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What is your favorite IDE?

Mercy on December 11, 2024

Happy Wednesday friends and family. Let's discuss your go-to IDEs. I've always been fond of Visual Studio Code (VS Code). It is easy to use and can...

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kurealnum profile image
Oscar • Edited

Neovim. Perfect for... really everything I do.

Edit: I also use it for my notes

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shishpt profile image
Shishir

Agreed, the speed of Neovim is a big reason I use it on the daily. The amount of time I can spend configuring plugins to my liking is the main reason I love using it.

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Ahmed Jaad

Are you saying you enjoy spending time configuring plugins more than writing the code that actually earns your paychecks?

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shishpt profile image
Shishir • Edited

I didn't say that. I enjoy putting in time configuring plugins and learning new ones. But I don't let it interfere with my earning window.

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

I support you because it promotes learning instead of just having tasks done for you without understanding the process.

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ahmedjaad profile image
Ahmed Jaad

No, it promotes wasting time. What does a developer truly gain from spending days watching step-by-step videos on configuring five LSPs? What value does that add to their skills or productivity.

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Mike Talbot ⭐

WebStorm, with built in database viewing, database intellisense and great support for JSDoc related completion, coupled with a powerful debugger that just works on front and multi-process backend at the same time. Also, it's the navigation around a large code base that is the best reason to use this tool for me. Search anywhere - variable declaration, file name, component name, function name, class name - I can get around my code in milliseconds. I'm also not sure when I last actually typed a git command, the plugins for this are very powerful letting me review PRs and answer comments, check version histories and blame without leaving the context of my code.

I use Sublime when I want a plain text editor, and I do use VS Code from time to time as some of my colleagues use it and I need it to work well in the code base.

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pengeszikra profile image
Peter Vivo

Good to know: WebStorm have a good JSDoc solution.

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krd8ssb profile image
Steven Brown • Edited

Same. WebStorm for many reasons but the primary one is the git merge conflict resolution interface. I work in repositories with hundreds of other developers so the merge conflicts are inevitable and can be large at times. Some of the guys on my team that use VScode ask me to do the merges for them, then push the update to remote. It saves everyone so much time. One of them recently adopted WebStorm and is loving it.

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Mercy

It sounds like you have a great workflow set up with WebStorm! The integrated database tools and JSDoc support really do enhance productivity, especially when working with complex projects. The navigation features you mentioned are a huge time-saver, allowing you to quickly find what you need without interrupting your flow.

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Gopikrishna Sathyamurthy

I am a huge fan of jetbrains products, especially their git tooling. Specifically WebStorm, since I'm a JavaScript developer. And it's free now!

I use vscode as a quick text editor for a lot of things. I know it can be a really powerful editor if configured correctly, but I dislike the configuring part. I already waste enough time indulging my OCD 😅.

I have tried VS, eclipse, NB, and no, they are awkward to use.

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Giles Webberley

I'm far from being a pro (but trying to get back to it) and although I'm now a VS code user I did have some experience of Eclipse when I was learning a bit of openFrameworks as it was the best documented way to get started. Once I'd gained a bit of courage I moved those projects to VS code and I have gone on to use it for Unity development all the way through to studying React and working with it; I feel quite safe using it and am constantly learning how to use it properly :)

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Mercy

I have never tried any of these VS, eclipse, NB. Due to your experience with them, I am not going to try them. They are now a no for me.

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Ben Halpern

I like vscode just fine but am feeling like it is a drain on my computer resources

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Mercy

Consider trying Cursor; it appears to be similar to VS Code. JetBrains (IntelliJ) seems to be a better option too

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programORdie

It's a fork of vscode...

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bntstr profile image
Bntstr

Good thoughts

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

Thank you

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mikedevita profile image
Mike DeVita

thanks for the suggestion, I'm giving Cursor a whirl now.

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Rense Bakker

Vscode is really the only IDE I use nowadays... The ecosystem is just epic and I've never noticed it being slow or hogging resources. Infact one team mate made that argument in favor of webstorm and we compared resource usage... Webstorm used nearly double the cpu and memory in the same project 🤷

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Ar1su

VSCode is just an code editor, the Visual Studio is an IDE.

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

VSCode is an integrated development environment (IDE)...

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traleeee profile image
Ar1su

🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

code.visualstudio.com/docs/support...

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brense profile image
Rense Bakker

Yes? It's an IDE, where do you think that page says otherwise?

...and leaves more complex workflows to fuller featured IDEs, such as Visual Studio IDE.

I think what you're trying to refer to is that it's missing a built-in compiler, however, that doesn't disqualify it from being an IDE by any definition 🤷

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

VS Code is always on top

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pengeszikra profile image
Peter Vivo

Currently I am a VSCode user mixed my workfow of vim / neovim also. But I really don't like either too much so I started to write a own markdown first editor currently pre-pre-pre-eraly-alpha stage, but at least capable to show some minor code colorize, image tag, embed code, run a small js function, designed to a quick works, plus I have a lot of other idea which I can try with it. Even implementing some vim shortkeys.
Single Stream project view .. where don't need to tab between files, just a big scroll down, can folding which is would like to skip. This idea is hard to solve in VSCode or vim for example.

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Russell Bateman

I live on Linux, started on UNIX back "in the day."

I was an Eclipse award-winning forum responder, especially in the help out beginniners space for many years (2005-2014). Then an employer forced me to IntelliJ IDEA. A couple of years later, I needed to do some Python and I tried out both PyDev and PyCharm. That's when I anteed up the dough to purchase JetBrains from then on. I admit that I do heavy editing outside my IDE using Vim because I've been a vi guy since about 1981. Vi is a text processor, not some namby pamby flashy editor. I also do git at the command line despite IDEA; I acknowledge my dinosaur nature.

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Ben Sinclair

I'm a vim (neovim these days) type of person. I have VSCodium installed because every now and then I get curious and it has a really good vim keybindings extension, including doing things like split windows, which is great.

VSCodium over VSCode though!

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pengeszikra profile image
Peter Vivo

Zinc is also fine newcomer editor a lot of speed, and capable to correctly handling JSDoc in HTML page also ( VSCode just syntax highlighting JSDoc correctly if using in js file. )

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Amitava Das Gupta

VSCode. It's not perfect but does the job. It's autocompletion is usually on the spot. Second choice is neovim. It's pretty good too. In fact movements i. e jhkl keys and keybindings make it a fast code editor, but using it as an IDE is something I've never tried

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ryan martin

I’ve tried all the new AI IDE’s and they I still think VS Code is just as good or better than all of them. Here is the list:
Cursor
Zed
Pear AI
Aide

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Mercy

Cursor functions more like VS Code and I'm falling for it.

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Michelangelo Markus

Cursor is basically identical to vscode, but with superior AI tools and integration. I just imported my vscode config and carried on like usual.

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Rapper

Here to represent for the Emacs diehards

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Lengani Kaunda

Resistance is futile ... they will find us here ... mind machine meld

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Aiyad

I tried couple of IDEs, especially when AI is on the rise.

My primary IDE is Windsurf by Codeium. I like that the AI can go long context without slowing down PC or eat up RAMs quickly.

Others i tried include:
VSCode, Cursor, Pear AI

Non VS build:
Zed, Atom, Jetbrain's

I am comfortable and at home with Windsurf.

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ali akbari • Edited

using VSCode with all the features and extension came with it is really both time saving and fun, using it with AI assistant like codeium is also a great experience.
i'm using codeium in VSCode but it works on other IDEs too.

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Mercy

This is awesome

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csgeek

I find JetBrains products VERY good if you have access to them. I honestly find VSCode kind of slow and bloated. NeoVim is amazing if you have the time to configure it. Zed Editor is really REALLY nice and has some very cool AI functionality if you like that. It's not an debugger though but as far as editiong/code completion it's very cool.

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Ryan B-Shields

VS Code it just works for any language I use with the help of a few plugins. I've been a dev for a few years so getting the GitHub co-polit add in has been a game changer as I can ask it to explain the code if it's a new script I've not worked on before and it can help with finding bugs too.

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

I support you on that

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melli79 profile image
M. Gr.

Maybe I am a bit of a snob, but I really love Jetbrains IDEs. Unfortunately they cost some money, but I think that it is really worth: Their usage is intuitive, easy, responsive and adjustable. They even have basic tooling for code analysis integrated.

At work we use vim, but its autocomplete (via clangd) is not as good as that of IntelliJ or CLion (both from Jetbrains).

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j0n3

I've been coding for more than 20 years and tried almost EVERYTHING, but Jetbrains products are -by far- the very best of them... FOR CODING. It provides tons of functionalities, integrations, plugins and shortcuts that boosts productivity to the max. Not perfect, though, but very close to it.

For 'casual file editing', vim or notepad++ are my preferred ones.

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HB_the_Pencil

I work mostly with Python, so I use Jetbrains' PyCharm. Really great editor for writing Python code, especially when it comes to writing documentation (it auto-fills some things for classes and functions, like parameters). I also (and this may be a bit of a shock) used to write almost all of my HTML in Microsoft Notepad so that I could save and run the index.html file almost immediately on a school computer.

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plutonium239

Sublime text superiority 🥰
It is still faster than zed.

For the terminal, I use micro! (Basically micro is to nano what neovim is to vim)

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Glenn Turner

I migrated from BBEdit to Nova to VS Code.

I miss working in Nova. I find it to be more elegant and intuitive, but it's hard to beat VSC's ecosystem.

I still use BBEdit for minor text works, though!

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Joel Dick

I've always been a big fan of JetBrains products: PyCharm, IntelliJ, WebStorm... But I tried VS Code because I heard it starts up faster and doesn't hog as much resources. I never went back, and now I use VS Code for everything.

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Thad Humphries

Anything but Eclipse.

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zaid bin kamil

For python projects I would go with vs code and for mobile application development I would come to Android studio or Intellj idea (jetbrains ide)

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Mercy

Maybe give PyCham a try

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zaid bin kamil

Have used lot of pycharm too for django projects

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Mercy

This is cool

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gkTim

Mainly Neovim. But also VSC and IntelliJ depends on which language I code or which tooling the project has. But my favorite is neovim.

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JohnM • Edited

Try out NairoVim for Unix. A well packed Neovim configuration for your code workflow.

Put together and thoroughly tested on macOS, and expected to work as well in Linux.

github.com/john-mutuma/vim-editor

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Eljay-Adobe

I use an IDE to debug (Xcode or Visual Studio, these days), but I use Vim to edit.

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Nathan

Do text editors count? I like Webstorm, I don't know of any other editors beside Eclipse and Netbeans

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Joseph Higgs

I've been on netbeans for a very long time. I used jetbrains but back in the day it wasn't good at database connections so moved to netbeans.

All that has changed of course but I have netbeans so ingrained in muscle memory it is hard to change.

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Nathan

You can install keymaps and install a theme to make it look more like Netbeans while getting more functionality.. :)

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Mercy

Yes, text editors definitely count! WebStorm is a great choice, especially for JavaScript and web development. You might also want to check out Visual Studio Code. Other options include Sublime Text, Atom, and Notepad++. Each editor has its own strengths, so it depends on your specific needs and preferences!

If you read through the comments you will find more IDEs of your choice

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Rajith Sam

VS Code

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Mercy

Statistically, VS Code is the most loved IDE

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Volkmar Rigo

Jetbrains Rider

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Mercy

Wow good for you

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ankit199 profile image
Ankit kumar shukla • Edited

Vscode

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PaladinDev

Gnome Builder, neovim

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Mark Southcombe • Edited

Neovim/Lazyvim

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Vladimir Varbanov

Jetbrains Webstorm is the best in my opinion.

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Hatem Zidi

vim on remote machines, sublime text for quick coding, markdown and Intellij for any heavy development

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Shrijith Venkatramana • Edited

Cursor + NeoVim Plugin - Best of both worlds (as long as you learn to avoid some deficiencies/quirks).

Next - IntelliJ IDEs + IdeaVim Plugin

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Patrick Schadler

JetBrains Rider and recently made the switch from VS Code to Webstorm. So far, I am loving it.

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Rebeccca Peltz

It's interesting that cursor is gaining popularity over VS Code. Cursor is a fork of VS Code. They are adding AI in different ways.

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Ben Borla

NeoVim. Periodt.

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Adam

VSCode brings everything I need. Would switch to Zed if it would provide a similar git integration.

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Onyeacholem Ifeanyi Joshua

Vscode and NotePad++

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eshimischi

VSCodium since the first day
PHPStorm for PHP development, i wasn't a fan at the beginning and prefer VSCodium, but JetBrains has some important plugins for my work, so.

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Mercy

I would love to try PHPStorm for my next PHP development
I've been using VS Code all along

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the hengker

jetbrains webstorm for web dev since it is free for non commercial use

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Haroon Baig

I love VS Code, it has a lot of extensions witch make life a lot easier , and is light weight, best of all it is very customizable, you can change themes, fonts, animations and more.

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Jon Randy 🎖️ • Edited

Light weight? Hardly. It's electron based to my knowledge, which means you're running an entire web browser engine just to edit text files.

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Darwin

JetBrains CLion

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T|O|M|Ξ|K

PhpStorm is most fluent variant for PHP dev

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Andrei Curelaru

Vim. The latest version from source.

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Evgeniy

The JetBrains products family. It just work as I expect.

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Christina

Vs Code.

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

I use that too

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christina_fc8c34f58d96196 profile image
Christina

I find it easier to use. Especially when I was just starting out. I didn’t have to download and configure a whole bunch of stuff . I can just simply start coding.

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coskuntekin

Of course "Zed" with VIM mode "on"

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FurryMonster

Visual studio ofc

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Maja Miarecki

jetbrains webstorm

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Oguzhan Kircali

Rider

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Ravin Rau

I used to really like PHPStorm, and now I also really like Cursor. Their composer feature is great because it helps me test and understand different technologies faster.

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Mercy

That's why I'm beginning to love it; the "Enhanced Error Detection" saves me time and accelerates my work.

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BestCodes

Zed (super fast), VS Code (lots of features), and WindSurf (free AI).

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Mercy

This is awsome

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na.perruchot

Jetbrains suite

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Mercy • Edited

JetBrains is one of the top leading because of its convenience of having git tools out of the box, no need to install many additional plugins.

Interesting direction with their own AI copilot.

Different instruments for different projects: VSCode can quickly become a mess when working with various steps, while the separation of responsibilities in JB works well.

To solve the VS Code issue I migrated to Cursor but I will explore JetBrains someday.

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Pavan K Jadda

Jetbrains IDEs

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

Nice

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Samuel Oliveira

VSCode

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Christian Smith

PhpStorm, CLion, PyCharm... (i'm a big jetbrains fan too)

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Mercy

Nice

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SK MIND

Visual Studio Enterprise with ReSharper from JetBrains.

Perfect for programming in C#.

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Mercy

Wow

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Tarwan Babuana

Vscode is enough.

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Mercy

Sure

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MilesWK

I like vscode for python. For the longest time, I was using Python IDE, but vscode allows for faster programming, compiling, and running of scripts.

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Mercy

I see, most people love VS Code

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Winston Lee

PyCharm.

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Mehfila A Parkkulthil

I am still a great fan of Visual Studio Code , its quite handy to use.

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Jean-Phi Baconnais

Vscode in CDE like IDX or Gitpod! 🤩
IntelliJ in local for Java development

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Code_Lynx

Visual studio code

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Son Truong Ngoc • Edited

I am fan of Jetbrains IDEs

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Mercy

Nice

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lifeisgreat_2000

Try WindSurf Editor

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

I see a lot of people recommended it.

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Kobi

JetBrains product. For C++ - CLion

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賴建宏(賴桑)

VS Code

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devmercy profile image
Mercy

Nice

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Christopher Igbojekwe

VS code for me because of all the amazing plugins that make development easier.

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Anatoly

Intellij IDEA, notepad++

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sentadoensilla

Nobody use XCode for pleasure!!!!

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Brian Worsham

Visual Studio Code for me!

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AKSHAY.K.H.

IntelliJ IDEs