For a while I’ve been using XFCE’s mousepad to write code. Basically notepad but with syntax highlight and line numbers. With all of the fancy tooling you get in IDEs and editors nowadays, it’s hard to forget that you really don’t need all of that crap to write code. Sure, integrated debuggers and LSP and autocomplete can be very convenient at times, but at the end of the day it’s your skill as a programmer that matters, not your tools.
You certainly don’t need it, but I don’t see much point in not using tools that make my life easier. We don’t need compilers (or interpreters, or virtual machines) either
I strongly believe that if you’re a beginner programmer or if you’re an experienced programmer learning a new language, you should first spend some time writing code with just a plain text editor, compiler, and (if applicable) debugger. It helps you understand the basics and build a good foundation of skills. Especially for beginner programmers, it keeps you from getting overwhelmed.
But yes, after you have the basics down, there’s no reason to not use tools that make you more productive!
This makes me want to actually use VSCode for my web dev work instead of just using Notepad for everything so it can troll me like this
People… do this?
No not really, I at least use IDLE for Python (:
For a while I’ve been using XFCE’s mousepad to write code. Basically notepad but with syntax highlight and line numbers. With all of the fancy tooling you get in IDEs and editors nowadays, it’s hard to forget that you really don’t need all of that crap to write code. Sure, integrated debuggers and LSP and autocomplete can be very convenient at times, but at the end of the day it’s your skill as a programmer that matters, not your tools.
You certainly don’t need it, but I don’t see much point in not using tools that make my life easier. We don’t need compilers (or interpreters, or virtual machines) either
I strongly believe that if you’re a beginner programmer or if you’re an experienced programmer learning a new language, you should first spend some time writing code with just a plain text editor, compiler, and (if applicable) debugger. It helps you understand the basics and build a good foundation of skills. Especially for beginner programmers, it keeps you from getting overwhelmed.
But yes, after you have the basics down, there’s no reason to not use tools that make you more productive!