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I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

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Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#21

Post by jplur »

I like the point of this article, things that make me sigh while writing code are often the things I need to learn to do a new way.

Before I started using multiple cursors in sublime text, I would invent interesting function patterns to avoid having to copy paste sets of stuff in the editor.

Now I'll rely on my editor, because it's easier to write and easier to change in the future.

I guess whatever keeps me productive is what's important. It could be better patterns in my code, or it could be better tools to write it.

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#22

Post by oh_sigh »

Hilarious. I stopped taking this post seriously at "You shouldn't write more than a few lines of code a day".

I wonder what substantial project this person has worked on in the past, and if they kept metrics of how many lines of code they actually wrote day to day.

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#24

Post by krenel »

> Writing lots of code quickly is not a good thing. You shouldn’t be writing more than a few lines of code per day.

Some studies says that on average a programmer writes a few lines per day. So OK.

> And if your editor is helping you write a lot of code really quickly, it’s encouraging you to write bad code.

Are you implying that being able to write faster results in more code produced ergo lower quality code? Usually being able to write/refactor/replace/etc faster means you have less friction between the code and your thoughts. You can more easily express what you have in your mind, in the code.

> Why? Because it puts pressure on me to refactor.

Make a refactoring without the right tools can be counter productive. Try to refactor a 400 lines of code of Python with Notepad. You will only detect the errors on run time, I promise.

> I don’t want my editor to refactor my code.

As far as I know, you editor does NOT refactor you code. YOU are the one who does it. The editor is just a tool that allows you to do it without pain, preventing common errors and helping you to do your jobs, no the other way round.

And not just that. Any good editor should do syntax highlight for you (you are more productive, but this does not imply to write more code). And automatically indenting. And maybe balancing the braces. And a long etc.

The editor is a tool. Any professional should use the right tools for doing its job. Is your best tool a pain-in-the-ass editor and you can do a good refactor as fast as your team mates? Good for you! :D

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#25

Post by philwelch »

hohohmm wrote: post #3

Try it on Java and say you still want a dumb editor. It's like saying you want to do rocket science while doing all the math by hand. Why drive a car. Why not walk to grocery so you could reflect carefully on what you want to buy and feel your muscle twitching after carrying 30 pounds of grocery back. Tools are there to help out with the labor and free up your mind for the more important. There is nothing wrong with…

> Try it on Java and say you still want a dumb editor. It's like saying you want to do rocket science while doing all the math by hand.

Whenever I try Java, I don't want a smarter editor. I want a smarter language.

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#27

Post by thejacenxpress »

While I understand where you are coming from, a pain in the ass text editor or a built up IDE won't make a difference. Your IDE does not manipulate and refactor your thought process in solving a problem. Good programmers know how to solve problems efficiently regardless of how many keystrokes it takes.

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#28

Post by acuozzo »

n1ghtmare_ wrote: post #14

This is the most ridiculous post I've read in a while. It's written by someone who's never used a proper IDE. The IDE makes you write bad code ? This must have been written by someone who's a complete noob, honestly. What a rubbish. "You should only be writing a couple of lines of code per day" ... Really ?

Well, you called him a noob, so I guess personal attacks are fair-play.

Let me guess: You're the kind of programmer who immediately invokes a debugger when something unexpected happens.

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#29

Post by philwelch »

FrankenPC wrote: post #9

I disagree with pretty much every assertion in this article's rant. Advanced visual editors like Visual Studio make the syntax irrelevant and the architecture easy to focus on. Now I can keep my brain focused on separation of concerns with relative ease. Re factoring is also ALMOST irrelevant if you are adhering to a good MVC or MVVM pattern. Granted, if you are a genuine hacker and not interested in building mainstr…

> Re factoring is also ALMOST irrelevant if you are adhering to a good MVC or MVVM pattern.

There are levels of complexity where an MVC architecture isn't enough to make refactoring "almost" irrelevant, and you run into them pretty quickly.

Re: I want a text editor that is a pain in the ass

#30

Post by dfc »

patrickmay wrote: post #20
Ensorceled wrote: post #11

I started programming when 'ed' was the editor of choice, then vi (not vim or even elvis, but plain old vi). It did not work out the way the author thinks it would. You don't refactor. Because refactoring is a pain in the ass with a terrible editor. You use terrible variables like r, rr, a, t, ... because typing is a chore and typos are frustratingly hard to fix. With autocompletion those nice, descriptive variable n…

I started programming when the editor wars were between vi and Emacs. Somehow we've ended up on the same side. Good programmers did, in fact, refactor even with simpler tools. They did use descriptive names. They wrote tight code because they were good programmers, not because they weren't perfectly capable of generating reams of boilerplate. I'm seeing a lot of negative comments in this thread that miss the core poi…

"when the editor wars were between vi and Emacs"?

When was this armistice signed? I am afraid to know the answer but I have to ask: Who do you think the belligerents are in the current editor war?

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