mypy enabled though that's not a separate plugin. I've avoided bugs because of that.
brailsafe 5y ago
Is there a reason you didn't go with PyCharm? I tried vscode, and it works out of the box for particular things, but Pycharm is just a breeze on latger projects.

osener 5y ago

After trying Nova and looking at other paid editors, I ended up using these funds to make donations to authors of my favourite VSCode and Emacs plugins instead.

phgn 5y ago

I don't understand why they're not supporting the VSCode extensions format [0]. There could be a different UI integration, but why duplicate the rest? Maybe they're really targeting a different audience. [0] https://open-vsx.org/ https://open-vsx.org/

jonwinstanley 5y ago
Totally agree. I only use a small number of extensions, but would struggle to manage without them.

billbrown 5y ago

I'd encourage you (or anyone) that likes Sublime Text and says "but it [small problem]" to give it another go. _Really fast_ is an amazing feature: I am never waiting on my text editor. The incidental features and details that make a bigger IDE more compelling are all there: you just need to find them if they're native or install a plugin if they're not. Once you've got it set up and then committed your process to muscle memory, the speed makes the software recede and your work the focus. (_The Pragmatic Programmer_, a book I highly recommend, advised me to "use a single editor well" and that has really made a huge difference in my career. I don't look for new tools until the current ones go unsupported or perform poorly—looking at you jEdit and TextMate—and my work flows are ingrained.)