In the beginning, there was the command line. And for a long time, that was enough.
Vi (1976) & Emacs (1985): The Foundation
Berkeley, 1976. In the basement of Evans Hall, amid humming PDP-11s, Bill Joy created Vi to solve a fundamental problem: editing Unix source code efficiently. His modal editing approach would influence developers for decades.
"I created Vi while learning Unix. I was trying to learn Unix, and there was no way to edit the Unix source code at the time."
— Bill Joy, Linux Magazine, 1999
Meanwhile, Richard Stallman at MIT took a different path with Emacs in 1985. Where Vi focused on speed and efficiency, Emacs pursued extensibility and customization. These contrasting philosophies - minimal versus expansive - would shape development tools for decades.
Eclipse (2001) & Visual Studio (2002): The IDE Era
The late '90s brought Eclipse and Visual Studio, transforming development through integrated debugging, compilation, and version control. But these powerful tools came at a cost: complexity and slow startup times.
The Evolution of Dev Tools:
1976 Vi: Speed
1985 Emacs: Power
2001 Eclipse: Integration
2008 Sublime: Innovation
2014 Atom: Web-native
2015 VS Code: Balance
Sublime Text (2008): The Revolution
Jon Skinner's Sublime Text (2008) changed everything by combining speed with innovation. Three features transformed how developers work: the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) introduced fuzzy-search for commands, replacing memorized shortcuts. JSON configuration files made settings versionable. Package Control (2011) created an ecosystem of extensions, turning Sublime into a platform.
Atom (2014): Web Technologies Meet Text Editing
GitHub's Atom (2014) bet on web technologies, building an editor in JavaScript and making it infinitely hackable. Despite performance challenges with large files, Atom proved that web technologies could create powerful development tools.
VS Code (2015): The Best of All Worlds
When Erich Gamma's team at Microsoft created VS Code (2015), they learned from history. By combining Sublime's speed, Atom's extensibility, and IDE-level features, VS Code found the sweet spot between performance and functionality.
"We knew we wanted the accessibility of Sublime with the power of Visual Studio. The question was how to get there without the traditional tradeoffs."
— Erich Gamma, Microsoft Build 2016
GitHub Copilot (2021): The AI Evolution
Today, GitHub Copilot (2021) and other AI tools are transforming these editors into intelligent coding assistants. The core mission remains unchanged: making development more natural and efficient.
Looking Forward
From Vi to VS Code, from command line to AI assistance, text editors reflect our evolving relationship with code. The best tools disappear between the developer and their work, making the complex feel simple. The next chapter is being written now, but one thing remains constant: the best editor is the one that feels like an extension of thought.
What do you remember about these editors? Let's hear your take.
Mike Vincent is an American software engineer and technology writer based in Los Angeles, California. He engineers cloud platforms and writes about infrastructure technology. His work focuses on AI systems, platform architecture, and DevOps practices. Mike's technical articles appear in engineering publications covering cloud computing and platform design.
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Disclaimer: This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for business, tax, legal, or accounting advice.
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