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Choosing the Right IDE

Posted by Soulskill on from the whichever-one-reminds-me-when-my-code-sucks dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes: Modern software development often requires working with multiple tools in a variety of languages. The complexity can give even the most skilled developer a nasty headache, which is why many try to rely on Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) to accomplish most of the work; in addition to source-code editors and automation, some even feature intelligent code completion. With so much choice out there, it's hard to settle on an IDE, so we interviewed several developers, who collectively offered up a list of useful questions to ask when evaluating a particular IDE for use. But do developers even need an IDE at all? When you go to smaller, newer developer shops, you're seeing a lot more standalone editors and command-line tools; depending on what you do, you might just need a good editor, and to master the command-line tools for the languages you use. What IDE do you prefer, if any, and why?

15 of 443 comments (clear)

  1. There can be only one. by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Emacs. Next question.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    1. Re:There can be only one. by g0tai · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sigh.

      You appear to be both wrong. :wq!

    2. Re:There can be only one. by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Longer answer: IDE? No thanks. At least, I've used Eclipse variants and various Visual Studios, but they map onto how I think about writing and managing software. I want a blank screen with lots of keyboard shortcuts, some basic autocompletion, perfect syntax highlighting, maybe some Git support, etc. I don't want code generation or any refactor-all-the-things functions; I won't be using them.

      I used Emacs for years and years, only eventually switching to Sublime Text. ST was beautiful and fast but didn't have nearly the ecosystem of Emacs, plus its non-Freeness started showing when it went many months without an update. Life's too short for a proprietary editor, which is where I spent approximately 60% of my work life. I dependent on it more than any other tool and the prospect of my chosen tool dying on the vine wasn't appealing. I tried Atom for about a week, but it was slower than ST2, lacked a broad ecosystem, and, well... JavaScript.

      So one day I decided to revisit Emacs. Hey! It grew a package manager! Since that afternoon, I've had zero desire to look back. Emacs will outlive me and my children, will support every new language and tool that comes along, and will always be Free. There's nothing out there good enough to make me consider switching.

      PS, in concession: I could make the same cases for Vim and its grandchildren. Once you've learned them, if they do what you need then there's very little compelling reason to change.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    3. Re:There can be only one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I want a blank screen with lots of keyboard shortcuts, some basic autocompletion, perfect syntax highlighting, maybe some Git support, etc.

      Sooooo... An IDE. Granted a lightweight one - but that's not "just an editor" anymore.

    4. Re:There can be only one. by jrumney · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The difference between Emacs and an IDE is that with Emacs, you can adapt it to the way you prefer to work. With an IDE you have to adapt the way you work to the IDE.

  2. Do most of the work? by avandesande · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IDE's don't do any of the work- they take care of the things aren't actually programming.

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
    1. Re:Do most of the work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. If you've never renamed a function in your life - then go ahead and code with an 'editor' alone. Otherwise pick a good IDE and enjoy the time you're not spending doing a search and replace.

  3. Fuck you dice by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a fucking microsoft ad.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  4. Just be productive.. by MegOnWheels · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Use whatever makes you most productive and understand that it will vary from developer to developer. 99% of IDE / Editor debates make stuff all difference to the outcome. Instead focus on:1. Only implementing exactly what you need. 2 Testing the thing, then going back and reviewing the testing with a view to adding more tests. 3. Not let the implementation get ahead of the tests. 5. Get someone else to test. 6 .. Test.
    Test.. test .. test

  5. "Nerval's Lobster writes: " by ardmhacha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Nerval's Lobster writes: "

    I'll bet it is a Dice article.

  6. As long as you consider one... by ndykman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Moving past a text editor is a big help. Sure, it's good to understand the command line and all that, but having a tool that understands code and allows you to manipulate it is really useful. Refactoring support matters. A lot, actually. Safe delete, rename, extract method/parameter/etc. are all basic tools that can make a code base better. Code completion (intellsense, etc) support matters too. What does this thing do. Does it do what I think it should? Why or why not. Add in things like smart templates, etc. and even the most code aware text editors just look like nothing more than keyword colorers.

    Personally, I can't recommend Visual Studio/Resharper or the IntelliJ product line enough. Worth every single penny and then some. JetBrains has a laser like focus on just getting things done. High DPI support was a problem for their IDEs, so instead of waiting on Java 8/2D to catch up, they forked it just to get it work, and they admitted it was not a great solution, but a workaround.

    1. Re:As long as you consider one... by NoKaOi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Code completion (intellsense, etc) support matters too. What does this thing do. Does it do what I think it should? Why or why not.

      Any code base that can't be understood without Intellisense is broken. If you need auto-complete to answer those questions, then you are programming wrong (as an antidote I suggest getting rid of your IDE until you learn to do it right).

      Oh, get off your high horse and stop being so arrogant. I don't think he said he needed it to understand the code. It matters to some people simply because they find it faster to use, not necessarily because they aren't capable without it. I, personally, think code completion is annoying, but I fully recognize that for some people it's great. If somebody likes it, then they should look at IDE's that have it. If somebody doesn't like it, then it's not a factor - they can use a tool without it, and I think pretty much any tool with it has an option to disable it.

  7. Depends on the Language by Maltheus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the langugage is Java (or even Python to a lesser degree), then I haven't come across anything that even comes close to IntelliJ. It's code completion and introspection are so good, that I find I don't need to test as often. And I rarely find any issues when I do.

    I also use Eclipse and Netbeans, and everything seems to take an extra step or two and that really adds up, over time. Netbeans is good for C++ though, so I muddle through with it.

  8. Syntax hilighting by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to the article: "Some people love syntax highlighting; others hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns."

    Is that really true? I've never met someone who hated syntax hilighting.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  9. Obviously.. by juanfgs · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I log into my Xenix system with my 110 baud teletype, both vi *and* Emacs are just too damn slow. They print useless messages like, 'C-h for help' and '"foo" File is read only'. So I use the editor that doesn't waste my VALUABLE time.

    Ed, man! !man ed

    ED(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual ED(1)

    NAME
              ed - text editor

    SYNOPSIS
              ed [ - ] [ -x ] [ name ]
    DESCRIPTION
              Ed is the standard text editor.
    ---

    Computer Scientists love ed, not just because it comes first alphabetically, but because it's the standard. Everyone else loves ed because it's ED!

    "Ed is the standard text editor."

    And ed doesn't waste space on my Timex Sinclair. Just look:

    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root 24 Oct 29 1929 /bin/ed
    -rwxr-xr-t 4 root 1310720 Jan 1 1970 /usr/ucb/vi
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root 5.89824e37 Oct 22 1990 /usr/bin/emacs

    Of course, on the system *I* administrate, vi is symlinked to ed. Emacs has been replaced by a shell script which 1) Generates a syslog message at level LOG_EMERG; 2) reduces the user's disk quota by 100K; and 3) RUNS ED!!!!!!

    "Ed is the standard text editor."

    Let's look at a typical novice's session with the mighty ed:

    golem> ed
    ?
    help
    ?
    ?
    ?
    quit
    ?
    exit
    ?
    bye
    ?
    hello?
    ?
    eat flaming death
    ?
    ^C
    ?
    ^C
    ?
    ^D
    ?

    ---
    Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm the novice with verbosity.

    "Ed is the standard text editor."

    Ed, the greatest WYGIWYG editor of all.

    ED IS THE TRUE PATH TO NIRVANA! ED HAS BEEN THE CHOICE OF EDUCATED AND IGNORANT ALIKE FOR CENTURIES! ED WILL NOT CORRUPT YOUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS!! ED IS THE STANDARD TEXT EDITOR! ED MAKES THE SUN SHINE AND THE BIRDS SING AND THE GRASS GREEN!!

    When I use an editor, I don't want eight extra KILOBYTES of worthless help screens and cursor positioning code! I just want an EDitor!! Not a "viitor". Not a "emacsitor". Those aren't even WORDS!!!! ED! ED! ED IS THE STANDARD!!!

    TEXT EDITOR.

    When IBM, in its ever-present omnipotence, needed to base their "edlin" on a UNIX standard, did they mimic vi? No. Emacs? Surely you jest. They chose the most karmic editor of all. The standard.

    Ed is for those who can *remember* what they are working on. If you are an idiot, you should use Emacs. If you are an Emacs, you should not be vi. If you use ED, you are on THE PATH TO REDEMPTION. THE SO-CALLED "VISUAL" EDITORS HAVE BEEN PLACED HERE BY ED TO TEMPT THE FAITHLESS. DO NOT GIVE IN!!! THE MIGHTY ED HAS SPOKEN!!!