The debugger changed how I code. So much better than any other node debug solutions.
Anyway I like how low-memory-on-the-disk and low RAM usage VScode is, so I probably wouldn't enjoy intelliJ and webstorm for those reasons. I felt like even sublime was too bulky for me. Maybe they're good for other people and that's fine, but vscode just ticks all the right boxes.
Once you figure that if anything makes your days better by spending $10 or so a month, not choosing the best tool for the job sounds simply dumb.
I have a friend who sticks with plain vim uncustomized because he doesn't want to deviate from the default in fear of not being able to seamlessly use other environment sounds utterly stupid wasting productivity for 99% of the time being on his own machine.
I am very fortunate in my means right now, but I come from a poor family, and spending money is emotionally trying for me. I gain pleasure from pushing my monthly expenses down as tight as I can. It seems melodramatic but paying for webstorm might just stress me out - I'd constantly feel a need to justify it, like when I tried subbing to World of Warcraft - I'd catch myself calculating fun per dollar. Euck.
Anyway I'm a simple front end dev so I don't think it's necessary for now. As I branch out into Python perhaps Webstorm's tools will add tremendous value, I have seen some cool stuff but I just don't need it for now.
One common need that is a sad state of affairs in the Node world is performance tooling. It's available and competent professionals should invest in it once it becomes necessary but is a pain in the ass to setup and run.
Some of the best programmers advocate for printf over debuggers...
And some of the crappiest programmers run around the debugger for hours with no idea what could be wrong in the program, stepping blindly here and there...
And, come to think of it, with hot code reloading, printf can be just as immediate, but more direct and focused, than using the debugger. Shame that few languages/environments offer hot code reloading...
Debuggers are a valuable tool that nowadays should be standard.
Just because someone advocates taking a step back in some particular issue (and for specific reasons they argue about) doesn't mean it logically follows that they advocate going all the way back.
Two things: "slippery slope" fallacy and "marginal returns".
I'm pretty sure we can find some ways in which you yourself advocates NOT using some modern language feature in favor of an older practice (e.g. you might be against visual programming languages). Does that mean you are ultimately in the same "punch cars" camp as you suggest I am?
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTDXvmarLFnox4AO0w2NuiQ
Yes, js devs use debuggers and have for years. Firebug was created and popularized for browser js 10 years ago[1]. Node.js was released 7 years ago, got a debug option one year later using node debugger. It was CLI based and a bit shit. Tools which leveraged Node's debug protocol and Chrome's developer tools (node-inspector) for example were started 5 years ago[2]. Most recently some group associated (maybe on?) the Chrome team started creating a cleaner debug protocol and integrating directly with the Chromium project[3]. That's become the gold standard and is the standard way of debugging for Node 7+[4]. VSCode uses that protocol to offer debugging directly from the editor.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebug_(software)
2. https://github.com/node-inspector/node-inspector
Maybe there was some way I didn't know about. There's the 'inspect' flag in node 6 now that prints out a link you can copy into your chrome browser to debug server node code.
Firebug quickly became the defacto later on. But telling your average web designer about breakpoints, stepping over and stepping into would cause their eyes to glaze over.