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).
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 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.
Emacs!
With LSPs it works for just about anything and Magit is simply too good.
I switched to Emacs over two years ago because I was getting too comfortable in VS Code. If VS Code didn’t have the “dodgy” stuff, I would recommend it to everyone without reservation.
Emacs has been a pleasant surprise. The latest versions have introduced Eglot (LSP), EditorConfig and a few other odds and ends that make it very close to being usable with very little configuration. My latest suggestion for getting started is JUST two lines of config, and I think you can scale easily.
I just wish Emacs had started from the outset with more common keybindings- it makes it hard to recommend because you need to make a significant investment. I think it’s worthwhile, but still…
However, due to how it’s evolving lately, I suspect it might become even easier to get started with time. If they rolled in to base Emacs automatic LSP installation, that would be huge, for instance.
for some people it’s nice to start from nothing and build up config, I’d recommend doom for anyone else. it’s nice to be given a file with all the settings you can change instead of having to do it all yourself.
I just wish Emacs had started from the outset with more common keybindings- it makes it hard to recommend because you need to make a significant investment. I think it’s worthwhile, but still…
Surely you mean, “I wish Microsoft had adopted the standard Emacs keybindings.”
Magit has changed the workflow of my life.
Emacs with LSP and magit rules!
Rider for Unreal Engine at work. Neovim at work/home for literally everything else (web, golang, python, zig). I have vscodium as well, a glorified config file editor basically.
Used to use vscode, then one day it stopped working for me. I’ve been using Helix full time for a few months now and I’m pretty happy with it.
I really want to switch from VSCode to Helix but not having a file tree is a deal breaker.
Luckily there’s been a lot of work on adding a plugin runtime with one of the proof-of-concept plugins being a file tree. Assuming the plugin runtime comes out this year in a helix release, and adding on a year for the community to settle on the first wave of plugins while giving them time to mature, I can see myself using helix fulltime in 2027 (before Microsoft has enshitified vscode enough to be unpleasant to use).
I used vim for all of my personal stuff until switching to vscode a few years ago, so an editor inspired by neovim is exciting!
Also,
No Electron. No VimScript. No JavaScript.
Hah! Shots fired, I love it
Jetbrains IntelliJ IDEA for Java programming, emacs for everything else.
Zed is delightful to work with, highly recommend it. It is very customizable, and debugger support is coming soon. It’s like neovim but I don’t have to spend 15% of my time maintaining it…
no debugger
I love kdevelop
Notepad
ed
That looks interesting, I see it’s been discontinued 2 years ago though, is there a maintained fork that you use?
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.That is not a vanilla NeoVim feature. This is done by some plugin of LazyVim like Josh suggested.
I don’t use lazyvim, but I found the “auto pairs” plugin you can try to disable
I just disabled this today and life is so much better. Thanks! Everything works so much better now.
VSCode. Before it, Sublime.
I’ve been on the JetBrains bandwagon for a long time and no desire to switch.
Thought I was going to show my inexperience because so many posts here are Unix/vim. I’d love to be that kind of wizard… but I think Adobe has spoiled me for UI and JetBrains definitely has that vibe (maybe for the worse just as much as the better)
And they’ve recently made Clion free for non commercial use.
I found most people don’t realize the many tiny features it adds over for example vscode (even with all the best plugins enabled yadayada) which in sum make it a much smoother developer experience.
Instead they open it for the first time, type some lines and say it is on par with vscode.
Xcode because I build iOS apps.
