3 ms·
My biggest problem with IDEs is that they make bad languages and practices (that would otherwise be untenable due to the weight of accidental complexity) just b
by michaelochurch 15y ago
My biggest problem with IDEs is that they make bad languages and practices (that would otherwise be untenable due to the weight of accidental complexity) just barely work, well enough that they aren't replaced. Most of the Java IDE ecosystem exists to make up for deep deficiencies of the Java language.
Also, Java "best practices" involve shitting all over your directory structure with singleton directories like "com"-- because "no one actually uses the Unix command line anymore"-- and putting tests in a separate directory tree ("src" vs "test").
If you have a Repl, you usually don't need an IDE. If you have no Repl, you're working with stone knives anyway and should just give up. http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/repl-or-fail/ http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/repl-or-fail/
What I do like is the idea of a read-only IDE available through the web. Google has something like this (Codesearch) and it's great for large codebases.