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Quite frankly, reading these release notes addressing basic features like toggling block comments is just… Makes me wonder why we engineers love reinventing th

by yunohn 3y ago

Quite frankly, reading these release notes addressing basic features like toggling block comments is just… Makes me wonder why we engineers love reinventing the wheel with new text editors, all at various levels of brokenness.

bobbyskelton41 3y ago
Different needs/requirements. If there is demand for something then someone will eventually become the supplier.
- yunohn 3y ago
  No, I think devs just love pointlessly tinkering with new tools all the time - I’m guilty of this myself too.
frankjr 3y ago
> basic features like toggling block comments Whether this is a basic feature depends on the languages you're using, I'm pretty sure I haven't toggled a block comment in 10+ years. Some languages don't even have them (Zig), others do but you are encouraged not to use them (Rust) and some only have those e.g. OCaml.
- yunohn 3y ago
  My point is less around usage and prevalence, and more around reimplementing basic paradigms ad infinitum.
threatofrain 3y ago
By subscribing to the latest of web tech, we now get nice on/off buttons and horizontal bars in select menus. So by comparison this stuff is light years ahead!
darthrupert 3y ago
It's hardly just us engineers. Plenty of startups try to radically improve things instead of just joining companies that are already doing the thing. I think this is analogous.
dpc_01234 3y ago
It's called progress. Helix does a lot of things better than other editors, so cherry-picking some minor thing to make it look not worthwhile is just silly.
- yunohn 3y ago
  I’m not cherry picking. It’s just weird to see yet-another-editor in 2024, with developers having to reinvent everything from scratch. I mean, half the comments here are disappointed that plugins will need to be coded in Steel/Scheme. That basically renders the entire world of editor plugins unusable. I just can’t wrap my head around that decision!

by yunohn 3y ago

bobbyskelton41 3y ago

Different needs/requirements. If there is demand for something then someone will eventually become the supplier.

yunohn 3y ago
No, I think devs just love pointlessly tinkering with new tools all the time - I’m guilty of this myself too.

frankjr 3y ago

> basic features like toggling block comments Whether this is a basic feature depends on the languages you're using, I'm pretty sure I haven't toggled a block comment in 10+ years. Some languages don't even have them (Zig), others do but you are encouraged not to use them (Rust) and some only have those e.g. OCaml.

yunohn 3y ago
My point is less around usage and prevalence, and more around reimplementing basic paradigms ad infinitum.

threatofrain 3y ago

By subscribing to the latest of web tech, we now get nice on/off buttons and horizontal bars in select menus. So by comparison this stuff is light years ahead!

darthrupert 3y ago

It's hardly just us engineers. Plenty of startups try to radically improve things instead of just joining companies that are already doing the thing. I think this is analogous.

dpc_01234 3y ago

It's called progress. Helix does a lot of things better than other editors, so cherry-picking some minor thing to make it look not worthwhile is just silly.

yunohn 3y ago
I’m not cherry picking. It’s just weird to see yet-another-editor in 2024, with developers having to reinvent everything from scratch. I mean, half the comments here are disappointed that plugins will need to be coded in Steel/Scheme. That basically renders the entire world of editor plugins unusable. I just can’t wrap my head around that decision!