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Best IDE’s and Text Editors!

KUMAR HARSH on June 24, 2021

As a coder, finding a text editor that works for you is critical. You’ll be spending tons of time working in it, so get cozy. For those just getti...
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intermundos

Nothing beats Jetbrains products. Worth every penny.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yeah they are all good but I believe in free opensource software rather than investing in proprietary software.

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intermundos

I prefer to choose the best tool available for the job.

And since an IDE is a tool which allows you to accomplish more in less time. I would better prefer to value my time and effort over free software.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

I am not against nice tools even if one has to pay for it, If your work pays you well one must invest some to get the best tools out there, just as a beginner or a student though, like me it is better to explore free and good open source software.

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servusdei2018 profile image
Nate

In my experience, the most productive editor I've used hasn't been IDE's, which usually are laggy, nor even JetBrain's products. I haven't yet found an alternative which can compare to the raw power of my customized neovim, which has all the functionality of an IDE, all the speed of a terminal CLI, and the intuition learned over years of use.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yes once you get used to one and can use it to its full potential it simply works, no need to think about other tools.

All one has to do is find the one that works best for them.

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intermundos

If you can afford a few cups of coffee a month, you can as well pay a monthly subscription for an IDE such as webstorm. In my country is 2 cups of coffee...

Sure OSS alternative are free. But if you take into account an amount of time IDE is saving you, you will understand that you receive much more in return. Especially when you do a refactor of a project with lots of files.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

I agree, paying a small amount for efficiency when that job is paying is you is not bad. Since I am student now I chose to go for OSS.

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Sergey Kislyakov

IDEA C is free and open-source, though. github.com/JetBrains/intellij-comm...

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yes.

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dbc2201

IntelliJ has a free community version.

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Zach

Agreed. Bit shocked at the lack of a JB mention. Switched from VS Code and haven't gone back. Tried, but couldn't.

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intermundos

Yep, once you go webstorm, you never go back :)

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yes I have heard a lot, going to give it a try myself.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Didn't want to include paid products, I know have free downloads but wanted to avoid them in general.

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carlosmspk

Aren't they known to be a bit slow though? I've only used IntelliJ IDEA and the editor was great, but it was incredibly slow on startup and was a memory hog

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dbc2201

You could actually tweak the memory usage of IntelliJ in the settings, and if it is slow to start you can use pre-built caches for your codebase so it won't have to index it everytime at startup.

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Matthieu Cneude

Vim definitely requires a learning curve and a willingness to immerse yourself in a whole new feature-set that might not be the same as some other text editors you are used to.

I disagree. The only difference with Vim and other editors is: Vim is a modal editor. The shortcuts for editing need to be done in one mode, and writing in another one. To change mode, you need to hit a shortcut.

After that you need to learn the shortcuts like any other editor if you want to be a bit more effective. Unlike any other editor though, the shortcuts in Vim make much more sense.

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KUMAR HARSH

I don't think so, Vim is not at all beginner friendly, the shortcuts are handy and make sense but you can't expect a newbie to use Vim straight away and feel comfortable where as with VS Code and Sublime one day is enough to get going.

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Matthieu Cneude

I never said that a "newbie" would be able to use Vim in one day, I said that it doesn't require "a learning curve and a willingness to immerse yourself in a whole new feature-set".

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Idk but I feel that way 😅, maybe being used to Windows and GUI my whole life and I kind of feel intimidated by these kinds of software and stuff.

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Matthieu Cneude

I spent most of my time on Windows... I was feeling the same about Vim till I tried it seriously ;)

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KUMAR HARSH

I am also learning Linux currently and would try out Vim for sure.

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Sanjaay R.

Cause you like VS Code, you can just use the 'Vscodevim' extension. Pretty popular and it works for me. You can even create your own shortcuts like assigning 'jj' to 'Esc'

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KUMAR HARSH

Yes I saw the extension, but I am want to learn Vim slowly as it's very efficient and productive.

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ROHIT KUMAR

Same as you,In LOVE with VSCODE.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Indeed

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ROHIT KUMAR

INDEED ,it'svery critical word for me, you know..
what happened after INDEED to the similar context 😅😅

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

INDEED

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rohitk570 profile image
ROHIT KUMAR

great then😂

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Nate

I thought it would be worthwhile to mention that in your article, the link for Vim goes to a filehippo page, whose integrity I don't necessarily trust. Instead, I would direct users to the official homepage page, or the official download page

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Thanks for pointing that out, I will fix it.

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Alek

I've been dancing around Sublime Text and VS Code through 2021. Sublime was my go to because back when I started coding that was THE go to compared to today's VS Code.

I don't regret paying for Sublime Text's license at all, the UX is definitely great and there's some shortcuts that I've gotten used to from it that have made it hard to get me to switch fully to VS Code. Sublime 4 also released recently and it just feels smoother to me in terms of UI and UX; VS Code in comparison feels too visually loaded for me at times.

I do love VS Code in terms of features though. If a package existed for Sublime, someone already worked something out for VS Code. Not to mention the integrated terminal and very easy to set up the terminal commands; which requires considerably more set up in Sublime. VS Code makes some things just work and the intellisense is amazing.

I've been curious about Vim, but because there is an extension (for VS Code) or package (for Sublime) that allows you to use its keybinds on each of the editors. So you can increase your efficiency further by combining it with another editor, and on top of that it makes it simpler to switch between editors at your leisure because you're only worrying about a single set of keybinds. It's also very useful to know how to use a cli editor in case you need to do a quick and dirty edit while SSHing into a server, remote machine or just GUI-less set up. Many people will say that Vim is tough to learn, but it pays it's dividends in equal measure.

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KUMAR HARSH

Yes there are extensions to get the shortcuts of every editor including Sublime and VIm on VS Code so that people can easily switch without facing any difficulties.

I am currently trying to learn CLI, as it will come handy in the future.

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ROHIT KUMAR

Getting out of the topic a bit ...
Leave editiors ,
I think Linux command line program gives you more feel like an Hacker or pro programmer.
Just kidding 😂
You do need an editor for the productivity though

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Linux does give you the hacker vibes ngl.

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Wesley Branton

VS Code is by far the best on the list.

I've used Brackets before. It's a solid program, but it's kind of heavy at times. Atom was much the same way. Notepad++ is a solid lightweight editor if you are just viewing code or making small changes. Sublime seems to be an acquired taste. Personally, I think it's quite overrated by developers, but maybe that's just me.

Codeshare looks very cool. I've never heard of it before and I'll have to check it out.

Mozilla Thimble was a cool online editor for web-based projects. It was a pretty cool way to share small little projects or tutorials. Kind of reminds me of SoloLearn's code playground feature.

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KUMAR HARSH

Yup once you download VS code there is no going back, I know that Sublime is lighweight and people like it for that but I would take VS Codes customization over any other feature of sublime in a heartbeat.

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dbc2201

Have you tried the IDEs from JetBrains, like IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm etc?

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Going to use WebStorm next as many mentioned it a great IDE.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Only PyCharm that too just for testing 😅

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nonuDev

I have used Vscode and Atom. Even though I first found them lovable especially vscode, the made me a bit inefficient.
I have an old potato-er PC , vscode is very laggy in it. Mostly when do something in Rust. Later sometime i found NeoVim.

It's not that hard, you have a tutorial of 30-min of all essential in-built to it. It may take 2- 3 days to stick to it , but it's just like vscode with plugins and a-lot faster. ## Vscode is a very Great editor and I still love it . but I prefer vim..

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Vim has it's own fan base 🙌🔥

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Sanjaay R.

Hey change the 'Repl.it' to 'Replit'

I am a hardcore replit fan so 🥳 thanks for adding them!

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Ellie

cudatext.github.io/ - i think also worth mentioning

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KUMAR HARSH

I deliberatley chose to keep the list short otherwise it would look overwhelming to beginners.

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MayankVaswani100

CudaText is literally the copy of Sublime Text. Lol

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

😂

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Doug

Emacs you cretins!

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yes Sir 😅

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Alex Kaszynski

Emacs is great. Use it as a daily IDE and even as a windows manager with EXWM.

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yup Emacs is awesome.

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codingwith3dv

In love with VSCode and vim

But vim is super fast

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

It sure is and a lot more efficient, as one advances in their career they will start appreciating Vim more and more.

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codingwith3dv

Yeah

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rxliuli

For the front end, VSCode is the best text editor, and WebStorm is the most suitable IDE for production

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KUMAR HARSH

I'd check out WebStorm then, I don't have much experience with IDEs.

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rxliuli • Edited

Maybe you can see the difference between the two: blog.rxliuli.com/p/a305aafaac2b4ee...

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Sure I will check it out, thanks.

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Dillon Headley

Here’s a couple other options for the curious/adventurous:
Nova - nova.app/
Micro - micro-editor.github.io/

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Thanks for adding to the post 😊

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Przemyslaw Michalak

I feel bit offended you didn't featured my own IDE 😂

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KUMAR HARSH

Will surely try out GlueCodes, and spread the good word about it as soon as I try it out.

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MyrPasko

Webstorm!!! Forever and ever! 🤘

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

🙌

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RASHMI VERMA

VSCODE is the best

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Indeed

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Travis Fantina

Obligatory love for Atom, my daily driver in 2021 and has been since 2015 ❤️

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KUMAR HARSH

Damn that's a long time, you are a loyal one 😅

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MayankVaswani100

I use Sublime Text because I have a need for speed 🚅🚗💨

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KUMAR HARSH

It is fast indeed, gotta give that to Sublime.

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Kritebh Lagan Bibhakar

Yes I always prefer VS Code for the large project but for a small program especially in terminal Vim is too much powerful.

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KUMAR HARSH

It sure is, as a Programmer gains more experience they would definitely love VIm as it's too efficient.

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Abayomi Ogunnusi

Vscode over all...the market place and simplicity. I am so knitted with vscode

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Yup it's like a magnet 😂, once you get stuck with Vs Code there is no leaving it.

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ik-rssce
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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Can't include them all 😅 or else the list would never end.

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john • Edited

Productive : Vim
For everything for mid(to heigh)-level developers: Vscode
For new coders: Sublime

I hate every ide :)

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Perfectly summed up 😎

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khidersaloum

Yes I think visual studio code the best

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Sure is.

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izaias

This article is excellent, congratulations

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cenacr007_harsh profile image
KUMAR HARSH

Glad you like it. Thanks.

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Kritebh Lagan Bibhakar

Yes I always prefer VS Code for the large project but for a small program especially in terminal Vim is too much powerful ❤