[Novalug] IDE usage and putting comments in code

[Kevin Dwyer]

On Thu, Sep 20, 2007 at 01:48:58PM -0400, gregory pryzby wrote:
> eclipse is an ide so can be seen as a crutch. but it available
> everywhere and I think is probably less of a crutch than vim or emacs.
> vi and ed are definitely NOT crutches ;)

Hmm, vim/emacs is a crutch but eclipse is not?  Eh?

Every now and again I try whichever IDE is in vogue and I often come to
the same conclusion.  They may offer a wealth of extra information at
your mouse click, but they just slow me down.

I want to liken the difference in speed to the action on a guitar.  When
you play a PRS (Paul Reed Smith - expensive, beautiful guitar), it's
like your fingers are unstoppable.  The action on most IDEs is poor and
unresponsive.  I usually don't have 3GB of RAM and the latest processor
so things like eclipse will lag on me.  emacs and vim fly.

The issue of power has been one for me too.  I can do a lot
*accidentally* via the keyboard in command-mode in vim that is not
possible in most IDEs.  IDEs hamstring me.  They also force me to use a
mouse more often than I'd like while writing code.

So, since emacs doesn't provide me with the informational overload of
most IDEs, I tend to stick to documentation.  Umbrello does a decent job
of drawing class diagrams for C++.  pydoc/ipython are pretty helpful
aids for figuring out what you want to do in python.  javadoc obviously
works (I haven't done Java in a long while).

BTW, emacs does have the completion thing too.  It's not nearly as
intelligent as the ones in IDEs, but it works for simple stuff.  I
rarely use it; I think some people just get into the habit of
completing so it's there in that case.

-kpd