What Alternative Text Editors Does DEV Use? (Not VS Code 🐱‍👓)

Hey DEV!

I'm a huge fan of VS Code, and I use it for pair programming and occasionally when I want to use one of the awesome extensions that the VS Code community has provided.

However, I'm also a fan of diverse marketplaces. I don't really like the idea that the vast majority of developers I interact with use the same text editor.

I'm the kind of person that uses Ubuntu, Firefox, and DuckDuckGo. Not just because they are great tools (I think I'm having a better time on Ubuntu than the last year I spent on MacOS, honestly), but because I don't like the idea of a single company controlling a market.

For that reason, I wanted to start a conversation about alternatives to VS Code.

I use Spacemacs, which is a set of Emacs configurations that essentially combine the Emacs and Vim text editors. I really like that I don't have to do much tweaking out of the box, but I still have a lot of the power found in both Vim and Emacs.

Spacemacs 👽

What alternatives do you use? Or, if you don't what about VS Code keeps you from using something else?

Comments

[Yaser Al-Najjar]

Notepad++
Simple and minimal; yet super powerful.

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

Do you use Notepad++ for more than just scripts? I've been away from Windows for some time, but I used to use it to write some small scripts and SQL. I felt it would struggle with a larger project, what has your experience been?

[Yaser Al-Najjar]

I do lots of stuff in Notepad++

• Writing articles

• Writing my daily tasks (todo list apps are time consuming, time gets wasted just playing with the UI)

• Organizing ideas (like before making a feature in an app, I write all the correlated stuff to do)

• Outlining whatever before start to write (like before sending an email, I list what should be included and what should be highlighted)

I love the idea that you can check whatever line (like a checklist) or open a new tab or switch between tabs with ctrl+tab or close it just like web browsers or auto-save any letter you write... it's just awesome!

I actually keep it open all the day, it has lightweight footprint on memory and cpu.

[lechurn]

Glad to see there's another Notepad++ fan.

[abhishek sharma]

I had some experience with notepad++ for web development but when i code php when into js framework project notepad++ just true garbage piece of software .. moved to sublime and vscode

[Darryn Dumisani Ph☻enix-92]

I love sublime as much as you love this notepad. I rely on notepads and spoken words captured at work. Tabular notes are my favourite

[Bradley Wells]

Notepad++ here as well, on Windows. Haven't found the need to switch

[Ben Lovy]

I've recently started messing with Doom Emacs. I began my Emacs journey as a Vim user with Spacemacs, then started fresh and rolled my own config from scratch, and now I want somewhere in between. It "just works" but is also closer to just regular ol' Emacs than what I got with the Spacemacs system. I'll probably stick with this for a while. Screenshot from the repo:

(and VS Code ofc)

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

I took a look at Doom Emacs when I picked up Spacemacs and it looks promising. I'm always afraid of spending too much time configuring stuff, so I've just stuck with Spacemacs!

[Ben Lovy]

Pretty much. Vanilla Emacs was fun but man was it unproductive. I don't find Doom Emacs to require significantly more tweaking than Spacemacs, YMMV.

[David Mendez Guardado]

i use Vim and gVim with the same configuration

set number
set expandtab
set tabstop=4
set softtabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set autoindent
set textwidth=160
set guifont=hack\ 8
syntax on

set nocompatible
filetype off 

set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim
call vundle#begin()

Plugin 'VundleVim/Vundle.vim'
Plugin 'morhetz/gruvbox'


call vundle#end()
filetype plugin indent on

colorscheme gruvbox
let g:gruvbox_contrast_dark='medium'

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

This is super minimal! Do you use a file browser like nerdtree?

[David Mendez Guardado]

nop, i just like this way, i try to install the filebrowser but i fail hahah, maybe a bad configuration :(

[Jared]

Might have something to do with Vundle, I don't think it's well maintained anymore. I suggest taking a look at vim-plug

Btw, that is reaaaallly minimal lol nice 👍🏻

[Cheuk Yin Ng]

Hello fellow gruvbox user!

[Ryan Olson]

Nice! So you pretty much just use Vundle to get gruvbox? This looks similar to my config (except I just use my terminal to set colors).

filetype plugin indent on
set ttimeout
set ttimeoutlen=100
set backspace=eol,start,indent
set ruler
set autoindent
set expandtab
set shiftwidth=2
set softtabstop=2
set tabstop=2
set path=.,**
set wildmenu
set autoread
nnoremap <silent> <space> :set relativenumber!<cr>

[Adrien Giboire]

Vim.

I tried a couple of times to switch to Emacs w/ Evil because I, too, think Emacs + Vim is probably the best editor. Think is I always had issues finding the alternatives the few plugins I use in Vim. And in the end, I ended going back to Vim :)

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

Vim is super nice for simplicity, but I am afraid of spending too much time in config files! That has always kept me away from using it exclusively.

[Adrien Giboire]

I did lose my self at first. But the thing to do is start fresh and see what's missing in your workflow. 99% of the time, there is something out there. It will grow with time but you don't need much at all to be productive.

I might give Spacemacs a try one day. Who knows.

[Benjamin Davies]

I was put off by how you needed a separate plugin for evil mode in dired

[Austin S. Hemmelgarn]

Vim with Powerline in most cases for me, together with the stock netrw file browsing script that comes standard as part of the runtime files, with the following reasonably simple vimrc on top of the stock config:

set ambiwidth=double
set autochdir
set autoindent
set autoread
set background=dark
set nocompatible
set copyindent
set display=lastline,uhex
set errorbells
set expandtab
set fileformats=unix,dos,mac
set foldenable
set foldmethod=syntax
set incsearch
set laststatus=2
set list
set listchars=trail:-,tab:>-,nbsp:_
set modeline
set mouse=a
set mousef
set number
set preserveindent
set scrolloff=2
set shiftround
set shiftwidth=4
set showcmd
set showmatch
set noshowmode
set showtabline=2
set smartindent
set smarttab
set splitbelow
set splitright
set wildmenu
set winheight=5

syntax on
filetype on

py3 from powerline.vim import setup as powerline_setup
py3 powerline_setup()
py3 del powerline_setup

Depending on what, exactly, it is that I need to do though, especially if it's large batch operations, I'll just use ex from the command line, or occasionally an interactive Python session (if I'm manipulating structured data in ways that ex just isn't good for).

Part of why this works for me though is that I specifically don't want my editor doing things for me. I have no interest in auto-completion (I find it wastes more of my time than it saves), or doing full IDE-style integration with my build system (because, you know, I've got a plain shell open in another terminal window that I can use to interact with the build system). I just want basic auto-indentation, basic syntax highlighting, and basic indentation-based code folding with usable static presentation features (line numbering, display of whitespace when it wouldn't be visible, etc).

[Shannon Crabill]

I use Atom. Before that, in a pinch, I would use Sublime text.

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

I was an Atom user for a few weeks! Then I started using Sublime because the rest of my team was using it. It's a decent editor, for sure.

Do you use any cool extensions?

[Shannon Crabill]

A few.

If you write a lot of Ruby erb herlp is handy. I also use atom-html-preview and an IDE terminal.

Overall, I have not done a lot of customizations, but Atom has worked for me.

[Andy Zhao (he/him)]

I'm a fan of Atom. It was my first editor until VS Code came out. I switched because of performance reasons, but now I've had a nagging feeling of switching back to Atom because VS Code's Ruby support is pretty meh.

These are always tough decisions for me 😣

[Dylan Jhaveri]

I still use vim :) with my own set of plugins managed by vim-plug.

ctrlp and nerdtree are my top two essential plugins.

I think the best way to get started with vim is the hard way, to copy settings and plugins one at a time from example vimrcs and understand each line that is going on. It takes more work, but I actually love being in full control of my editor.

I must admit, though 🙈 every once in a while I open up VSCode, usually it is only if I'm working in a large unfamiliar project. When there are lots of directories and files and I don't know the project structure, VSCode makes it a little easier for me to search and grep around.

[Jared]

I think the best way to get started with vim is the hard way

agreed.

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

That's probably true, but I like to introduce people to Vim inside of VS Code with the VIM extension. It's a great way to let people get their feet wet without committing a lot of time.

[Jared]

I like that idea. It didn't work for me, though. I would fall back to what I knew and avoid using Vim motions. To me, it's like learning any language...immersion is key.

[Dawood Feyard M. Kaundama]

That's true Jared, I will also give it a try, the hard way.

[Mohammad Javad Ghasemy]

it's not harder than emacs

[John Oerter]

I'm also a Vim user and totally agree that you have to learn it the hard way. I've tried to take shortcuts, but I've found that all the time I've invested reading the help and actually learning the ins and outs of how Vim works has been well worth it.

[Andy Zhao (he/him)]

hehe obligatory @maestromac ping

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

[Ben Sinclair]

I prefer to see Vim as the one true editor and everything else as an "alternative".

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

Preach

[Charlie Martin]

Which is obviously a mistake as Emacs is the one true editor

[Benjamin Davies]

What about "Ed is the default editor"

[Ben Sinclair]

We do not talk of the Before Time.

[Eddie]

I switch back to Atom every so often. I hide all of the nonsense menus and statuses and I find it to be cleaner than VSCode.

[abhishek sharma]

yes it is the only issue with atom is takes more time to lot the project and lot of ram other than this it can easily beat vscode

[Scott Tesler]

I don't think this is the case anymore with the new versions.

[Brett Stevenson]

It still feels like it takes a bit longer to load projects and will freeze up every once and a while when you try to open a large file, but the cleaner interface and time I've already invested in configuring it exactly how I want is what has always kept me from transitioning to VS Code.

[Scott Tesler]

Maybe try the nightly build. I've been using that and it loads extremely quickly.

[Brett Stevenson]

Cool, I'll definitely give that a try!

[Aurelio]

I use VS Code as my main editor and vim on and off, but just like you I'm not a fan of seeing one product or company killing all competitors.
That's also why I bought a subscription to Onivim 2, which has the ambitious goal of combining the flexibility and extension support of VS Code with the speed and joy of use of vim.

I don't know if it will be my next default editor once it's ready, but i surely hope so!

Ps - and yes, i am a duckDuckGo and Firefox Focus user for the same reasons

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

There is nothing wrong with having two editors if each one serves a different purpose.

Onivim 2 looks cool, thanks for sharing!

[Matthew Daly]

Neovim.

I make heavy use of PHPActor - it provides excellent completion and refactoring capabilities in PHP.

I also rely heavily on vim-ale, Neomake and FZF for linting and fuzzy search.

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

I considered Neovim before settling on Spacemacs, it's definitely something I'll eventually use.

[Fernando B 🚀]

I have a minimal setup with neovim on mac vimrc.

I use almost same setup on windows except youcompleteme replaces deoplete. I use gVim for some reason the color is all messed up on cmder my windows terminal.

[Jared]

My journey looked like a lot of web devs that have been around for like 5 years:

Dreamweaver -> Sublime Text -> Atom -> VS Code -> Vim

I'm stuck on Vim now and I doubt I'll go back.

I wrote a whole article about it if you're interested!

Article No Longer Available

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

[Mauro Garcia]

After reading your article a few weeks ago, I started learning vim :D

[Jared]

Awesome! Enjoy

[mlaj]

I started with notepad (for about an hour), then notepad++, then sublime text 2/3. And I still use it today!

I don't see why everyone loves vscode. Sublime helps me work very fast and efficiently.

Why do y'all like vscode?

[Carson]

My number one reason to reach for vscode over sublime is breakpoint debugging of pretty much any language you can think of.

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

That's super handy tbh

[Jacob Herrington (he/him)]

There is a strong argument to be made for everyone sharing a platform and benefitting from universal plugins and extensions. VS Code has a ton of great extensions that are extremely easy to install.

I used VS Code with Vim for the better part of a year. There are also some great tools around git and stuff that you can download.

I came from Sublime Text 2, I felt like VS Code was comparable in most ways and better in a lot of ways, so I stuck with that until I started playing around with Spacemacs.

It'd be hard for me to pick many editors over VS Code if I was being purely objective, especially when I'm recommending an editor to others.

[SD Dev.to]

This. For me, VS Code hits that sweet spot. For what it is, I find it hard to beat.