
Ask HN: Which editor do you use for JavaScript Development? - hnjim
Webstorm? VS? VSCode? Any others options you think are better?
======
cellis
VSCode with the vimstyle extension. Sometimes I turn off vimstyle because it
conflicts with my existing keyboard shortcuts. Still a learning process, +
I've started using the ultimate hacking keyboard and its arrow keys are mapped
to I for up ( which is INSERT MODE in vim ), and j/l for over ( vim uses h/l
), and K for down ( vim uses K for UP ), so there is a HUGE learning curve to
use both vim + vscode shortcuts + uhk. But it's getting a lot easier with
practice.

~~~
cellis
One thing I've kind of decided on is minimal use of hjkl keys in vim in favor
of UHK's MOD +

    
    
                        I
                      J K L
    

The biggest thing I use vimstyle for is 'U' for undo and line jumping with
<line> SHIFT+G.

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jakelazaroff
VSCode, although when Panic's successor to Coda drops I'll probably switch to
that. [https://panic.com/next/](https://panic.com/next/)

~~~
hnjim
Very interested in this as well; have you worked with a pre-release or what
gives you confidence in switching?

~~~
jakelazaroff
No early access or anything! I've just been happily using their software for
10+ years.

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baron816
Google Docs, because, according to the Google interview process, that makes
some sort of sense.

~~~
PretzelFisch
There is nothing like writing code in a word processor.

~~~
ioddly
I did this recently and it kept autocapitalizing/correcting things, and I kept
wasting time reflexively changing them. There's probably a code syntax option
buried somewhere in there but heck if I know where it is.

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devinmcafee
I use Vim with vim-plug, vim-javascript, ctrlsf, ctrlp, and some custom
bindings in my .vimrc to help me use the "gf" command to jump to source. I've
spent the time to invest in learning how to use vim and it has served me well
across many languages, from writing Javascript, HTML, CSS, to Python, Ruby and
Golang.

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schneidmaster
Sublime Text 3. It's simple but blazing fast and rock solid. I have tried Atom
and VSCode over the years, but they are both just a bit slower at almost
everything, and I didn't find it worth the investment to remap my muscle
memory accordingly.

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deepsun
IntelliJ Ultimate (for everything)

~~~
rococode
Same here. I love having a single IDE that can handle all the languages I use.
VSCode is great and I used to use it (with VSCodeVim) a lot, but it just
doesn't handle Java or Python nearly as well. I ended up deciding I preferred
to stick with one set of IDE/configs/keybinds, so I went with the more
powerful option.

I think my impression of VSCode is that it feels more like an editor à la
Sublime Text, or at an extreme, a well-configured vim, than an actual IDE. But
I want the IDE experience - primarily global refactoring and fast auto-
complete. IntelliJ provides that (along with IdeaVim for the improved text
editing experience too).

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fernandotakai
vim/neovim with plugins. i've been using vim for so long now (from my
accounts, about ten years?) that using anything else feels just wrong
(including VSCode with vim mode, it's quite good but there's like 10% of my
usage that it doesn't cover properly and it's super annoying).

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felixc
Emacs, same as for everything else.

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panopticon
Webstorm for my day job, VSCode for my passion projects when I'm at home,
Neovim for my passion projects when I'm remote.

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joshualim
Almost all the developers (~50 total) where I work use VS Code. I think it's
pretty much industry standard for js/ts at this point.

Personally I use vim with ale, youcompleteme and tern plugins.

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mhd
Emacs, when it's just part of a larger application using a different language,
or when the whole environment is even more effed up than usual for JS (eg.
ExtJS) and you could parse the code as well as Perl anyway.

VSCode as a stop-gap solution for more substantial JS code. The gap being
until I either can configure Emacs properly (language server or something
similar), or preferably when I can get rid of JS (and no, not with MS JS++).

~~~
weaksauce
spacemacs has a pretty ok js configuration. you can use LSP with tern and it
seems to do a good job most of the time.

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stunt
For JS and TypeScript, I use VSCode cos of all the extensions and the
ecosystem.

I used to use Sublime with a lot of configuration and some custom plugins but
I gave up its performance to VSCode convenience.

I use VIM for other stuff and VIM key bindings on both VSCode and Sublime.

I sometimes miss the experience with Sublime but just too lazy to set it up
properly for JS and TypeScript.

------
ComputerGuru
Neovim with the autozimu language client plugin and this lsp:
[https://github.com/theia-ide/typescript-language-
server](https://github.com/theia-ide/typescript-language-server)

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randomsearch
Used VS Code for a year. Realised it was just an editor and not an IDE. Paid
for webstorm. Never going back.

If you prefer IntelliJ IDEA to emacs etc for Java, you should probably switch
to webstorm. Batteries included, nicer UI.

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jordanthoms
Sublime text

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thex10
VSCode for everything, though my boss offered to get me Webstorm...

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pmontra
Emacs with some extension that highlights undefined variables and missing
semicolons. My laptop is off now, I can't check which one. Probably one of the
common modes.

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johnchase
Vim with plugins. At this point I am the only one at my company who does not
use VSCode, it would be nice to be able to share new tricks with someone...

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the_absurdist
vim \- vim-javascript \- tern_for_vim \- vdebug \- ale

------
hnjim
Really interesting to see everyone's responses. Do you know if there is a
survey capability in HN for these types of things? I may revisit the thread
later and aggregate the results too if others would find that helpful, but
this might be nice as a native Ask HN feature. I suppose I could have just
linked to a poll but there is value is in the comments vs the results too.

------
threatofrain
[https://2018.stateofjs.com/other-
tools/#text_editors](https://2018.stateofjs.com/other-tools/#text_editors)

VSC is monster good and it makes me wonder of the competition in this space
for the next few years.

------
quickthrower2
I use Vscode because of the decent ecosystem and debugging support. It’s
certainly slower than a native editor, notepad++ for example but I can forgive
the little pause here and there for the benefits it brings.

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LoSboccacc
mapped my workspace so I can work directly within the chrome debugger. not the
most petty way but it's darn effective since all objects and data are laid
before my eyes and can be inspected and manipulated without braking context

~~~
termage
I’d love to read a blog post about this. I often pause the chrome debugger and
keep it open in a window next to my editor (VS Code, for those counting).

~~~
LoSboccacc
this is the gist of chrome configuration
[https://developers.google.com/web/tools/setup/setup-
workflow](https://developers.google.com/web/tools/setup/setup-workflow)

but the rest depends on your backend because you need the server to hot reload
changes from the filesystem

~~~
termage
Sweet. Thanks.

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tetron
For TypeScript, Emacs TIDE is very good. Not sure how well it works with
vanilla JS.

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auslegung
VSCode or Neovim

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arenaninja
IntelliJ ultimate for TypeScript. Have tried vscode but it was slow on Windows
for monorepos; haven't tried vscode on mac for this same project yet

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villgax
VSCode with Synthwave 84 theme, plugins for everything

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swapsCAPS
Neovim. VSCode with Vim keybindings if I had more RAM.

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tckr
Webstorm because VSCode ways of handling global search and replace does not
work for me.

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savethefuture
Sublime text

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chimen
Webstorm.

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themoat
Neovim with coc.nvim.

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mythrwy
Vim with snipmate (and a bunch of other plugins).

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vertline3
Notepad++

It is minimal and I think Im not supposed to use it.

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jhoh
IntelliJ Idea Ultimate with IdeaVIM

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dsego
Sublime Text 3.

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mgranados
vim with vim-javascript ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

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jamesfmilne
vim (MacVim, gvim or just plain vim)

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samsungha
IntelliJ or else plain Vi[m].

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ajavascriptdude
atom

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rplst8
TypeScript

~~~
panpanna
> TypeScript

I assume this means vscode?

~~~
mcfunk
This would seem a weird answer indeed if you don't have context -- which is
that VSCode (Microsoft) is developed with native handling of Typescript
(Microsoft) -- so is somewhat of the standard in that regard.

~~~
rplst8
The answer is tongue-in-cheek. Basically, don't write JavaScript, write
TypeScript and transpile.

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ajavascriptdude
sublime text too

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barbecue_sauce
vim or vscode, depending on my mood.

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PixelPaul
Atom

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ajb413
sublime text

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taf2
vim

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badinsie
ST3

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gnusty_gnurc
Webstorm!

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drivingmenuts
Phpstorm

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simplesleeper
VSCode

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malyk
sublime

