I keep seeing EMacs,Vim, and Neovim recommendations, but I’m out here recommending people use Geany. It’s honestly the best code editor I’ve ever used since its 2.0 version was released.
I have it setup with a debugger, an lsp, tree browser, a nice theme, etc. and it’s basically perfect. Free, open source, perfectly customizable, what more can I ask for <3
Edit: just want to say for those ppl already using Vim, it does have Vim mode. So, I think most of the hotkeys should work but I’ve only used Vim a couple times in my life, so I can’t vouch for how well Vim mode works.
Vim is my preferred ‘IDE’ for C++, Python, Bash, and general configuration file editing. It’s got some big pluses:
its text editing is superb once you’ve mastered it, but that’s a small part of its benefits when used as an IDE, and ‘Vim mode’ in other environments kind of undersells what else it can do
Vim has some great plugins for development. YouCompleteMe is awesome for predictive completion and showing docs, but NerdTree for file management and TagBar for showing structure are amazing as well. They’re all very configurable and they get out of your way.
Vim lives in your terminal window, so you can do splits and tabs using whichever terminal you like. Kitty is very fast and configurable and keeps out your way. Being able to have multiple tabs of Vim open, a tab for compilation, a tab for debugging, a tab for version control, a tab for man pages, and being able to flip between them without taking your fingers off the keyboard makes for a very fast workflow
Vim makes it very easy to edit binary files and be precise about whitespace changes, so it’s easy to make a minimal change for raising a PR.
If you assign a hotkey to run a macro in Vim, then that can be made very flexible - saving and formatting all open windows, then invoking CMake to do a build and CTest to run all your unit tests can be put on a function key if you like. Trying to tell Eclipse to “just run CMake to do the build” seems to be an exercise in frustration; so many IDEs are terrible at “just getting out of the way”.
Work pays for an IntelliJ licence for using Java. Java is so unwieldy without a proper IDE that it’s hard to code in it without it. I certainly don’t love it, though, and they seem determined to make every new version worse with bizarre new features. Flexible minimalist editing with configurable plugins is all that you really need, and on that basis Geany looks pretty good - will give it a try.
I’m going to give this a try today. My company only shelled out for a kinda shit laptop so running 3x visual studios and DBeaver at once is crippling. This plus terminal might do the trick.
I keep seeing EMacs,Vim, and Neovim recommendations, but I’m out here recommending people use Geany. It’s honestly the best code editor I’ve ever used since its 2.0 version was released. I have it setup with a debugger, an lsp, tree browser, a nice theme, etc. and it’s basically perfect. Free, open source, perfectly customizable, what more can I ask for <3
Edit: just want to say for those ppl already using Vim, it does have Vim mode. So, I think most of the hotkeys should work but I’ve only used Vim a couple times in my life, so I can’t vouch for how well Vim mode works.
Vim is my preferred ‘IDE’ for C++, Python, Bash, and general configuration file editing. It’s got some big pluses:
its text editing is superb once you’ve mastered it, but that’s a small part of its benefits when used as an IDE, and ‘Vim mode’ in other environments kind of undersells what else it can do
Vim has some great plugins for development. YouCompleteMe is awesome for predictive completion and showing docs, but NerdTree for file management and TagBar for showing structure are amazing as well. They’re all very configurable and they get out of your way.
Vim lives in your terminal window, so you can do splits and tabs using whichever terminal you like. Kitty is very fast and configurable and keeps out your way. Being able to have multiple tabs of Vim open, a tab for compilation, a tab for debugging, a tab for version control, a tab for man pages, and being able to flip between them without taking your fingers off the keyboard makes for a very fast workflow
Vim makes it very easy to edit binary files and be precise about whitespace changes, so it’s easy to make a minimal change for raising a PR.
If you assign a hotkey to run a macro in Vim, then that can be made very flexible - saving and formatting all open windows, then invoking CMake to do a build and CTest to run all your unit tests can be put on a function key if you like. Trying to tell Eclipse to “just run CMake to do the build” seems to be an exercise in frustration; so many IDEs are terrible at “just getting out of the way”.
Work pays for an IntelliJ licence for using Java. Java is so unwieldy without a proper IDE that it’s hard to code in it without it. I certainly don’t love it, though, and they seem determined to make every new version worse with bizarre new features. Flexible minimalist editing with configurable plugins is all that you really need, and on that basis Geany looks pretty good - will give it a try.
I’m going to give this a try today. My company only shelled out for a kinda shit laptop so running 3x visual studios and DBeaver at once is crippling. This plus terminal might do the trick.
Second that. Mu daily driver now. It doesn’t have every bell and whistle but by that same token it is refreshingly lightweight.
The definitely sounds like something to try. Thanks!
I suggest Pragtical too, but it don’t have built-in debugger