That really depends on the language I think. Java/C# etc I wouldn't dare to touch without an IDE. Most of my Clojure/Lisp work is done in Emacs (with Evil for Vim bindings, without any syntax highlights). People /still/ think I'm goofy for preferring that. But, I find that if you think of programming as "creative writing" instead of engineering you enter a different, more flow-like, mindset. The IDE and all its billions of buttons just get in the way for me, while just writing s-expressions as trees (using paredit with agressive-indent) never breaks my train of thought.