I think the line between an IDE and a text editor is not that clear and instead there is a spectrum of editing. At one end you might find Leafpad (aimed at simp

I think the line between an IDE and a text editor is not that clear and instead there is a spectrum of editing. At one end you might find Leafpad (aimed at simple text editing) at the other end something like IntelliJ. IntelliJ provides more code tools than Leafpad, but is more heavyweight. So the question comes down to how many code tools do you need. If an editor has too many then it might feel slow, too few and it might be less effective. Many editing environments have a plugin style extension mechanism so that you can add new tools to it if you need them, or remove them if it feels too heavyweight. A key difference between say emacs and IntelliJ is that IntelliJ has more specific tools loaded by default (e.g. Java focused). Perhaps not the ones you want, but you don't have to go to all the effort of finding them, loading them and they all fit together well - of course there is a cost that goes with those tools: increased CPU / memory. When choosing one of these pieces of software it might be useful to look at the range and power of plugins that are available, however, that's not an inherent difference between IDE and editor.