undefined | Better HN

0 pointsMiraste4mo ago0 comments

VS Code is technically an Electron app, but it's not the usual lazy resource hog implementation like Slack or something. A lot of work went into making it fast. I doubt you'll find many non-Electron full IDEs that are faster. Look at Visual Studio, that's using a nice native framework and it runs at the speed of fossilized molasses.

0 comments

skydhash4mo ago

> many non-Electron full IDEs

VSCode has even less features than Emacs, OOTB. Complaining about full IDEs slowness is fully irrelevant here. Full IDEs provide an end to end experience in implementing a project. Whatever you need, it's there. I think the only plugins I've installed on Jetbrains's ones is IdeaVim and I've never needed something else for XCode.

It's like complaining about a factory's assembly line, saying it's not as portable as the set of tools in your pelican case.

gjvc4mo ago

"Complaining about full IDEs slowness is fully irrelevant here. Full IDEs provide an end to end experience in implementing a project."

So? No excuse for a poor interactive experience.

bmitc4mo ago

> VSCode has even less features than Emacs, OOTB.

No way that is true. In fact, it's the opposite, which is the exact reason I use VS Code.

skydhash4mo ago

Please take a look at the Emacs documentation sometimes.

VSCode is more popular, which makes it easy to find extensions. But you don’t see those in the Emacs world because the equivalent is a few lines of config.

So what you will see are more like meta-extensions. Something that either solve a whole class of problems, could be a full app, or provides a whole interaction model.

1 more reply

throwaway20374mo ago

In 2025, you really picked Emacs as the hill to die on? Who is under 30 who cares about Emacs in 2025? Few. You might as well argue that most developers should be using Perl 6.

    > the only plugins I've installed on Jetbrains's ones

By default, JetBrains' IntelliJ-based IDEs have a huge number of plug-ins installed. If you upgrade from Community Edition to a paid license, the number only increases. Your comment is slightly misleading to me.

icedchai4mo ago

Just wait until vi steps into the room. Perhaps we can recreate the Usenet emacs vs vi flame wars. Now, if only '90's me could see the tricked out neovim installs we have these days.

qingcharles4mo ago

They just made a big song and dance about full updating Visual Studio so it launches in milliseconds and is finally decoupled from all the underlying languages/compilers.

It's still kinda slow for me. I've moved everything but WinForms off it now, though.

MirasteOP4mo ago

I know. It's still the slowest IDE, but I suppose they deserve props for making it better than the Windows 95 speeds of the last version.

icedchai4mo ago

VS Code is plenty fast enough. I switched to Zed a few months back, and it's super snappy. Unless you're running on an incredibly resource constrained machine, it mostly comes down to personal preference.

paulddraper4mo ago

Exactly.

JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, Netbeans…

VS Code does well with performance. Maybe one of the new ones usurps, but I wouldn’t put my money on it.

ehnto4mo ago

I have always found JetBrains stuff super snappy. I use neovim as a daily driver but for some projects the inference and debugging integration in JetBrains is more robust.

pjmlp4mo ago

Like writing out of process extensions in compiled languages.

VS is much faster considering it is a full blown IDE not a text editor, being mostly C++/COM and a couple of .NET extensions alongside the WPF based UI.

Load VSCode with the same amount of plugins, written in JavaScript, to see where performance goes.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

skydhash4mo ago

> many non-Electron full IDEs

It's like complaining about a factory's assembly line, saying it's not as portable as the set of tools in your pelican case.

gjvc4mo ago

"Complaining about full IDEs slowness is fully irrelevant here. Full IDEs provide an end to end experience in implementing a project."

So? No excuse for a poor interactive experience.

bmitc4mo ago

> VSCode has even less features than Emacs, OOTB.

No way that is true. In fact, it's the opposite, which is the exact reason I use VS Code.

skydhash4mo ago

Please take a look at the Emacs documentation sometimes.

VSCode is more popular, which makes it easy to find extensions. But you don’t see those in the Emacs world because the equivalent is a few lines of config.

So what you will see are more like meta-extensions. Something that either solve a whole class of problems, could be a full app, or provides a whole interaction model.

1 more reply

throwaway20374mo ago

In 2025, you really picked Emacs as the hill to die on? Who is under 30 who cares about Emacs in 2025? Few. You might as well argue that most developers should be using Perl 6.

    > the only plugins I've installed on Jetbrains's ones

icedchai4mo ago

Just wait until vi steps into the room. Perhaps we can recreate the Usenet emacs vs vi flame wars. Now, if only '90's me could see the tricked out neovim installs we have these days.

qingcharles4mo ago

They just made a big song and dance about full updating Visual Studio so it launches in milliseconds and is finally decoupled from all the underlying languages/compilers.

It's still kinda slow for me. I've moved everything but WinForms off it now, though.

MirasteOP4mo ago

I know. It's still the slowest IDE, but I suppose they deserve props for making it better than the Windows 95 speeds of the last version.

icedchai4mo ago

paulddraper4mo ago

Exactly.

JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, Netbeans…

VS Code does well with performance. Maybe one of the new ones usurps, but I wouldn’t put my money on it.

ehnto4mo ago

I have always found JetBrains stuff super snappy. I use neovim as a daily driver but for some projects the inference and debugging integration in JetBrains is more robust.

pjmlp4mo ago

Like writing out of process extensions in compiled languages.

VS is much faster considering it is a full blown IDE not a text editor, being mostly C++/COM and a couple of .NET extensions alongside the WPF based UI.

Load VSCode with the same amount of plugins, written in JavaScript, to see where performance goes.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse