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Am i missing out if I dont use an IDE? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by Ministar@lemmy.world to c/programming

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So, I have been mostly self thaught programmer (C++), as its a big part of my job (not a regular developer). But so far I have been using a simple text editor like Geany to code and I compile stuff either in terminal (linux) or produce my own make file.

I am starting to wonder if I should switch to a full IDE, as I am on linux, I was thinking of trying KDevelop. But I am simply not sure if its worth, do I even need it?

I have never used an IDE, it seems kind of complicated for the start with "projects" and I havent really found any good introductions to how this workflow is supposed to work.

Do you think using and IDE is something everyone should use? Or do you think a text editor with producing your own make files should be enough?

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[–] zmhanham@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

It's less about "sucks" and "not sucks" but the point I think is important is that IDEs are generally a closed system. You can't modify them very much, if at all, to fit your needs. If the IDE out of the box is a good fit for your needs then by all means use it! But if there comes a time that you need to do something that isn't supported by the IDE you either need to drop to the command line or attempt to hack together some solution in whatever limited extension language/API they support. Or hope that an extension already exists.

Vim, emacs, and other programmable editors make it easy for you to do that one specific thing you need to do. And there is very likely already a package/plugin that someone made for it. But if there isn't, it's so much easier to modify a programmable editor than a closed IDE.

So really it just comes down to what do you need from your editor? Now if you're someone like me, I need to try to perfect the way I program. Always trying to find the most efficient way to do some common operation. But if that's not you that's totally ok (and honestly I envy you lol)