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From VS Code to Helix

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Re: From VS Code to Helix

#41

Post by NoboruWataya »

focom wrote: post #27

Helix boast itself as a no config tool, but you have to find a lsp, installl it, edit a toml to activate it. I dont think we can call that "config less". Success would be something like LazyVim but without the nagging of updates each time you open it.

I think most people in the target audience for either editor wouldn't mind a bit of tinkering. The difference is in basically building your own setup from the ground up with plugins and config files vs starting with a reasonably featureful setup OOTB that you can then tweak to your liking.

I use LazyVim and it works pretty well. But whenever I want to change some small aspect of its behaviour it takes a while to get familiar with the right part of the configuration. And if an update were to break it tomorrow I'm not sure how easily I could put it back together.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#42

Post by lycopodiopsida »

stronglikedan wrote: post #37
lycopodiopsida wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm sure I could learn to be slightly faster on dvorak/colemak, but nothing beats the convenience of always having guaranteed access to qwerty, everywhere I go. Colemak/Dvorak is not about speed, but about comfort and avoiding RSI (though I would place the actual layout somewhere far down on the list, a proper ergonomic KB is top priority). Also, in my ~8 years on Colemak lack of access to it was a problem exactly…

> avoiding RSI I tried all manner of keyboards over the years, and in my opinion, none of them solve RSI. I'm now back to a standard qwerty for the same reason as OP - they're just immediately available everywhere. What did help my no-longer-existent RSI was simple - I don't rest my wrists any more like I was taught in high school typing class (by an instructor that would whack our hands with a ruler if we were caugh…

I've tried a lot of keyboards over the years – ergonomic ones, such KA2 and Glove80 (now) absolutely did solve my RSI issues. Pain may have many issues, such joints, posture problems (pinching nerves in shoulders/elbow) but getting a proper chair and ergonomic split keyboard is still my number 1 advice. Also more sport, if it is not too severe.

Going to a doctor should also be high on the list, but unfortunately, I have yet to see one willing to do a proper diagnosis. My experience there is more than mixed, so you have to experiment yourself.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#43

Post by gaoshan »

I used Helix for a couple of days and really liked it for the most part. However, I would sometimes encounter a small, simple thing that I do without thinking in VS Code but just did not know the command for in Helix. I would look it up, think, "Sweet, that's efficient" and move on. This kept happening and finally I was in a situation where I just needed to move fast and did not have time to investigate how to do it in Helix so I switched back and... never returned.

It was a learning curve issue for me, not a functionality issue. I'll probably return at some point (like when the EOY season becomes slower and I have more time to explore) but for now I'm back to cruising in VS Code.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#44

Post by milch »

stronglikedan wrote: post #37
lycopodiopsida wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm sure I could learn to be slightly faster on dvorak/colemak, but nothing beats the convenience of always having guaranteed access to qwerty, everywhere I go. Colemak/Dvorak is not about speed, but about comfort and avoiding RSI (though I would place the actual layout somewhere far down on the list, a proper ergonomic KB is top priority). Also, in my ~8 years on Colemak lack of access to it was a problem exactly…

> avoiding RSI I tried all manner of keyboards over the years, and in my opinion, none of them solve RSI. I'm now back to a standard qwerty for the same reason as OP - they're just immediately available everywhere. What did help my no-longer-existent RSI was simple - I don't rest my wrists any more like I was taught in high school typing class (by an instructor that would whack our hands with a ruler if we were caugh…

Personally I started getting wrist pain 2 or 3 years ago. I have been using Colemak anyway for more than 15 years - my original reason for switching was because the German QWERTZ layout I grew up with is not very programming friendly, symbols like []{}/\ are hidden away behind hard to type chords. I found as a nice side benefit that my typing speed increased by 20-30 or so WPM... I did also have typing classes in school, so it is not simply because I started paying more attention to learning how to type with the new system.

After switching to a split keyboard my pain went away, and I think I learned that at least for me it was caused by exactly these symbols - on both US QWERTY and Colemak when you constantly type [];:{}| and so on, your pinky has to reach over to do it. At least for me that meant contorting my hand a bit to reach over. On my split keyboard all the symbols are behind a layer on the home row, and I barely use the pinky for anything, which fixes the issue. I also learned to hover while switching to the split keyboard, but that did nothing for my wrist pain when going back to my laptop's built in keyboard - after a full day of programming there the pain is back.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#45

Post by tux1968 »

icen wrote: post #17
evolighting wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite one: "ggdG" didn't work no Helix; But more importantly,it reflects the reality that although they bear some resemblance, the design logic of vi and Helix are actually fundamentally different.

In helix that's %d (select-buffer, then delete). The selection-then-action design for helix is showing it's difference to vi, which is action-on-movement.

But Vim has visual-mode, which is select-then-action too.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#46

Post by dkdcio »

preommr wrote: post #19

> Microsoft is also based in the USA, and the political climate over there makes me want to depend as little as possible on American tools. I know that’s a long, uphill battle, but we have to start somewhere. I miss the days when we had militant, but more entertaining zealots like Stallman. Whatever else you can say about his antics, Stallman was comitted. And that craziness wrapped back around to being entertaining.…

I recently learned about the whole “GNU/Linux” naming thing and got a good kick out of it

https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.en.html

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#47

Post by linsomniac »

Just yesterday I think I reached the breaking point with vim. Been using vi and derivatives for 40 years, but the amount of tweaking to get a usable setup is really annoying me. I've gotten to the point where LSP is a must have.

Yesterday I was trying to switch my Astro VIM setup from using black to using "ruff format", which lead me down the path of installing astro from scratch, re-configuring it for my "must haves", and then trying again to get my formatter switched to ruff. I reinstalled because the docs looked like there may be a new way to do it since my last install 6 months ago.

The documentation for Astro VIM is really incomplete. Claude was fairly helpful, maybe Claude Code would be better, since it'll have the context of my exact configs rather than Claude giving me 3-5 options for making the change.

I've got a helix cheatsheet on my desk that I had Claude make me ~3 months ago. I started my work journal in helix this morning, but the install on that system must be broken because I couldn't even exit insert mode, pressing ESC did nothing.

I'm at the point where I think vim is a great library for building a text editor, but nobody has built a great text editor in it yet. I really liked LunarVim but that got abandoned for reasons I don't fully understand.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#48

Post by submeta »

Helix is a beautifully made editor. Looking forward for it to have scriptability and extensibility.

I went from VS Code to NeoVim and can’t be happier. Not saying that VS Code isn‘t a good product. It‘s actually everything you need in an editor/ ide. But it’s way too heavy for my taste. I made the transition to the terminal for my dev workflow. WezTerm, mux and tmux, neovim as editor, lazygit as git client, yazi for file navigation: I absolutely love how streamlined my process is.

Wonderful times with lots of options.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#49

Post by sorcercode »

roywiggins wrote: post #26
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also on the jetbrains train, but I stopped using it for a while because they're sluggish . An editor's interface should never lock up, an editor should never have popups that demand focus, etc but both intellij and vs code do this. At the moment I'm on VS Code again because Sublime Text isn't keeping up to date anymore (its ecosystem has mostly been dormant since 2014 or 2016) and Zed is still fully in developmen…

I ended up switching to Zed after VS Code lost connection to my dev VM and locked up one too many times. I am not sure what the issue is- maybe the VM is just running out of memory and nuking the VSCode daemon? But either way, Zed has not had this problem at all. I never had much problem with feeling VSCode was slow (outside of those lockups) but Zed surprised me by feeling actively fast . I do miss several extension…

> I never had much problem with feeling VSCode was slow (outside of those lockups) but Zed surprised me by feeling actively fast.

well said. this is exactly how I felt too. when other folks ask why zed, and i tell them it's fast - i couldn't quite capture that feeling but this comment nails it.

Zed actively feels faster than VSCode or equivalent editors; but once you get comfortable with Zed's speed, it's hard to go back.

Re: From VS Code to Helix

#50

Post by allknowingfrog »

jsmailes wrote: post #2

Helix and other new editors (kakoune comes to mind) always appealed to me because they seemed to have slightly more intuitive approaches to editing than vim, but I just don't think I can ever switch, purely because vim just exists everywhere I need it. It (or vi) is installed on practically every system I ever touch by default, and almost every IDE/editor under the sun supports vim keybinds either natively or via wel…

I switched from Qwerty to Dvorak in my 20s, and now from Vim to Helix in my 30s. Both transitions were rough for a couple of weeks, but honestly less difficult than expected. Neither choice turned me into a 10x developer, but neither one has ever caused a problem that I cared about either.

Do you spend a lot of time on systems that you don't control? Dvorak discourages other people from helping themselves to my keyboard, which is honestly worth more to me than being able to go the opposite direction.

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