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Comment by ogre_codes

4 years ago

> IntelliJ Idea is a fantastically better IDE than XCode from a functionality standpoint

This is not my experience, I've never quite cared for all the finicky setup needed to get things right, and it always feels a bit laggy. (Though IntelliJ is a world better than Eclipse).

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ogre_codes

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cromwellian  4 years ago

It's definitely more laggy, but in terms of everything else, it's light years ahead of Xcode:

1) code navigation, editing, refactoring 2) integration with Git/GitHub, Issue Trackers, Cloud Providers 3) external build system support 4) multiplatform editing (java, js, typescript, kotlin, python, etc) 5) integration with testing, continuous integration, deployment 6) code analysis, finding problems 7) tons of special support for DSLs and third party frameworks

The only thing XCode is better at IMHO is UI building and OSX instrumentation. If you're writing tons of code that doesn't have a UI, especially for cloud backends, I don't think you'd use it.

Even simple things, like language injection, work wonders in the editor window. Having the IDE know how to syntax color, check, and code complete SQL, CSS, HTML, Regex, etc inside strings is a huge help.

I spend 15 years on emacs, and the last 15 on InteliJ, and having an editor that slices and dices code in a myriad a ways with easy to use automation, and actually indexes the code and builds a deeper understanding of the totality of your project is well worth it. I just wish it was less laggy in the UI.

If I was writing an iOS app, sure, I'd use XCode, but I can't envision being it general purpose for anything else, unlike the versatility of other competitors like VSCode.

  • ogre_codes  4 years ago

    > If I was writing an iOS app, sure, I'd use Xcode, but I can't envision being it general purpose for anything else, unlike the versatility of other competitors like VSCode.

    I would never expect Xcode to be the best general purpose editor/ IDE. It's good for Swift/ iOS development which is what its build around. Personally, much of the time I'd rather have a performant editor than one that has a million bells and whistles.