Yeah I use a pretty basic editor/no advanced features for the most part. IDLE for Python. I waste some time not being more efficient with my editor but I have a shortish concentration span anyways so the time I waste is basically mental relaxation (like sitout+notetaking during rush session for a strange comparison)

Used Eclipse when I was doing JAVA stuff and VS when doing C#. Used some prolog enhanced emacs when working with Prolog but can't remember the name (I kinda hate emacs).

+2

Thread needs a poll.

most the grizzled vets I work with are emacs guys, just too awkward for me.

also meant to mention vim's completion feature is really helpful when you're typing long variable/signal names.

C#: Visual Studio
Java: Eclipse
Everything else: Emacs

I'm very pro IDE. Next time I have do some serious work in Python, I will probably look into PyDev.

C#/C++: Visual Studio (with Visual Assist X for large solutions)

Lua scripting: Notepad++ with lua compiler plugin

editor of choice?

Real programmers set the universal constants at the start such that the universe evolves to contain the disk with the data they want.

Fair question. I haven't tried a new editor in years, for all i know other editors have caught up (NOTE: I've never used Emacs in anger, but i'm sure i'd be using that if I wasn't using vim.)

- Ubiquitous and free. It exists on every non-windows system I have to maintain by default. Usually exists on Windows systems 30 seconds after I log in too.
- Quick macro recording and repeat, basically recording your vim keystrokes and replaying them. qq is something I dont want to live without.
- Column editing. I dont think i've seen this feature in any other editor, and it is really useful a lot more often that you'd think once it is part of your editing arsenal.
- PCRE substitutions. I'm sure this exists everywhere now, but editing without regex matches sounds like pain.

I come from a unix/Makefile background and never really grokked the intended workflow in IDEs, they seemed to be deliberately obscuring all of my common operations. One of these days i'll have to sit down with an IDE fan and figure out what all this new buzz is about

no, zenburn

def not fanboyism, but it takes a long time to learn it to the point where it's worth it. in fact i wouldn't recommend it unless you do a lot of programming. however, once you do learn it, it's just an absolute pleasure to edit with it, you can do anything extremely fast and efficiently. and you can write scripts and macros and all sorts of stuff if you want to be even more geeky and efficient. but simply the screen movement via keyboard is huge.

VS for c#, UltraEdit for most everything else (tbh it kind of sucks, but everything else I've tried has sucked even more) and vim for linux shell stuff.

Eclipse for Java programming

Anybody who uses Eclipse (and I'm sure other IDEs) can actually try out Emacs, and usually vim, key bindings right in your IDE. It's not a complete set (at least the Emacs keys), but it gives a decent mix of both worlds.

I tried the vim key bindings in Eclipse a couple of years ago and they were kind of bad. They had the basics but I remember a lot of problems with the less frequently used options. It was just good enough to convince yourself you were in vim - and then you'd do something that wouldn't work.

Vim (like any powerful IDE/editor) takes a bit of a commitment to learn properly.

The best thing about it is that its fast and powerful. I use it for Python programming and I love that I never need to touch the mouse and that most of the important commands are one or two keys.

That being said - I believe an editor/ide should take into consideration the language you're using. For instance, I would never use vim for Java programming. The overall features of a full Java IDE make up for the simpler text editing features.

Emacs. Would like to leanr to be able to use VIM properly but can't seem to find the time.

for anyone who hasnt used vim and would like to try it, 99% of linux distros have vimtutor as a default package, and will give you a quick overview of how to use it

IDE's are essential when dealing with languages that have huge API's. autocomplete is a godsend for us.

Then there's the the aspect of code refactoring which was popularized in OO circles. If you're just a scripter or C programmer, I can see why the idea of IDE's befuddle you.

I use Eclipse for Java and TextMate (OS X) for everything else. I can basically maneuver in vim which is essential when logging into server to look at server logs or config files.

vim has autocomplete
You lost me here - how does an IDE help you refactor?

I find it amusing that the implication here is that Java programmers are superior to "scripters." I guess if Blub is good enough for you, though...

Good ones allow you to take blocks of code and with one click extract the code to create a new function, rename existing functions (and update all the code that calls it), and probably some other stuff that I have never used

Both Eclipse and IntelliJ are pretty strong at refactoring tools (at least for Java). It's pretty nice to be able to rename a class/method and have the change populated over a large codebase. It's also really handy for extracting methods or changing method signatures.

Basically, it sounds like things that Vim programmers can already do easily. Honestly. It's really good at repetitive stuff.

If I wanted to try out VIM for Web development, what do I need to do? I tried googling it, but my brain is only at 30% this morning (yay for being up all night with barfing kids)

intelliJ made me think of Intellisense, which made me think of my favorite editor feature of all time

WHY THE BLUE **** does Visual Studio pop a modal dialog box to tell me it is going to process some stuff on a background thread?