<no subject>

[xanthian@well.com (Kent Paul Dolan)]

Subject powerful editors versus IDEs in software development Re: License to Steal
References: <mailman.988913824.5508.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>

> I prefer a GUI oriented IDE with some power.  I
> miss some of the features of both editors, but
> not nearly enough to ever go back.

> Frank

I'm a bit confused; how could you describe an IDE
as "with some power" if it doesn't even provide
for dropping through to your power editor of
choice?

  [I'm a vim() fan myself, having outgrown both
  vi() and emacs(), but that's not really
  relevant to the larger issue of being captive
  to wimpy editing tools when writing software.]

The StarLogo language in which I'm presently
writing code (don't ask) also has an IDE, also
has a "wimpy to the point of provoking suicidal
impulses" editor.

I find it much easier to keep an editor window
open, and build my software with _my_ choice of
editors, importing the code fresh into the IDE
with each edit and paying the penalty of no
incremental compilation or whatever, than I do
trying to work with an editor roughly as feature
free as MS-Notepad.

After all, typical compilers are lightning fast
today, so almost all of the _time_ I spend in
software development is spent editing, whether of
code or docs, so editing is where I want the most
powerful assistance from my choice of tools.  In
my experience with several integrated development
environments, IDE developers have too many things
on their plates to also develop the world's best
editor, whatever that might be, as part of their
tool, and the embedded editor more often smacks
of being an afterthought.

I suppose this is back to the Unix concept of a
suite of tools each of which does one thing well
and has a simple integration technique, being
more usable than a monolithic tool that does lots
of things tolerably.

Which is of course a religious issue.

All of which are only opinions, but ones based on
grunches of carpal tunnel syndrome risk taking over
almost 41 years.

Cheers!

xanthian.
--
Kent Paul Dolan <xanthian@well.com>


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