Recommendations for powerful code editors?

[jayaddison]

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Hi folks - I saw some encouragement on my GitHub dashboard to install a powerful code editor.

For the past year or two I've used vim for probably 95%+ of my software development work - and can recommend the book "Mastering Vim" that provides guidance for it.

Can anyone else recommend powerful editors? Thank you!

(note: I arrived here following the "Product Feedback" link under "Contact GitHub" - please let me know if there's a better place to open this discussion)

[Chrispulver]

Yes there is

[jayaddison]

Thanks @Chrispulver!

Another family of code editors (that have been around since the 1970s) is emacs - for example, the widely-used GNU Emacs.

The Wikipedia page doesn't describe it as powerful, and I haven't used it much myself, so I couldn't really comment on that.

[jayaddison]

Another two code editors that may or may not be powerful include RStudio and Spyder. Both of these cater towards scientific audiences, as I understand it.

Again, I don't use these myself, so I can't really say much about their abilities, benefits and drawbacks other than to mention that they exist.

[jayaddison]

Developers who frequently use SQL databases may find the Beekeeper Studio client and editor environment worth considering.

[Chrispulver]

Hello

…

On Sun, Jan 22, 2023, 7:12 PM James Addison ***@***.***> wrote: Developers who frequently use SQL databases may find the Beekeeper Studio <https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/> client and editor environment worth considering. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#44157 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A5HGJDBEKCLPVCSVO5X4M2TWTV2CDANCNFSM6AAAAAATZYSAII> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jayaddison]

GDevelop and Ct.js are programming environments that are designed to assist with computer game development.

[kvten]

Depends on what language you're using.

Heard great things about PyCharm (paid, for Python) and Visual Studio (paid, for C++)

[jayaddison]

I suppose that emails are rarely code -- except for legal discussions, perhaps. So I don't know whether this is relevant, but mutt is a free (libre) and open source mail client available on BSD, Linux and Windows (via cygwin) platforms.

[jayaddison]

I suppose that emails are rarely code -- except for legal discussions, perhaps. So I don't know whether this is relevant, but mutt is a free (libre) and open source mail client available on BSD, Linux and Windows (via cygwin) platforms.

That seemed a bit off-topic, to be honest; I guess there's a similarity in the theme of commercial editors (that often seem to rebrand) and free/open/libre editors (of which successful ones appear to last for decades). In truth there's likely (and beneficially) interplay between those - and for many licenses, there's nothing preventing free/open/libre software from being sold (and/or consulting services provided) for profit.

Anway, I'm not saying anything new there, and there are recommendations for powerful code editors here, as well as me talking to myself (also nothing new), so I'll mark an appropriate answer and close this discussion.

[jayaddison]

(that often seem to rebrand)

Not quite fair either, to be honest - often the branding stays for a long time, even if the product itself is rewritten using entirely different technologies and with entirely different user interfaces. And if we consider those as two (or more) separate products, then perhaps each is powerful, by some definition -- but are they the same? Do they use the same formats and provide the same (or an easily transitionary) user interface? Perhaps not. Profitable in some cases though, yes.