An Hoang
Code editors right now are all mid

Code editors right now are all mid

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An Hoang
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3 min read

Just spent my weekend improving my editor situation. Let's talk about what happened.

Last updated time: March 13th, 2023.

Let's set the stage: I started with VSCode, learned Vim motions and used it in VSCode. Everything is fine. Started seeking workflow optimizations. Landing on Neovim. I'm optimizing for my work which is comprised of Astro, TailwindCSS and TypeScript. Alright, let's go.

Neovim

Neovim is great. Production-ready editor.

nvim-cmp is having a hard time with tailwindcss-language-server. Typing classes will have Neovim sucks big time. A dealbreaker compares to VSCode.

Maybe my Macbook Pro 15" 2015 (8 years old machine) can't handle modern LSPs. Let's try remote development.

Remote VM as development environment

I got a $10 Linode Linux VM. Same Neovim setup. Nothing changed, it sucks big time.

I don't want to go back to VSCode yet. Let's try Helix.

Helix

Helix is great. Got through helix --tutor, pretty mind-blown from a Vim user's perspective.

Helix doesn't yet support multiple LSPs at the same time. Can't do Astro and TailwindCSS at the same time. Dealbreaker.

Back to VSCode it is. Maybe remote development is the future? It might help me get through the days that I forget my laptop to work. Let's try Gitpod.

Gitpod

So, Gitpod.

  • No first-class Vim IDE. That's fine, Neovim is mid anyway.

  • I need a separate dotfiles repo for Gitpod because my dotfiles are a bare repo and config checkout doesn't work on Gitpod. It might, I don't care enough.

  • vscode-neovim extension. I need nvim installed. Setting up nvim on Gitpod takes some research. Turns out vscode-neovim takes some unique brain-power to use. I don't care enough.

  • Let's use normal Vim extension...

At this point I started thinking about the fact that I might not get anything more than my local VSCode. Let's "try" VSCode.

VSCode

VSCode is my home turf for a long time. It doesn't error out and is pretty good.

Coming from a full-keyboard Neovim workflow, VSCode sucks hard. Just imagine navigating the sidebar with keyboards. It is not designed for keyboard use. You can convince me but I'm pretty sure VSCode can't ever match Neovim no matter how hard it tries.

Can't make VSCode acts like my Neovim. Dealbreaker. Let's go back to Neovim. I decided to try LunarVim.

LunarVim

Tried it on my project.

I think doing a minimal DIY config yourself is 200% better. You make the config from scratch, you know why the editor looks and acts that way. If you need to substitute something for another thing, you can do that.

LunarVim takes some unique brain-power to config. I don't care enough. Let's go back to Neovim.

Neovim, again.

Yeah. It's Neovim for me for now.

I tired coq_nvim. It sucks. It looks bland. I can't feel the fastness of it compares to nvim-cmp. tailwind-language-server still chuckles.

If it's not for the Tailwind thing, Neovim is great.

"Code editors right now are all mid."

So, the title. It's probably right. I provided my evidence, and if the editor is not making me conveniently do my job, it's mid, right?

The great thing is that I don't know how long until my Tailwind situation can be resolved. Isn't it great that VSCode is flawlessly spitting Tailwind autocompletion while Neovim autocompletion scene is doing a civil war?

As a code editor user, I'm disappointed. As a developer, I hope to someday have the time and knowledge and courage to contribute to my tools. What am I trying to say?

"Code editors right now are all mid."

editorsneovimvscodelunarvimhelix