5 ms·

Honest question - why use Zed, other than it is fast and “not VS Code”?

o_m 1y ago
It's not Microsoft, which is kind of a big deal because they own so much of developer tool ecosystem right now
torben-friis 1y ago
I use it as a notepad mostly, just because vscode is for the actual repo and sublime would nag me with the trial/purchase thing. It might sound silly but it helps me to have one use per app (even better if each is clearly identifiable by their theme).
tekacs 1y ago
It's very 'batteries-included', for one thing - when a novice wants to code, I recommend them Zed because it'll just handle and manage LSPs for them for a variety of languages. Meanwhile with VSCode step 1 of installing and using it for e.g. Rust is to go and install a random extension (and the VSCode store, whilst sorted by popularity, can be intimidating / confusing for a novice, who might install a random/scammy extension). The 'recommended extensions' thing helps, but it's still subpar. It has some other niceties – I love how if you Cmd+Shift+F to search across the project, that you get a multi-buffer [1] - I often use that for larger manual refactors for a ton of places in my codebase. But honestly... as others have said, speed is just _such_ a strong feature for my taste - it makes a world of difference compared to VSCode, because in VSC I'll be typing vim commands, the editor will fail to keep up and it'll do the wrong thing - whereas in Zed it's fast enough that I never really run into stalls. [1]: https://zed.dev/features#multi-buffers https://zed.dev/features#multi-buffers
- nicce 1y ago
  The biggest problem with VSC for me is that sometimes undo history is completely broken with VIM. If you don't commit frequently, it is very easy to mess up the with the project and lose all your work, if you undo anything.
- dcreater 1y ago
  Having everything be an extension is the double edged sword of VS Code. Zed is great for the ecosystem and I use it as an alternate editor for quick text editing but I dont foresee it replacing VS Code as my IDE. Once youve configured VS Code to your liking with devcontainers, and extensions declared by the config file, it becomes excellent.
0x696C6961 1y ago
The vim emulation is very good.
- jmgao 1y ago
  Seconding this, it's the only editor other than emacs that has a vim-mode that feels like it's maintained by a long term vim user.
  - acephal 1y ago
    Any highlights?
    - lukaslalinsky 1y ago
      It just feels smooth, like if you were in a modern vim. In most other editors that attempt implementing a vim mode, something constantly breaks the illusion. There are some some little annoyances in zed, but they are mostly behavior differences you can get used to. And they are still working on it, so I really see it as a new imagination of vim with many useful features built-in, like TS-based motions, or the way AI edit predictions work doesn't break the vim editing flow.
crooked-v 1y ago
Also very active development, which is pretty notable when every other IDE-lite but Nova and JetBrains seems to have just given up.
newlisp 1y ago
IME, it's not as polished as VSCode, too many rough little details here and there. But then, VSCode has been around for longer.
gunalx 1y ago
vscode has gotten way to bloated in recent years in my opinion. zed is just a really fresh Beath of air.

o_m 1y ago

It's not Microsoft, which is kind of a big deal because they own so much of developer tool ecosystem right now

I use it as a notepad mostly, just because vscode is for the actual repo and sublime would nag me with the trial/purchase thing. It might sound silly but it helps me to have one use per app (even better if each is clearly identifiable by their theme).

tekacs 1y ago

It's very 'batteries-included', for one thing - when a novice wants to code, I recommend them Zed because it'll just handle and manage LSPs for them for a variety of languages. Meanwhile with VSCode step 1 of installing and using it for e.g. Rust is to go and install a random extension (and the VSCode store, whilst sorted by popularity, can be intimidating / confusing for a novice, who might install a random/scammy extension). The 'recommended extensions' thing helps, but it's still subpar. It has some other niceties – I love how if you Cmd+Shift+F to search across the project, that you get a multi-buffer [1] - I often use that for larger manual refactors for a ton of places in my codebase. But honestly... as others have said, speed is just _such_ a strong feature for my taste - it makes a world of difference compared to VSCode, because in VSC I'll be typing vim commands, the editor will fail to keep up and it'll do the wrong thing - whereas in Zed it's fast enough that I never really run into stalls. [1]: https://zed.dev/features#multi-buffers https://zed.dev/features#multi-buffers

nicce 1y ago
The biggest problem with VSC for me is that sometimes undo history is completely broken with VIM. If you don't commit frequently, it is very easy to mess up the with the project and lose all your work, if you undo anything.
dcreater 1y ago
Having everything be an extension is the double edged sword of VS Code. Zed is great for the ecosystem and I use it as an alternate editor for quick text editing but I dont foresee it replacing VS Code as my IDE. Once youve configured VS Code to your liking with devcontainers, and extensions declared by the config file, it becomes excellent.

0x696C6961 1y ago

The vim emulation is very good.

jmgao 1y ago
Seconding this, it's the only editor other than emacs that has a vim-mode that feels like it's maintained by a long term vim user.
- acephal 1y ago
  Any highlights?
  - lukaslalinsky 1y ago
    It just feels smooth, like if you were in a modern vim. In most other editors that attempt implementing a vim mode, something constantly breaks the illusion. There are some some little annoyances in zed, but they are mostly behavior differences you can get used to. And they are still working on it, so I really see it as a new imagination of vim with many useful features built-in, like TS-based motions, or the way AI edit predictions work doesn't break the vim editing flow.

crooked-v 1y ago

Also very active development, which is pretty notable when every other IDE-lite but Nova and JetBrains seems to have just given up.

newlisp 1y ago

IME, it's not as polished as VSCode, too many rough little details here and there. But then, VSCode has been around for longer.

gunalx 1y ago

vscode has gotten way to bloated in recent years in my opinion. zed is just a really fresh Beath of air.