Ask HN: Programmers who don't use autocomplete/LSP, how do you do it?

I do 100% of my software development in vim. I have syntax highlighting and some auto indentation but otherwise no autocomplete, no LLMs, no vim plugins for hopping between files.

I just… write code? If I need to remember what’s in another file, I open up that file in an adjacent iTerm pane, or pull up the docs for the library, etc etc. if I want to have the program run every time I save, I run a watchexec in an adjacent pane.

I do not really belong to that group, but when I am learning a new language I avoid using LSPs and anything more than a generic autocomplete because I find that too distracting while I try to learn the language. Moreover I realised that it actually slows down my learning; I may type stuff faster but I learn and gain understanding slower compared to eg typing everything and searching the docs. In stuff I am already proficient with, it makes more sense to me as such tools help me code faster, including finding and fixing bugs faster.

As for copilot, I find it impractically distracting and I do not understand how people are supposed to code with it tbh. While coding I spend most time thinking about the code than just typing, and having random autocomplete suggestions popping up with lag while typing disturbs my chain of thoughts. Maybe if I was writing more boilerplate I would have liked it more, or I am using it wrong somehow, or maybe one gets used to it after some time. I sometimes use copilot chat though.

I have jumped around over my career: Sublime -> Vim -> Emacs -> VSCode -> Neovim -> Cursor, which is now my daily driver.

However, I still relish in the ability to open up a nerfed Sublime or basic Vim install where it’s just me and the text. I do so when I want particular lucidity in my thought process and code composition.

Then I can always fire up heavier tools for code review after the fact. How do I “do” it? I got really good at grep’n my way through a code base. It’s amazing what grep/ack/rg/etc can tell you when you know what to ask. And if you don’t know what to ask, well finding that answer is going to teach you a lot more than just hitting Tab on autocomplete or GoToDef.

I suppose this is like a lot of tools in general: you just get used to doing it yourself. People wrote code before tools like that existed, and you can too if you put your mind to it.

I typically just use plain Vim without much customization. You get used to it. I am somewhat forced to use just plain Vim on most things because I often write code on random HPC servers and have no control over what is available. But Vim is universally available, so I got good at the one tool available to me. Vim does have have Ctrl-P to auto-complete a word, though.

I also have books and other documentation available, when possible. Man pages are actually quite good and available on many systems I work on. For C, you can type something like "man 3 printf" to get basic documentation on "printf". This works for MPI too with things like "man 3 mpi_allreduce". I've been pleasantly surprised at times how much offline documentation is available.

I never really thought about it. I guess some people just like having those features, but I find them annoying.

I use Neovim with 0 plugins (apart from themes). I code in Go, and frequently reference https://pkg.go.dev.

When I do need to code in VS Code (rarely), I find that the autocomplete just gets in the way of my though process. It's like having a train of though barreling along and then suddenly an elephant gets on.

Also, I didn't even know what an language server was until looking it up after reading this post.

About Copilot: I have many problems with AI. They guzzle electricity, tend to be run by corrupt corporations, and are filling the internet with BS.

If I need to look up the definition/implementation? `:vsplit` works fine. If it's on the internet? https://pkg.go.dev.

If you don't trust me, you can check my dotfiles: https://codeberg.org/Kaamkiya/dotfiles