On 2021-02-17, Theo  wrote:
> Chris Green  wrote:
>> I've never understood the big advantage of this sort of IDE over doing
>> each of those things (edit, compile, run/test) in separate terminal
>> windows.  I have a syntax highlighting editor that runs in a terminal.
>>
>> Again the *huge* advantage of running everything in terminal windows
>> running a (bash) shell is that one is using the same working
>> environment for everything, whether your compiling and testing code,
>> doing some housekeeping, checking E-Mails or whatever.
>
> Somebody asked what I'm looking for.  That's a good question.  Currently I
> do what you say - edit most things in a terminal window, because that
> environment is universal whether I'm editing locally or remotely (I probably
> do >70% of my editing remotely, including most mail and Usenet).
>
> So I suppose what I'm after is something that makes a compelling reason for
> editing locally, where I will put up with the hassles of bringing the files
> to me because it gives me something extra.
>
> I'm not terribly bothered by being able to compile stuff from an editor - on
> a terminal the shell is always the 'quit' keystroke away, and I can flip
> back to the editor with up-arrow and Enter.  So that's a non-problem as far
> as I'm concerned.  It is nice to be able to compile when looking at the
> code, but two terminal windows give me that.
>
> One good reason for a GUI editor is mouse-based selection.  I much prefer
> the keyboard, but sometimes you're moving big chunks of text around (say
> refactoring code or a document) and it's easier to point and drag than lots
> of cursor manipulation (start-marker, end-marker, cut, move, paste, etc)
> Almost very GUI editor does that (with the exception of gvim, which is a bit
> weird) so it's not really a discriminating factor.
>
> One thing I do appreciate though is being able to operate everything
> smoothly from the keyboard when I don't need the mouse.  One wordprocessor
> required me to use the menu shortcuts (something like Alt-E-F-S for
> strikeout) and that was awkward.  Yes there was a button on the toolbar, but
> switching keyboard-mouse-keyboard is time consuming.
>
> Syntax highlighting is also a given, but with a wide set of rules.  I opened
> a device tree .dts file in geany yesterday and was surprised it didn't
> highlight.  It did highlight C code.
>
> Another desirable feature would be code navigation - click on a function
> call to go to its definition, bring up the API documentation in some kind of
> popup, grep-style search where you get a list of results and can click on a
> result to go to that file.
>
> Similarly code folding - being able to collapse functions (or sections in
> your Latex or whatever) so it's easier to skip over those you aren't working
> on.  Saves scrollbar time.
>
> Another useful feature is debugger integration - not just running gdb
> alongside, but being able to set breakpoints with clicks on source lines,
> when you get to the breakpoints being able to see the tree of variables in a
> window that you can navigate by mouse, rather than typing out search
> patterns at a gdb prompt.
>
> Basically this sounds something a bit more IDE like but not tied to a
> particular language/toolchain - often IDEs are strongly tied to particular
> environments (Java, embedded, etc) and it feels awkward if you're using them
> for something else, so you end up flitting between multiple IDEs.  I suppose
> I'm looking for an editor with IDE features rather than an IDE with editor
> features.
>
> Answers on a postcard...

When you can fit your question on a postcard then maybe you can demand
and answer on one :-) How many lines was that?

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