3 replies to this topic

[Psynic]

I have noticed several people Favoring text editors for example notepad++ over an IDE, i was just wondering could anyone explain the possible reason for this or is it just a matter of preference?

What is recommended for beginners? I'm assuming IDE but never know i guess.

[PythonPower]

IDEs tend to be slow and bulky (from experience). They can add some nice features but I've just never really cared much.

My efficiency depends on languages more than what I type in. Coding in Java almost requires an IDE though due to its complexity. But smaller languages, like Python and C, are fine in a glorified text-editor.

[WingedPanther]

I'll give a practical example. I do a LOT of my coding in Delphi 5. The IDE has nice links to the compiler and handles GUI development beautifully. Compiler options are handled transparently. It has code insight, which comes in very handy with some of the complicated libraries.

Code insight is also the bane of my existence. If I pause or click on a class name, the entire IDE ill freeze up as it refreshes the thousands of available components. We have a lot of third party components, and this can be several seconds of refresh time. There are also a lot of strange keyboard combinations for things like indenting blocks of code. Search and replace is extremely weak. I realize this is an old version of Delphi, but it's what we use.

I also do a lot of my coding in jEdit. I have recently started using it for some of my Delphi development work. It has better syntax highlighting than the Delphi IDE, which was enough to get me started using it. Regex search and replace has saved me hours of work on many occasions. I have a tool that can extract a table's DDL, and then a simple search and replace can turn that into the skeleton of a SQL INSERT statement. Fill in the details and I'm done.

My current development model is to have both open at the same time, with the same file loaded in both. I design the GUI in Delphi, and create function stubs. I then save the file and switch to jEdit, which automatically reloads the file. There, I can do my coding faster, and use Ctrl-[arrow] to shift indents as needed when copying code. I can do multi-file searches to quickly find chunks of code in other files that I want to copy/reuse, as well. Finally, I save and switch back to Delphi. Delphi reloads the file, and I use it for compiling/syntax checking. I fix errors there, test, and then switch back to jEdit.

[karim.soufi]

if u are new i recommend notepad++ so you can memorize the classes and functions, because the IDE would help you in those.
so later on when you are really good, use an IDE.