Ask HN: How do you like your programming editor? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you like your programming editor?

3 pointskashif10 comments

For folks using a 'programmers editor' , for lack of a better term, like Emacs and Vi. Would you migrate to a fully functional editor that runs in the browser? Or would you prefer something that installs and runs from the desktop? It would help me immensely if you could explain the rationale for your choice.

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I would prefer the editor that runs locally because

1) I can code offline. I must admit, that i have to regularly unplug my Ethernet cable to avoid being to distracted. An online editor would encourage just tabbing into a site with distractions

2) I can code offline. If I don't have an internet connection for some reason I can still work. This is especially important for people with instable connections.

3) I doubt an online editor will be as customizable as emacs

4) I can run it as root, if necessary. I wouldn't dare to run my browser as root.

5) I see no advantage concerning the use of one editor on many platforms. If I copy my .emacs to any other (Linux) box I have the same functionality everywhere.

Totally agree.

Is there an advantage to having it run in a browser? Desktop-style web apps always feel out of place compared to native apps. I prefer apps that fade into the background when I'm using them so I can focus on what I'm doing, and if an app feels non-native it tends to be more distracting than useful. It's like adding one more layer of complexity.

I much prefer an editor that runs from a terminal. I already notice speed issues (very occasionally) with vim in a terminal, I'd hate to have the lag that comes from running that in JS/on top of a browser. I don't think anything running in a gui would be usable either (because of speed). Terminal or bust.

Coding offline is also somewhat important for me.

I'd love an editor that used Chrome's tab strip. I can't stand how tabs work in most IDEs, and Chrome has done it exactly right.

Check out Kod:http://kodapp.com/ It uses chrome's tabs, though sadly it's only for mac

I always use vim and my setup won't allow non-cli editor.

I will typically open multiple ssh sessions to a remote machine and edit/test the code there from the different sessions.

As the saying goes, "I do it in production" ;)

I like the tried and true, Geany. Geany is self-contained and does not require internet.

Give me a browser-based editor that runs in a console and I'll use that.

I would definitely not migrate to any editor that runs in the browser -- unless my entire environment were in the browser -- which FSM willing, will never happen.

What you have to understand about my editor (emacs), is that it sucks.

There, I said it. Emacs sucks.

But emacs sucks less than everything else -- in part because it sits about as close to the bare metal as possible. And also because of emacs lisp, which I hate. And love...

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