Coders or lemmy, what editors do you use? Is it worth learning a new one?

[verstra@programming.dev]

I've tried helix and used it for work today. At first, it was super slow, relearning how to jump between buffers, but at the end of the day, i got decent at it.

But I cannot hjkl. It's just unnatural. The moment I stop thinking about it, my hand is back at arrow keys.

[kissaki@programming.dev]

I've tried it briefly, but didn't like it/did not find an intuitive or preferred way into it.

[zykino@programming.dev]

I'm using helix with arrows. On a standard layout its not so great, but on my main keyboard I have a layer with arrow keys near hjkl. So I can use that on all software even on my BÉPO (DVORAC like) layout.

[paequ2@lemmy.today]

I've been using Vim for over 10 years. The first few years I used it badly. Later I took time to really learn it. Now I can use it fairly decently, but I still learn new things every now and then.

It feels like a really good investment. It's been around forever, it's gonna be around forever, it's installed on almost all computers, and you're going to be forced to use it at some point or another.

I really enjoy being able to go to any computer and starting up a familiar editor, without installing or configuring stuff. I also use a very vanilla Vim. If a coworker's laptop or some server has a different Vim config than mine, I can usually do vim -u NONE to get back to a familiar place.

[mrkite@programming.dev]

I switched to helix last year after over twenty years of vim. I really like helix, but it did take some getting used to. Using multiple cursors instead of repeated commands etc

[mrkite@programming.dev]

Speed of editing is rarely a bottleneck when editing code

It's not just that though, its moving around your code. Being able to jump between matching brackets, follow references etc. it's just quicker and easier with a modal editor.

[mrkite@programming.dev]

Gdb doesn't support arm macs. I've switched to lldb.

[mholiv@lemmy.world]

Nice. Does it work well for you? How does it compare?

[mrkite@programming.dev]

If you know gdb, you know lldb.. it's pretty much a drop-in replacement.

[anzo@programming.dev]

Perhaps you want a touchscreen.

I learned basics of vim, I can recommend. But also, it takes time to master. And I'd put other stuff first like fundamentals of git (stashes, staging area, branches and rebase.)

Also, don't underestimate using an IDE that's popular, I had switched over recently and found it convenient when a colleague asks for help. I can't tell them 'oh yeah I know how to do that on my setup' (though is valid..)

Like 3 years ago, I was into emacs, which I used with vi keybindings. Many extensions provided quality of life (tramp, magit, which-key) that others (vscode) only emulated and required hardware I lacked. Anyway...

If this is really about keys, go for gnu readline flavor instead of vi. I didn't, and those are way more ubiquitous. Anyway, research that and make your own decision.

Ps, here's a rabbit hole https://codeberg.org/ashton314/emacs-bedrock#emacs-bedrock

[lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network]

IMO Kate is just VS Code or Sublime Text but worse. The LSP never works, I can't have multi-caret editing, it's harder to extend it's functionality, etc. etc.

Just use open source VS Code (or better yet VS Codium), at that point.