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I know that this question has been asked many times before. However, I want to take everything that I have read about Emacs/Vim from other posts, give my own understanding of the situation, and request feedback from senior developers.
Here is what I see as the advantages of each type of IDE:
Advantages of Modern IDE
Many features work with little hassle or need to configure like: Text
completion / autogenerating closing tags Useful warnings tailored to
the language
Solving issues like the ones above often require a
significant time investment. I know that you become faster at finding
and installing the packages you need, but it seems like every
extension you need in a traditional editor is much more readily
available or already built-in in modern IDE / Code editor.
For compiled languages like Java, IDEs like IntelliJ seem to have a clear
advantage in the way they are able to analyze code and for the robust
debugging they offer. As far as I can tell, even if you spend a lot
of time configuring Emacs, there is no substitute for IntelliJ even
no matter how much time you invest.
Emacs/Vim Advantages
Though there is a lot more time investment, it seems like there is a strong consensus that the time investment has a significant payout for many developers. I do not necessarily even know these benefits, but I just know that Emacs/Vim is a very powerful and loved tool by many many highly experienced devs.
Extensibility
Availability (you can use either in a terminal very easily)
Great for SSH
Full org mode (versus the much more limited org mode in VSC)
Model-editing / Vim keybindings can make editing much faster once you learn it. Also, key chords in Emacs can make you much faster and keep you on the keyboard.
Related to above, but it seems that the more you commit to Emacs, the more you can get out of it because of the extensibility. Whatever your work flow is, usually there is a way to set up Emacs to take care of the whole nine yards for you.
I am guessing because of the above, it probably helps with your focus. You can keep everything inside emacs.
So my only big question is, "Do I have an accurate understanding of the advantages of each IDE?" A harder to question answer for me is, "Do I want to invest more time in learning Emacs or Vim?" (sidenote: will probably go with Doom Emacs) Right now I have been programming for two years. I am currently learning Javascript to help me get employed and will be focusing on that for months in the future. I keep going back and forth on whether I should just go with VSC and focus on Javascript or if I should learn Emacs concurrently.
I would recommend activate a Vim plugin within your IDE. That way you will learn bit by bit without affecting your productivity. After some time you can judge by yourself if it is worth learning more and go full Vim or just use the IDE. I use Vim for 5 years and I still have to take a look at the Vim documentation everyday. But I do it because it is fun to learn to do complex text manipulation with few strokes. If Vim does not suit you, try Emacs, then. But only trying each one will tell you what fits your style.
Here is a quick intro to Vim
Related
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Note: This is not an attempt to bash Atom in any way. These are the questions I had and it's overall about the choice of Tech Web instead of a Native one.
This is me trying to understand the goal of it, and if it's a solid tool to use in general.
( I have Atom, and I use it sometimes - test driving - )
Why wouldn't they make it native which would be faster and solid?
Is Atom focused on entry level Web Developers? Is it supposed to be cool instead of functional?
Is it a reliable and solid tool for "real" / heavey programming (with languages like C, C++, Java, etc)?
Yes it's at its begining but why would they go with web tech (node.js) to start a product that would turn out to be slower than with native tech?
It can't even handle big files!
Why is Github advertising Atom (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7aEiVwBAdk) as a tool for programming machines (rockets and low-level programming) with Javascript!!!
And again: Is it supposed to be cool instead of functional?
making it native means you need to compile it to use it. Since one of the goals of Atom is to make a hackable (to the core) code editor, making it in javascript, css, and html allows people to use it \ changing it without compiling any code which allows a quicker flow. Since it's more of a code editor+ than an IDE, basic functionality isn't harmed so much by the performance difference.
no. It's meant for real engineers. the kind that wants to mess with the code editor they work with and tweak it to their needs. This approach allows you to create extensions a lot easier than standard IDEs and code editors.
yup. real programmers usually do real programming. It doesn't matter if you use notepad or whatever. Actually, a lot of programmers prefer the simplest text editors (and some don't). One of the reasons programmers give for that is that it keeps them sharp on all the little things that IDEs usually do for you.
Node is an exciting JavaScript language for web development that has been growing in popularity in recent years. It started out for small development projects and has since penetrated the enterprise and can be seen in large companies like Microsoft, eBay, LinkedIn, Yahoo, WalMart, Uber, Oracle, and several more. Most of them actually improved their performances since the move. Just a few examples [taken from the MEAN Machine book by Chris Sevilleja and Holly Lloyd]:
Yahoo started experimenting with Node back in 2010. At first they just used it for small things like file uploads, and now they use Node to handle nearly 2 million requests per minute. They have noted increases in speed and a simpler development process.
LinkedIn began developing the server side of their mobile app entirely with Node. They were previously using Ruby, but since the switch they have seen huge increases in performance, ranging from 2 to 10 times faster.
PayPal has recently jumped onboard and began migrating some of their Java code to Node. They began experimenting with just their Account Overview page, but once they saw a 35% speed increase and half the amount of time spent on development, they started moving all sites to Node.js.
It's just a commercial. It's suppose to pay tribute to old technology commericals like the AOL commercial from 1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1npzZu83AfU
It's supposed to be both. For a more detailed answer, read the previous bullet which answered the question the first time you asked it ;-).
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I don't have much experience and I hope you guys can help me, because nobody around me can.
I am starting to work with Vim and I am setting my vimrc now, but that's a lot of work, and I want to focus on learning how to use it, and not waste my time for now on configuring simple stuff like text highlighting or indentation, things that everybody has... So I want to use this vimrc https://github.com/spf13/spf13-vim which is generally provided by Steve Francia.
The problem is that he uses gitHub, and I want to have everything locally on my machine, can you tell me how to do that? Including all the plugins, of course.
... that's a lot of work ...
Be prepared to continually spend some time to learn new Vim skills and improve your configuration (or chose a different editor / IDE that offers a more carefree, but also more restricted experience). Bram Moolenaar, the creator of Vim, has made a compelling case for good habits of text editing. Trust me, it's not a waste of time, but you need to overcome your need for instant gratification.
I would suggest just turning on the indent and syntax features you mentioned, and call it it a day. Don't worry right now about extensions you don't need that load themselves.
$ cat > $HOME/.vimrc
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on
^D
$
Yes, I use something like his setup (I use Pathogen) and sure, it is kind of cool to just be able to clone a git module into my .vim/bundle directory, but that's an elaborate configuration that's just a distraction for you right now.
The absolute minimum you need for programming in Vim is in the accepted answer. I'd add set hidden and a few others to the mix but you don't need much more. Especially weird shortcuts that hide native features or useless Git integration plugins.
Don't install any plugin from the start, actually, especially piles of crap like that kind of "distribution". Follow $ vimtutor, multiple times if needed. Learn how to use :help. Don't copy anyone else's vimrc verbatim and, if you take something from a random vimrc on the net, read the relevant part of the documentation to be sure that you understand what it does, how it does it and why. Your ~/.vimrc and ~/.vim/ will grow and shrink with you, as you go. That's how it's done.
If you are looking for beginner-level info, LearnVim is a rather nice introduction to Vim that you install as part of Vim's documentation. I'd suggest you install it and read it carefully: it's opinionated but full of low-level information that will doubtlessly help you in the future. I sure would have loved reading it when I started.
Like Ingo said, if all that seems overwhelming nobody will mock you for deciding to use another editor/IDE. Of all my team, I'm the only one who uses Vim (hell, I don't even use it for everything) and the code we write is equally good and/or bad.
Anyway, if you really want to go the "distribution" route, you'll have to learn Git and Github's basics and follow the instructions provided by the distribution's maintainer.
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Almost every developer that uses a Mac practically worships TextMate. Why? What extraordinary features does it have that other text editors and IDEs don't? I did a quick search and the only really useful feature that I found that most other editors lack is the column selection option, but I wouldn't use a certain editor just for that. What makes TextMate so amazing?
TextMate was the first app I bought when I switched to the Mac a few years ago.
The features I like most are:
bundle support
clean UI
project support
shell integration
fast for small files (fast startup time)
HTMLTidy built in
CSS and XHTML validation integrated (needs online connection)
but it also has some drawbacks:
slow for big files
lack of updates (for some time now, but TextMate 2.0 seems to be alive)
The main selling point is the ability to extend the UI using bundles, which are basically just shell scripts. It is also fairly lightweight.
I think the appeal of TextMate is that its not bloated ... its has just the right mix of text editing / IDE features, implemented in just the right way :)
A lot of editors have column selections (although in a lot of them its buried deep down). The actual fact TextMate is liked is it's bundle system, which makes some repetitive programming tasks much easier. It's not considered a replacement for languages that have IDE-s with "intellisense" support (Java, C#, etc.), but it's really useful if you want to create programs in a scripting language like ruby or python.
TextMate is very powerful and at the same time usable, intuitive, elegant and lightweight.
On the other hand e.g. the two most popular Unix editors Emacs and Vi(m) are both very powerful but IMHO(!) their usability is not up to todays standards. (I use all three of them but think TextMate is by far the best.)
I've been trying to use TextMate as a replacement for Emacs. So far I'm not sold, though I like projects, simpler/cleaner UI, and the idea that it's extensible using python, etc. (I've never mastered elisp).
Things I don't like [in comparison to Emacs]:
no ability to swap point/mark or return to previous marks.
movement keys don't automatically take you out of inline search.
tags not so great (ex: no symbols can be found in java files without classes).
completion only searches current file.
NOT OPEN SOURCE.
Okay, I still want to give it a fair shot, but mostly I'm just missing Emacs' superior functionality and feeling increasingly forgiving of its challenging UI and more willing to try to learn elisp for real. Even for projects, using emacs desktop-save in a project folder can accomplish nearly the same thing.
-taranaki
Textmate basically has all the power of <insert your favorite unix editor here> with a nice Mac OS X UI wrapped around it and a great plugin system using bundles, of which hundreds are available and most are either good or awesome.
Community support.
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Does anybody have any tips for utilizing multiple languages at the same time? I use objective-c, c, perl, ruby, bash, ksh, rails, and other proprietary languages every day and am finding increasingly difficult to go back and forth between them on a daily basis. As a trivial example when switching between perl and ruby I constantly forget to use semi-colons in perl and find myself using $ for local vars in ruby. Things are even worse going from objective-c to c: I use function calls (instead meesage invocations) in objective-c. Does anybody have any tips on making working in several languages more productive?
For those of you suggesting IDEs as a solution, although I agree in principle with using an IDE to increase productivity. I tend to do all my coding in vi
A couple of tips:
Slow Down! We're used to working at a frenetic pace as developers. Switching between languages requires some more conscious thought and focus.
Use a good IDE - that shows your errors as you type them. This will be a gentle reminder that you are missing that semi-colon or leaving out a '$' (in many cases)
I have the same issue from time-to-time, but these two things help!
In my personal experience it's horrible to do this kind of task and technology switching, it totally messes up your brain, at the end of a day you're more a cabbage than a tired programmer. Don't do it. If your company forces you to do it start searching another job, if you are doing it for yourself, think once more if you really want this.
I use Java, Python, C, C++ and PHP(!) almost daily, and also trying to learn some more like Clojure and Perl. The best thing to do is to use a good, language-aware, syntax-highlighting, autoformatting editor/IDE that reveals trivial syntax mistakes right away. It definitely helps in switching the language mode of the brain.
I don't think that being able to code in multiple languages is much different from being able to move with a bus, car, bike or foot. The details differ, but the main idea is approximately the same.
Human memory is very context sensitive. Instead of going for one IDE/editor that covers all languages and helps you with error detection and syntax highlighting, you might want to consider going for one editor per language. I know this sounds like overkill and it probably is, so an alternative might be different themes for the editor that you switch when you switch languages. As a drastic example consider yourself using a red background when writing bash scripts and a blue background for your Python programming. With visual clues like that it should be much easier to distinguish what you are currently doing and after a little while this might work without any conscious effort.
Bullet point summary of things I've tried that have helped me:
Whenever reasonable & possible, take a break when you're switching languages
Use languages which are synergistic
Use consistent coding styles across languages
More detail from personal experience:
Switching like this can be very difficult. I've been in similar circumstances - earlier this year I was developing a web app at work with PHP, IDL (Interactive Data Language), JavaScript and some Bash and then doing some projects at home with Python. I found myself making lots of mistakes with syntax when switching from one to another.
The mistakes happened most commonly at work: E.g. when I'd been doing IDL for a while and then would switch to the PHP, I would forget to put dollar signs on the front of variables and semi-colons at the end of the lines. I didn't seem to have as many problems at home; I believe that was at least partly because it was always a few hours between getting home and starting my Python work, so the break probably helped my brain re-set from the languages I was using at work.
One thing that can help is finding languages with certain synergies: I've found that I can switch relatively easily between Python and Java ... yeah, I am still more likely to forget semi-colons at the end of my Java lines if I've been doing Python, but the two languages "sync" well in my brain, so switching isn't as difficult as going from Python to Perl, for example. I've also found it relatively easy to switch between Perl & PHP. YMMV, of course, and I expect different people will find synergies between different sets of languages.
Also, as much as you can, it may help to maintain a consistent coding style between languages. An example: for years I put an opening brace on the line after an if, for, etc. in Java, C, Perl, etc. However, after using Python as my main language for a few years, I've found that I no longer like that style, and have switched to putting opening braces at the end of lines. For me, this has helped create a more consistent appearance across languages, which I find helps ease the switching. Again YMMV.
While it gets better in time, the ability to do this kind of switching between a lot of languages on a daily basis is not for everyone. You should try "clustering" your work in such a way that you finish what you have to do in one language before taking a short break and moving on to the next. This would prevent you going back and forth and impose a schedule that will be easier to follow if you stick to it.
To issue a less abstract suggestion:
There are lots of plugins for Eclipse, and you can make it do most programming languages known to mankind (and probably a few not). However, many of those plugins are less than perfectly integrated. One is annoyingly full of advertisement for its creating company, another one is a memory hog...
For those who haven't heard about it: IntelliJ IDEA has gone (partially) Open Source, and in my experience it's very good at multi-language. I saw a demo a year ago where one of their developers built a program in 6 different languages. A toy, yes, but the IDE did a fine job on language-aware syntax highlighting, refactoring and so forth.
It won't do all your detail work for you, but it can help with some of it - and with good quality.
My recommendation is to give yourself a 15 minute break between switching languages. If you can't do that since you flip between client / server apps, then I would recommend dual screens. Separate client on left and server on right. As someone has already stated, the human mind is context sensitive. Therefore, the way you think and analyze things has a lot to do with it. Any way you can seperate the different contexes would help in making minor oops on a regular basis.
Frequently in my current job I will use different languages, the key for me to making this easier is to get the right tooling. There are some very good general purpose editors out there, which already have a long list of Syntax highlighters, checkers and even autocompletion. Most of which can be further customised. If you set these up to recognised the file extensions then a lot of the pain can be removed.
I generally use these in addition to IDEs, as most IDEs won't support ksh or other scripting, and are harder to customise so having another tool setup makes it easy to flick across. Ideally get one that runs both on Windows and the nixes
I've been using these for some time now
jedit
nedit
emacs
textpad
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How much code kludge could you remove using the resharper 4?
I want to hear more about benefits on 10k+ codebases
Resharper is a tool. Continuous refactoring is an attitude. If you've got the attitude, then IMO resharper is the best tool you can get. The tool by itself does not really remove any kludge.
The size of the codebase only makes these tools more important. With reasonably large codebases you have to trust the tool. I use all og jetbrains' tools and think they're marvellous.
I still think continuous refactoring is best introduced into a project by getting one or more people who know all the tricks into your team(s).
And yes. I worked on a stuck project for 7 months doing only refactoring, using resharper. I basically refactored almost every single line of code. Maybe it should have been rewritten from scratch, but that was not an option. Be sure to introduce testing as you refactor.
It's freaking awesome. I'm currently working on releases for the large code base we're working on here and to merge a change across two branches is utterly awesome.
CTRL + T => Means I can find a type in no time at all. To go to SmartcardProductIssueService is just CTRL+T, SPIS, ENTER and the file is opened. SHIFT+ALT+L and it's selected in the SolutionExplorer, then I just right click to view the history and I can start working on the merge.
Refactoring is nice and the "greyed out" effect for unused code has helped me spot a few bugs.
If you want to see some of the refactoring joy check out the jedi refactoring vid.
Resharper offers so many benifits in terms of developer productivity. It also improves better design by suggesting many improvements to the code on the fly. i have been encouraging people in my team to use all the shortcuts from Resharper and try and get off the habit of using mouse. Its not to say that you shouldn't be using mouse at all. But Resharper offers so many rich features that as a developer you can almost forget to make use of mouse.
Here is a small blog post I wrote about how to make use of resharper to clean code
http://nileshgule.blogspot.com/2010/10/refactoring-clean-code-using-resharper.html(This does require few mouse clicks here and there :))
There are various addins for resharper like Stylecop, NUnit etc which help other tools integrate with resharper and offer better user (developer) experience.
Hope this helps.