Ask HN: Are there plans to port VSCode off Electron? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are there plans to port VSCode off Electron?

3 pointslifeplusplus10 comments

For a while I've been searching for faster editor.

I've following problems with vscode, all related to performance..

- Autocomplete breaks the rhythm, it takes like 3 seconds of pause sometimes to even see any suggestions.

- Syntax highlighting takes a full second or two, and a constant reminder that it's a web browser / electron.

- Starting IDE itself takes too long.

- Sometimes I feel there is input latency as well.

- snippets dont expand sometimes

In start I don't mind it but it starts to wear you down over time.

I was waiting for sublime text newer version, and it's fast just as I expected. But it's missing many small features, that's kinda deal breaker.

I REALLY wish VSCODE had a native version.

Here is the case for why?

Electron is great for prototyping, but now VScode has stabilized and a native version can be made. Native version can be updated once a year and electron version can be updated monthly, as is the case right now.

Also isn't it is written in typescript. Why can't there be Typescript to C++ conversion then implement Electron API interface with OpenGL or something.

> - Starting IDE itself takes too long.

It's not even an IDE unless I missed something. It's an editor with tons of plugins. And other editors with tons of plugins and LSP support, like NeoVim, can do the same things but faster. Though syntax highlighting is a bit behind until the next big update.

> - Sometimes I feel there is input latency as well.

I've had input delays up to over a second in VS Code. Yes, there definitely is input latency and that's unacceptable in a text editor.

No chance of all of the above.

Just use Nova if you're on a Mac: https://nova.app

I really wanted to like Nova. I miss native Mac apps so much. But I couldn’t figure out their equivalent of launch.json and gave up.

Next you're going to say they should also migrate MS Teams off of Electron. /s

probably should, no reason for a company size of MS to make this compromise. It makes sense for startup with 15 devs to choose multi-platform option in exchange of performance and size.

Au contraire, moving such a large code base off electron would be MASSIVE (a rewrite of most of the client code) and not worth it considering people just deal with it nowadays.

https://github.com/ASDAlexander77/TypeScript2Cxx

Native IDEs go out to lunch sometimes too.

The native version is called Visual Studio. Not exactly the same, I know. And not free.

Or use vim and forget about struggling with an IDE.

VS studio seems to be even slower

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