Am i missing out if I dont use an IDE?

Programming@beehaw.org – 40 points – 1 years ago

So, I have been mostly self thaught programmer (C++), as its a big part of my job (not a regular developer). But so far I have been using a simple text editor like Geany to code and I compile stuff either in terminal (linux) or produce my own make file.

I am starting to wonder if I should switch to a full IDE, as I am on linux, I was thinking of trying KDevelop. But I am simply not sure if its worth, do I even need it?

I have never used an IDE, it seems kind of complicated for the start with "projects" and I havent really found any good introductions to how this workflow is supposed to work.

Do you think using and IDE is something everyone should use? Or do you think a text editor with producing your own make files should be enough?

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I stick with vim because every time I try to use vscode, I get so bogged down trying to set things up and figure out how to use it that I end up just being like, "eh, fuck it - I'll do this later."

Some younger admins and engineers look upon me with awe, but really I'm just secretly a really lazy bastard. I don't even pack plugins into vim anymore to make my life easier. Just plain old vanilla vim.

At the end of the day there’s some cost-benefit analysis for time spent setting up environment vs time saved by previously setup features. Autocomplete saves a good amount of time but even something like same-file-word suggestion can save a lot of time without any setup.

Yeah, for sure - I don't deny that at all. For me, it's a confluence of general burnout, laziness, and comfort with what I already know... and likely not a really urgent need to move to a proper IDE. The majority of my coding is small, one-off Python scripts where I can :wq and run it and then open it back up to refine, fix bugs, add debugging prints, etc.

Even for that there are some nice (vim and otherwise) features where clicking on an error automatically opens up the right file and sets the cursor at the location of the error. Or just seeing errors in a separate panel from the rest of the code.

Yeah, I used to configure vim with syntax highlighting and auto-suggestions and whatever else. I just like... don't anymore. I've been feeling less burned out over the last few months and it seems, at least, like its still lifting slowly. Maybe when I get the energy back, I'll take another crack at vscode.