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How does awk replace an IDE? I love awk, I love how powerful it is if you spend the time to learn it, but if I didn’t have an IDE I would be significantly less

How does awk replace an IDE? I love awk, I love how powerful it is if you spend the time to learn it, but if I didn’t have an IDE I would be significantly less productive. Most of what an IDE does is help you understand and change code, not text editing operations. Not trying to say you’re wrong, just curious what your angle is with that statement.

freedomben 3y ago
Thanks, to clarify, I don't mean that just awk replaces an IDE. I mean that the Linux command line replaces an IDE, specifically the functions like finding references, substitutions, transformations, etc. It doesn't replace syntax highlighting and stuff of course, though I get that from Vim. It's never going to be as powerful as a specialized IDE would for a specific language, but the Linux CLI is language agnostic and even works on just text files, so it's universally applicable and doesn't change depending on the language of the project. For me it's better than an IDE, but YMMV of course because everybody is different.
- brabel 3y ago
  I don't understand why you're associating AWK with Linux in particular... it seems it's available on Windows, BSD, MacOS and probably more.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    Ok yes, point taken, I just meant it as a general expression. I don't mean to imply that it's exclusive to Linux, although I do specifically prefer the GNU flavor of most of the tools (awk an exception where there are multiple interesting implementations), which do tend to be more closely associated with Linux than macos or BSD. A standard installation of any Linux distro will have them all available, whereas in Mac and Windows you have to specifically install them as they aren't part of the standard command line.
    - brabel 3y ago
      MacOS comes with AWK and most other utilities... with a few just having different names. IMHO it's basically as extensive as GNU/Linux.
      - freedomben 3y ago
        Macos does not come with the GNU utilities. You have to explicitly install them if you want them on macos. The included versions are BSD and similar licensed and are not all compatible with the GNU versions.

freedomben 3y ago

Thanks, to clarify, I don't mean that just awk replaces an IDE. I mean that the Linux command line replaces an IDE, specifically the functions like finding references, substitutions, transformations, etc. It doesn't replace syntax highlighting and stuff of course, though I get that from Vim. It's never going to be as powerful as a specialized IDE would for a specific language, but the Linux CLI is language agnostic and even works on just text files, so it's universally applicable and doesn't change depending on the language of the project. For me it's better than an IDE, but YMMV of course because everybody is different.

brabel 3y ago
I don't understand why you're associating AWK with Linux in particular... it seems it's available on Windows, BSD, MacOS and probably more.
- freedomben 3y ago
  Ok yes, point taken, I just meant it as a general expression. I don't mean to imply that it's exclusive to Linux, although I do specifically prefer the GNU flavor of most of the tools (awk an exception where there are multiple interesting implementations), which do tend to be more closely associated with Linux than macos or BSD. A standard installation of any Linux distro will have them all available, whereas in Mac and Windows you have to specifically install them as they aren't part of the standard command line.
  - brabel 3y ago
    MacOS comes with AWK and most other utilities... with a few just having different names. IMHO it's basically as extensive as GNU/Linux.
    - freedomben 3y ago
      Macos does not come with the GNU utilities. You have to explicitly install them if you want them on macos. The included versions are BSD and similar licensed and are not all compatible with the GNU versions.