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LSP is a double-edge sword. Indeed, it offers a quicker path from a zero IDE support position, which is a boon not only to language authors but also to the host
by owlstuffing 3y ago
LSP is a double-edge sword. Indeed, it offers a quicker path from a zero IDE support position, which is a boon not only to language authors but also to the hosting IDE. MS I’m sure recognized the leverage potential of the latter. For them faster onboarding meant all the difference, and it worked.
The downside is the nature of LSP, which is to say it is necessarily a common denominator API. As a result a tool built on LSP-based API tends to be significantly inferior compared with similar tools built on comprehensive, proprietary APIs. For instance, the IntelliJ IDEA Open API illustrates this advantage quite well.
Thus, the economically rich tool authors maintain a clear advantage _if dev experience is the key differentiator_.
- adonovan 3y agoTrue, but I guess the amount of work that goes into a proprietary bespoke IDE is on another order of magnitude. For example our team maintains an LSP server for Go with only about 3 FTE, but I guess JetBrains has a much larger team devoted to Goland (a bespoke IDE), and benefits from common infrastructure with their IDEs for Java and other languages.
- mike_hearn 3y agoAs the name implies, the IntelliJ Open API is open, as in open source. It only works with IntelliJ indeed because it's the IntelliJ API, but that doesn't make it not open.
- owlstuffing 3y agoTrue, it is not technically “proprietary”, but it is a perfect example of a polar opposite of LSP. Utilizing the vernacular put forth in the talk, the sophistication of the IJ API is both the means and the cost of establishing a presence on the IntelliJ-dominant Language Tooling Avenue.