The obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/378/
Benefits of Not Using an IDE
151–160 of 389 posts
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do doctors memorize medicines and their effects? Because it's faster to retrieve from memory than from documentation, even automatically presented documentation. It removes a context switch. The "brain cycles" are only run while doing the memorization, not while actually doing the work. > I don't recall ever struggling to remember syntax of languages I frequently code in. Because you've memorized it.
I'd rather have my doctor consulting recent knowledge base than use their 30 year old memories from school. Medicine is not set in stone and recommendations change.
As I've heard it, use your memory, then back it up with documentation if/when you need the certainty.
You can't easily consider a treatment or remedy or library function you don't remember.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#153The downside is losing access to refactoring, auto-fixes, integrated debuggers, auto complete, countless plugins, etc. Some of that stuff is nice & helpful. Some of it stops you from doing silly things. And some of it automates the detection and fixing of problems you would otherwise introduce without realizing. The latter is why it's important to use proper tools. Because introducing such preventable issues to any code base is just really not excusable for a professional software developer.
Of course, tooling is better for some languages than for others. But even the ones you think are not that well supported actually do have some nice IDEs these days. Worth checking out such tools. Of course you can compensate with discipline and use command line build tools to tell you what's wrong and then manually look up the code location and fix all the issues .... or you could just autofix the warning in your IDE and move on to dealing with more interesting problems.
As a good friend used to tell me, laziness is a sign of intelligence. In IDE terms, if you spend half an hour manually fixing something that a tool could have fixed for you in seconds, you are being an idiot. Or alternatively, if you can't be bothered to understand and use the command line tools available to you, do consider using an IDE as it will save you some time mastering those tools you clearly can't be bothered with mastering. It's the intelligent choice.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#154The author seems to use IDE for one purpose only: to auto-generate boilerplate code. But this is far from the only benefits of IDEs! I rarely use IDEs for code generation, I don't even like autocomplete. For this stuff I use code snippets; I develop collections of those for any language I use. You don't need an IDE for it; any good text editor has such features. For me really important features of a good IDE are: - N…
Just about every editor has a language server support nowadays, that's far from a compelling argument to use an IDE. Even emacs/vim have those now.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#155Listen, long story short: just say no to nonsense like this. Given the choice of a) tooling, or b) no tooling, you’re not being smart, cool or clever by choosing b. Obviously, what tools you pick are important and heavy IDEs like IntelliJ are a trade off between speed and functionality, and yeah, more nimble tools do exist, and it’s definitely worth trying different development tools to see what makes you most produc…
The best developers I've found are the ones who know how to work without an IDE, even if their preference is to use one. Contrastingly, the worst, slowest developers I've worked with rely on their IDE without understanding what it's doing for them, and are helpless in new/unsupported situations. They also, 100% of the time, screw up their git repositories on a regular basis, and need someone who knows what they're do…
> The best developers I've found are the ones who know how to work without an IDE, even if their preference is to use one.
The best swimmers can stay afloat with pounds and pounds of weight dragging the down; the worst swimmers will drown. Doesn't mean weighing you down makes you a better swimmer.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do doctors memorize medicines and their effects? Because it's faster to retrieve from memory than from documentation, even automatically presented documentation. It removes a context switch. The "brain cycles" are only run while doing the memorization, not while actually doing the work. > I don't recall ever struggling to remember syntax of languages I frequently code in. Because you've memorized it.
You definitely have no idea of how doctors work if you think they don’t heavily rely on reference books for most of the stuff they do
I don’t think you’re being generous with your reading of their point.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do doctors memorize medicines and their effects? Because it's faster to retrieve from memory than from documentation, even automatically presented documentation. It removes a context switch. The "brain cycles" are only run while doing the memorization, not while actually doing the work. > I don't recall ever struggling to remember syntax of languages I frequently code in. Because you've memorized it.
You definitely have no idea of how doctors work if you think they don’t heavily rely on reference books for most of the stuff they do
You can't easily consider a treatment or remedy or library function you don't remember. Better to use all the tools at hand (memory being a useful tool - a L2 cache as it were) than handicap yourself by only using a few.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#158The author seems to use IDE for one purpose only: to auto-generate boilerplate code. But this is far from the only benefits of IDEs! I rarely use IDEs for code generation, I don't even like autocomplete. For this stuff I use code snippets; I develop collections of those for any language I use. You don't need an IDE for it; any good text editor has such features. For me really important features of a good IDE are: - N…
I'd like to point out that you don't need an IDE for error reporting. Most editors these days integrate with a language server for inline errors and linting. Even features such as jump-to have existed in Vim/emacs for many years.
I would add graphical debuggers to your list. You can get by with command line debuggers and there are external attachable debuggers but neither is really comparable to an IDE.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you mean cnc machine. And those are amazingly productive.
No, a CNC machine is a distinct entity which enables the user to create objects which can not be created using only a power drill. The lower-tech predecessor of a CNC machine is a milling machine [1], not a hand-held drill. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milling_(machining)
There isn’t anything a CNC can make that someone with a file and a lot of times on their hands cant.
Heck you can do that with a drill too mostly using jigs.
I had to create a few times quite complex shapes from a block of aluminum and what I did I just 3D print a bunch of jigs and drilled out 98-99% of the material away in the same way a CNC would and finished it with dremmel.
Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE
#160Listen, long story short: just say no to nonsense like this. Given the choice of a) tooling, or b) no tooling, you’re not being smart, cool or clever by choosing b. Obviously, what tools you pick are important and heavy IDEs like IntelliJ are a trade off between speed and functionality, and yeah, more nimble tools do exist, and it’s definitely worth trying different development tools to see what makes you most produc…
c) choosing a platform that over complicates things and requires tooling that most developers use but never quite understand.
> you’re not being smart, cool or clever by choosing
c