What IDE do you use?

This question is aimed at software engineers and programmers.

What IDE do you use?

I currently use Netbeans for PHP and now I am getting back into programming I see people talk about VSCode a lot so it go me thingking what do other people use?

I might learn other languages than PHP but I will use this to get back into the programmers mindset.

thanks

I don’t do alot of programming but I do you VSCODE for websites and since starting to use it I would not use anything else plus its free.
I see most programmers seem to use it as well, but it can be a personal preference.

good for every thing - NodeJS, (and all its variants) + HTML, CSS, Vanilla JS + also Rust, Go, C++, and even text type files (bash, DOS, etc) and even the dare I say it VBasic. + yes it even does PHP/Laravel - ie just about everything

Downside - it is Microsoft (so as with all their products) it updates/evolves far too often (almost daily)

Do you any tutorials on how to turn VSCode into a full IDE. I know this will have to be done by plugins, but the full functionality of an IDE like refactoring and debugging are very useful.

I use 2, geany for php,js,and ini files, in fact every bar html when I use bluefish

Just use the Extensions Installer and search (but you can easily get carried away and install too many)! I try to keep Projects separate by code (tasks vary and with my experience constantly change from one line edits to guiding large rebuilds)

I avoid UTube (just another pet hate) but think there are plenty out there. as usual most tutorials online are dated and stale though can be useful.
much depends on your experience/familiarity with the code. I find much starts to fade these days :older_man:

Netbeans is definitely aimed at large Java projects. I will give VSCode a do, it seems to be very popular.

Thanks or the feedback, all suggestions have been added to my list.

@shoulders,

I use “gEdit” on Debian 12 Desktop and “nano” when editing via CLI.

Careful, this is a holy wars topic. Though I think the passion has calmed down over the years and it’s maybe not so heated.

I switched to Neovim from vim a year or so ago after we lost Bram Moolenaar. VSCode is too slow and bulky for me to tolerate it, but the fact that everybody uses it and so many tools are developed for VSCode first (and LSP came from VSCode, and most LSPs begin there) makes it hard to beat for folks just starting. I also can’t stand the way completions work in VSCode, they confuse/distract me more than help. I’m sure that’s configurable, but the slowness/bigness of it means I never reach for it for quick edits, so it never becomes muscle memory.

I used zed for a recent TypeScript project at work because I need all the help I can get, and it’s very fast (maybe faster than Neovim with the plugins I use). It might end up being my regular editor if the vim mode gets better. Though when it comes to editing on devices, vim is always there, so it’ll probably always be the editor I use most. zed can never work seamlessly on a remote server. It’s also reckless with memory, which is annoying.

Any of them work well for Perl, though, since Perl has been around so long and there are good integrations everywhere (including a good LSP).

“Fast” is a mandatory feature for editors, for me, and Neovim and zed are both very fast. VSCode is not. Most IDEs are not.

2 Likes

This has been a very peaceful :peace_symbol: and informative discussion, definitely no war :military_helmet: here :smile:

Does Zed and Vim, NeoVIM have code completion or are they just basic editors. I have seen people use these editors but I don’t understand why when a lot of the features you get in an IDE are missing. Is this just what the older generation of programmers are use to?

Am I missing something?


which is all I need, or am I missing something too ?

I don’t think so but I guess there a various levels of completion from the above screen shot geany is helping with the function name and after selecting the function you get this

Really see your point here - and would agree but for me I lost the ability to type with more than one very arthritic index finger or pointer years ago (and a mouse is alien) so speed is relative. Memory is still a good argument against most “modern” systems - but also these days most PCs have Gb > Tb of memory.

I also come at this from a Windows user’s perspective (so not Mac user) so sadly biased.

Of course. They support LSP, which is what provides code completion in VSCode. There’s also Copilot and other AI tools available (though I recommend caution).

I am ambivalent about whether it’s helpful or distracting. Completion guesses wrong a lot of the time and for me it interrupts any hope of getting into a flow state…for a language I barely know, that’s fine because I’m not going to ever be in the zone.

Neovim requires plugins for various “IDE” features, zed has them by default and can download the necessary LSPs and such when you load files in a given language. For Neovim, you probably want to start with a preconfigured bundle of packages, like Lazyvim. For more advanced use (and for when you get tired of the annoyances in whatever starter config you use, because everybody has different ideas about what’s good, Lazyvim reconfigures some keys I habitually use for their original vim mearning, which is awful), you’d want to build up your own config. TJ DeVries makes very good Neovim videos, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8C0Cq9Uv9o

I’m still waffling on whether to switch to zed (in vim mode) for my other development (I mean, not TypeScript development…stuff where I know the language and how to use it, like Python or Perl). It has some annoyances, like being quite interrupt-y (completions, an errors page that updates in realtime, AI and chat windows, all sorts of stuff that kinda has no place in an editor, at least not when I know what I’m doing), but being faster than Neovim, at least with the plugins I use, is impressive.

The main reason I’ve never been able to break away from vim is because my workflow is in the shell…I cd to my project directory and type vi somefile and the editor is instantly there. Every “modern” editor, including zed, requires me to open another window and load the file there, and it probably has a whole “project” concept, etc. That’s IDE stuff that I find distracting and overwhelming, if I’m having to mouse around, I’m annoyed. But, a big part of the friction of most IDEs is slow start. zed starts wicked fast. So, it’s almost comparable to vim, it’s just a new window and I can’t use it remotely, which is another pain point, since I do so much development on devices that are remote.

Er, actually, I checked, because the “remote” problem is a big one, and it seems I can use zed remotely, too. Looks a lot more complicated than just sshing in and typing vi, though. And, given how much memory zed uses, I don’t know that I can even use it on the smallish devices I normally work on. Remote Development - Zed

Most of the time, we start an IDE once, and it keeps running for days or even weeks, doesn’t it?

There are many ways to SSH into the remote server with VSC and edit the file similarly—it’s just the other way around. The "SSH FS, “Remote - SSH” and “Remote - SSH: Editing Configuration Files” plugins are very popular.

For me too, and for systems I don’t work with regularly, using terminal editors is much simpler.

If you prefer GUI then VSCode is good choice.
If you like TUI then I would recommend Helix (vim like editor) + Zellij (multiplexer and session manager), i’m using it for Perl, Rust and HTML.

There are so many different ide and text editors.

I have decided to go with VSCode because of the eco system, the fact it is supported by Microsoft, the amount of extensions and tutorials.

Thanks for all the feedback.

@shoulders,

Muhahaha, that’s exactly why I don’t use it…

J/K

Actually I use a simple “text editor” which comes with appropriate “code highlighting” because I find IDE’s to typically be top heavy, and annoying with their code completion recommendations.

I do enjoy good code highlighting so I can quickly identify a potential error (like a missing bracket for example).

Well Notepad++ is note bad for that.

It’s surprising no one mentioned Sublime Text! It’s an incredible IDE and text editor, plus it’s super fast and actively maintained!

Probably because of this: " Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use. There is currently no enforced time limit for the evaluation."

I don’t know about anyone else, but though I purchase Virtualmin, I will not purchase an editor. : )

1 Like