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Benefits of Not Using an IDE

alexander-hansen.dev

61–70 of 389 posts

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#61

In Linux, it often feels like the whole OS is the IDE. In the same shell, you can edit source files, compile, debug, execute, rename, search, create and execute scripts to do literally anything with any language, use git, surf the web, update, reboot, launch a game, etc, etc. An IDE on top of that always felt restricting to me. Like why limit yourself? But maybe that's a windows/Mac thing.

Running an IDE doesn't stop me interacting with the shell, why would it?

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#62

Listen, 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…

It's not being lazy. There is no need for me to use an Integrated Development Environment.

Many of the most highly productive people use Separated Development Environments. The integration is most times not necessary. I have never had an IDE provide a feature that I needed and couldn't quickly create or obtain.

People let you install your tools in your monolithic IDE package. Why are you so insistent on degrading people who are experts in their fields?

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#63

I think the benefits of working with KISS tools - the opposite of 'everything but the kitchen sink' in Emacs parlance - is that it significantly lowers the cognitive load. This may sound odd when comparing a rather bare-bones vi + tools setup with a bells-and-whistles IDE like Visual/Android/whatever Studio but it just ends up working that way for me. I already need to keep enough state in my head for the project I'm…

> I think the benefits of working with KISS tools - the opposite of 'everything but the kitchen sink' in Emacs parlance - is that it significantly lowers the cognitive load.

No. You're wrong. Not having the right tools raises the cognitive load. You just think it's simpler because you are severely restricted in the complexity of the programs you can create with just your brain and the documentation.

IDEs expand the complexity of what you can build and make you more productive building programs of any size, because features like autocomplete and refactoring take thr cognitive burden off you.

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#64

Listen, 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…

> …but “no IDE” is just rejecting everything because you didn’t like one thing; it’s just being lazy.

This is the vi vs emacs debate transposed to build tools and as such will never conclude. Some like their tools to be as "complete" as possible, others want them out of the way. You might be closer to the first camp, I'm close to the second, others are in between. All of these choices are fine, there is no canonical truth here and as such the "nonsense" label used above is just that, nonsensical.

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#65

There is a common perception with electric bicycles that the rider will pedal less hard to go the same speed. But there is an alternative: they could pedal the same amount and go faster. I kind of view IDEs like that. You can use it as a crutch, or you can take the energy you would have used thinking about the things the IDE is now doing for you and focus it elsewhere.

> they could pedal the same amount and go faster

Nitpicking, but in the world of regulations, electric assist tapers off until around 25-30 km/h, at which point you start carrying the entire bike anyway, plus the dead weight of the battery and the motor.

I wonder if this simile could be extended to programming. Being hindered by not being able to choose your own tools?

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#66

None of this matters in the slightest as soon as you have to work with other people on stuff. At that point common tooling is more important than specific personalised tooling. If everyone is using IntelliJ and you're using Atom, it's going to be problematic. Not because of either of those tools, but because you now have a discrepancy that is not relevant to the work you're doing yet it's creating problems for the wo…

[deleted]

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#67
post #63

I think the benefits of working with KISS tools - the opposite of 'everything but the kitchen sink' in Emacs parlance - is that it significantly lowers the cognitive load. This may sound odd when comparing a rather bare-bones vi + tools setup with a bells-and-whistles IDE like Visual/Android/whatever Studio but it just ends up working that way for me. I already need to keep enough state in my head for the project I'm…

> I think the benefits of working with KISS tools - the opposite of 'everything but the kitchen sink' in Emacs parlance - is that it significantly lowers the cognitive load. No. You're wrong. Not having the right tools raises the cognitive load. You just think it's simpler because you are severely restricted in the complexity of the programs you can create with just your brain and the documentation. IDEs expand the c…

You forgot to add "for me ...". You also implicitly defined IDEs as "the right tools". After that you imply that those who do not use "the right tools" (in your definition of "right") are "severely restricted in the complexity of the programs [they] can create".

In other words, you state that your way is the right way while my way is wrong.

Notice I did not state that my way is the right way for everyone? What makes you think yours is?

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#68
> By not using an IDE, you have to remember the syntax

> because there is just so much, that it becomes impractical to remember

I got more comfortable and faster with large projects when I stopped caring about remembering and switched to search & find. I'm always amused seeing someone trying to navigate a directory tree of 2000 files.

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#69
post #53
post #13

The difference between an IDE and a souped-up vim or emacs configuration is ... very little. Your average fancy pants vim config has auto-completion, debuggers, etc.

I think this is not wrong. When you are using the better quality IDEs (for example C# with Visual Studio, or Java with IntelliJ), they offer you a lot this isn't there in Emacs or VIM. I currently mostly work in Python using Emacs, because I don't know of anything that adds really compelling full-blown IDE features for a dynamically typed language. I will also say that Datagrip and Microsoft SQL Server Studio are bot…

With JetBrains PyCharm or the PyCharm plugin in IntelliJ, you can treat all python3 as statically typed ... use the type-annotations and then linter will catch your mistakes.

Re: Benefits of Not Using an IDE

#70
post #62

Listen, 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…

It's not being lazy. There is no need for me to use an Integrated Development Environment. Many of the most highly productive people use Separated Development Environments. The integration is most times not necessary. I have never had an IDE provide a feature that I needed and couldn't quickly create or obtain. People let you install your tools in your monolithic IDE package. Why are you so insistent on degrading peo…

In 20 years of working as an engineer and also interviewing, I’ve seen maybe 3 people that could be as productive without an IDE. They certainly exist, but I believe they are rare exceptions.
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