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Comment by stevebot | Hacker News Reader

I hated Android Studio when I first started using it. All my shortcuts were different from Eclipse, and the whole module structure wasn't as intuitive for me (I stayed away from IntelliJ too). However, after using it for the last 6 months, I have to say, it is a huge improvement for Android Development. There are soo many slick IDE features, like icon previews to the left of the editor, smart code collapsing (done automatically by the IDE without modifying the source), preview's on text resources, UI preview's that put Eclipse + ADT to shame, and very very nice gradle integration.

And at this point I freaking love gradle over Ant. I use to be an Ant fanatic (which isn't saying much), but gradle gives so much more structure to my builds now, and Maven is no longer such a pain in the ass.

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I've started later with Android Development than you did. So I've just used Eclipse for a pretty short time. To be honest, I can't stand those different views (e.g. when starting to debug). The resource editor with its live preview is so much better in Android Studio. Showing the content of the string instead of just showing the ID - there are so many little things which are far better than with Eclipse. I really like the decision to go with JetBrains instead of Eclipse.

You've likely already discovered this, but in the off chance not, you can set your keymap to match Eclipse. Just go in Preferences > Keymap, and select Eclipse or Eclipse OS X from the dropdown.

Please don't do this. I know I'll probably get voted down by people, but doing this is terrible if you're in a team. You can't move efficiently to a co-workers computer and pair program like this.

Take the time to learn the shortcuts for AS. They might be long and arduous, but learn them. Then you can jump from keyboard to keyboard without having to tell a team member, "Before we begin, let me change your keyboard shortcuts to my preference".

Sure you can. Ctrl-Shift-A, type 'keymap', and you get a handy popup (same size as the 'recent files' switcher available with Ctrl-E) with the defined keymaps ready to use. Few seconds, maximum.

Even quicker: Ctrl+` brings up a quick switch context menu that allows you to instantly switch keymaps, code styles, L&F and colors.

"efficiently ... pair program"

What if I told you

not every team does pair programming

Well, that's a fair comment. But I've been the lead on multiple projects for multiple companies. This means that I'm often at someone's PC working in Eclipse. I know the shortcuts, they might not. In either case, having to change someone's settings to suit me is a slow process.

Especially problematic when I get called off to something else. I might forget to set the editor back. Now the person is annoyed until they either figure it out or call me back saying, "Fix it, ass."

What about shops where programmers use different IDEs? Even if they go by the principle that forbids them to customize anything, you still have different keyboard shortcuts to deal with. I dread the thought that you might prefer to impose One True IDE on everyone in the team just for this reason...

General rule? No multiple editors. That doesn't mean no specialized tools, but no one offs. On one team a member wanted to use VIM for most of there stuff. I thought fine. Unfortunately VIM's formatting is different than Eclipse's. The result is files were hard to read in both tools.

Besides, to the point at hand, my rule is no dicking around with how the Romans do it. IntelliJ has its own rules. Eclipse another. The same is true for Emacs and VIM. Trying to make one the other overly complicates the matter for the team. Think how many people get confused by Emacs in Evil Mode.

A team requires that we work in concert. They should argue and defend tool selection. Once decided stick with it until its been played out.

"Unfortunately VIM's formatting is different than Eclipse's"

Now can't THAT be fixed without throwing Vim away?? I've never used Vim, but I think its fans hail it as very configurable etc., the best thing since sliced bread (or is it Emacs? I can never remember which one cures cancer) :))

Anyway, these are discrepancies that "leak out" of your machine; like code formatting. That's a showstopper to be sure.

But keyboard shortcuts I see as a "private area", just like being left-handed and configuring one's machine to accommodate for that - sorry, but Ctrl+X and Ctrl+C aren't that convenient for someone who uses their left hand to control mouse (statistically 1 person in 10).

Maybe Android development isn't the best example here, since 1. no offense to those who swear by it, but Eclipse is inferior in compare to Android Studio, I don't think anyone would fiercely insist on sticking to it, 2. both these IDEs are closely integrated with different build systems.

But, say, in PHP? You can (or should be able to) freely switch between PhpStorm, NetBeans, Eclipse or even a regular text editor without affecting other team members as far as code itself is concerned.

To put it that way - personally I wouldn't like to work in an environment where it's prohibited :) That's just fascist, man...

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