I use vscode for my personal projects (c++ and a fully open source stack, compiling for both Linux and Windows).
I’m using the proprietary version of vscode (via the aur) for the plugin repository, but I’ve always envied the open source version…
Are there any tools that have made you excited?
Bonus points if they have some support for compiling with MSVC (or if you can convince me to ditch it for something else).
Unix is my IDE, vim is my editor.
The Unix shell remains an excellent IDE.
A huge array of text- and data-manipulation tools, with more available through the standard package manager in my operating system.
Add in a powerful text editor like Vim or Emacs, and nothing can beat this IDE.
Yep. When everything about your IDE (unix) is programmable, it makes “modern” IDEs seem quite quaint.
Personally I make extensive use of https://f1bonacc1.github.io/process-compose/launcher/ to orchestrate a bunch of different shell scripts that trigger based on file changes (recompiling, restarting servers, re-running tests, etc.). Vim just reads from files as needed. It’s lightning fast, no bloat, and a world-class editing experience.
I’ve tried lots of options, and I still go back to vscode.
I’ve extensively used neovim and it has been my main IDE for years, but I got tired of having to spend entire afternoons configuring it. And I had too many total breaks, that had led me to recently abandon it as an IDE, still use it sometimes but much less. It relies on too many plugins, which makes breaks more common imho.
I tried helix. But features are far from what I expect for an IDE, even a modal command line one.
On the gui territory, I tried Lapce, but it’s still buggy and lacks features. Development pace is slow enough so I don’t consider it could become my ide in the near future, I have hopes for it, but not much as it could easily become abandoned before it’s usable.
I wanted to try Zed, but they seems to have a preference for macOS, which may have sense in the US but here I don’t remember the last developer I saw using a mac. There’s now a linux version, which I may try at some point, but some people commented that while in a better state than Lapce it’s not still a production ready option for an text-editor-IDE. Also the company behind it doesn’t inspire trust to me. There’s something about it that smells fishy, I cannot quite put my finger on what, but there’s something.
There are more options, some obscure, some old, some paid. For instance I usually hear good things about jetbrains ide. I tried intellij community and I’m not impressed, it’s slightly better than eclipse, but it’s not on the level of visual studio for dotnet. I’m not a student and I don’t get paid for my hobby developments so paid options are a no-go.
So it is visual studio code for me. Sometimes I still use neovim, as I really like modal editors, and vim/neovim is my go to text editor anyways. I’m due to try emacs, and I’m hopeful for the future of both helix and Lapce, though I manage my emotions as I’ve know too many projects that just never deliver, so I’m cautious.
VS Code at work, Zed at home.
Despite Zed crashing my laptop every once in a while, it’s been a refreshing change-up from VS Code.
I use a vim extension in both btw…
Vim when I can, and when I can’t, Neovim with plugins (LazyVim). Both are fast. I have had troubles with Neovim and configuration, and it does some things that really annoy me (like autoclosing parentheses - it just messes up everything). Honestly, the only feature that I really need is Go To Definition.
But vim - I absolutely love it. I started using it nearly 20 years ago and it still does everything one could want if you’re willing to learn the keymaps and commands. Macros,
ci), block indentation and so on. It’s even great for editing XML. If the codebases I’m working on these days weren’t so large and complicated, I would still be using it with very little configuration in my.vimrc.I use vscodium and it is available on AUR (vscodium / vscodium-bin). Supposedly there are some plugins not available for it, but i don’t use a ton of plugins and the ones I used in vscode were available in vscodium when i switched.
Right now, the jetbrains IDEs are my favourite because they are proper IDEs, not some editor with a bunch of scripts in a trenchcoat pretending to be an editor. But the company is starting to lose touch with its customers: developers who want an IDE for productivity, not a VS Code lookalike. It’s like the company is finally being taken over by managers who don’t know lick about development and it’s starting to show (at least to me).
Now, I’m on the market for a new editor and even willing to pay, even though I’d prefer paying for an open source IDE. Right now, Zed is looking interesting. The only thing that bothers me is how loud people were about it. Hype destroys my faith in stuff as it’s often just good marketing. Another thing that bugged me is that when they started, they were “Mac first, Linux maybe”. But now that the hype has died down, there’s much less “omg, zed is the new editor and it will be better anything else” type posts, and it supposedly works on Linux, I can give it a try.
I agree with everything you said about jetbrains. Their vs code like push and AI push has degraded their quality.
Jetbrains IDE’s are top tier (but resource hungry). A text editor with some plugins is fine for smaller projects, like zed, sublime text or neovim
vimI use helix editor in the terminal (Technically not an IDE but neither is VSCode). Works great for a keyboard and terminal-centric workflow. I had to configure it a bit to get it where I want but after that I had a blast to write Rust projects in.
It does get a lot of getting used to if you’re not used to vim-like keybinds, and does take memorizing shortcuts
Helix is awesome. I’ve spent many hours these passed months configuring both Sway and Helix to my liking, and it has become joyous to use them together. I prefer Helix’s default configs to vim’s. Still got to use Vim motions a lot though, in Obsidian etc. Similar in many aspects, but there are many small things Helix does which I find more logical. u for undo and U for redo. Small things.
Just wanted to throw Kate into the mix of suggestions…
So this is the image originally posted here somewhere, or was it on reddit, asking about which linux distro was it, and the screenshot (bottom left corner) was from the landing image on the link you posted.
Looks very much like KDE Plasma. Not sure which distro, though.
Spacemacs
@rklm Rider or any #JetBrains IDE honestly. They’re just too good compared to the alternatives I’ve tried and cheaper too.
I had some coworkers a long time ago who swore by jetbrains, but I’ve never tried it. Maybe I should give it a shot!
I love Eclipse for Java and QtCreator for C++/Qt. Eclipses auto-complete switched between psychic and psychotic at times but its integration with tools such as git and gradle is second to none. I never drunk the Jetbrains koolaid.
