this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Alternatively you can use and support a true community-driven editing environment dedicated to preserving your freedom, like vim/neovim or emacs.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago (6 children)

But that's something new to learn and configure. I just want to code why should I spend my time learning another text editor when vscodium is fine

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 53 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Careful. You're in a linux-heavy audience. They're the kinda people who would spend a few weeks setting up systems to use it for a few minutes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's simply outrageous!!! As soon as I finish tinkering with my system, I'll prepare a proper reply...

On a more serious note though. Don't overlook the role of procrastination in the endless tinkering many put on their boxes. I'm speaking from experience.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who uses a system for only few minutes?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, it's because after using the system for only a few minutes, I realise it's not quite right, and I'll have to spend a few weeks to set it up again!

[–] Synthead 4 points 1 year ago

I'm a full-time Vim and Linux user when writing code. I agree with the statement that "simply switching" editors is very naive. I'm my personal opinion, you should decide on an editor that makes sense to you and learn to be very good at it. If VS Code is that answer, then great. Not everything points to Vim or Emacs.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who doesn't want to go through learning of text editor and pain of configuring instead of actually coding?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well...obviously them.

[–] shotgun_crab 6 points 1 year ago

That's fine too. Use whatever does the job for you, but give alternatives a try if you ever have the time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Well, if you learned emacs, you could do everything in it and won't have to change ever again! /s kinda

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Same reason why a carpenter should learn to properly use hand tools, or a teacher should keep up on literature. In other words, master your tools. It doesn't matter which tool you use, provided you can use it to its full potential.

I occasionally use VSCode, but I mostly use ViM because that's my tool of choice.

For another reason, if your ever in the situation where you need to work on something on a remote server or an unfamiliar machine, knowing ViM means you can at least be somewhat productive when you don't have your normal tools available.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know vim. I'm using vscodium with a vim plugin. I was coding in pure vim for half a year because my Laptop with 4 gigs of RAM couldn't handle vscode. I just don't want to configure vim so it does all the stuff VScodium does for me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That's fine, use what works best. I think there's value in getting at least the basics working, such as syntax highlighting and linting in case you want or need to use it again.

The question was why one should learn to use something like ViM or emacs, not why anything else is a poor option. Master your tools, regardless of what they are.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

I would love to use emacs, unfortunately coding in TypeScript is much more pleasant to me than coding in elisp or lua.

Not to say Typescript is a good experience either, I always feel like fighting the language than actually coding. Just saying they are better than elisp or lua.

Also I find vscode has better mouse interaction, but maybe emacs got better with time.

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[–] RainbowUnicorn 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

You can also use Debian 1.1 but the makes zero fun as well.

Why make your own life hard for no reason. VIM is really really outdated when it comes to ease of use.

There is not a single thing where vim is better in any way. The argument that it is faster is the biggest lie ever.

Example: I write a few hundred lines of python code and execute it but sadly made formal mistakes. VIM does not help a bit. It might take hours of bugfixing with help of a command line.

Python addon and some others would have instantly found those mistakes saving myself a lot of headache.

That’s the same comparison as the senior developer and the normal dev. The dev might type twice as fast but making 5 times the mistakes he still needs a lot more time than the slow index finger typing senior.

[–] havocpants 8 points 1 year ago

The argument that it is faster is the biggest lie ever

Vscode is written in JavaScript and running in a web browser. Vim is written in C and runs at a console. Of course Vim is faster. Vscode is a hobbled cripple by comparison.

The rest of your comment suggests you are ignorant of vim with plugins and command line tools. I've tried vscode and while it looks nice, I am far faster when developing with vim and a couple of open terminals.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

IDEs like VSCose are only powerful because they integrate coding tools like LSPs and completion enginea. Those tools are also available on neo/vim or Emacs, so you can be as proficient as you were with VSCode. Hell, even GitHub's Copilot is available on vim!

And frankly, having started coding on Atom before switching to neovim, I find a keyboard centric, mode-based coding much more efficient than a usual mouse-centric workflow.

It really boils down to personal preference, but I'm eager to find some objective arguments proving that "vim is outdated when it comes to ease of use", because that's not what I experienced.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This is incorrect. Vim and neovim can reach the same level of functionality as VS Code through plugins and extensive configuration. An experienced vim user with plugins is as fast as an experienced VS Code user with plugins.

Getting vim experience and customizing it has a much steeper initial investment. That’s where the disconnect is.

There is an argument to be made that completely mouseless development is faster. This also requires a steep initial investment to pan out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

vim is not outdated, it was easy to use to begin with and could not be optimized any further. Yes, there are plugins/extensions/... to add more features, but on a basic install of vim you have everything you need to navigate source code and config files.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Emacs isn't super great for C#. The language server is a bit hit and miss.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Am I going to be judged for admitting I use KDE Kate on here?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are there extensions for Kate as there are for VS Codium?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not remotely as many, but yes. I find that for the work I do It's more than adequate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Nah Kate is fine if it works for you :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Personally though, I use Kate. Ain't got time to learn new keybindings