Emacs vs. Eclipse vs. Vim

[Slaunger]

On 29 Nov., 21:44, Josh <jho... at hotmail.com> wrote:
> If you were a beginning programmer and willing to make an investment in
> steep learning curve for best returns down the road, which would you pick?
>
> I know this topic has been smashed around a bit already, but 'learning
> curve' always seems to be an arguement. If you feel that one is easier
> or harder than the others to learn feel free to tell, but let's not make
> that the deciding factor. Which one will be most empowering down the
> road as a development tool?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> JR

Many have written that they have no experience with using Eclipse.

Well, I have a little, and I just want to add my experience.

I am a novice Python programmer and I use Eclipse with the PyDev and
SubClipse
extensions which gives me a Python environment and integration with
Subversion,
which is the version control system I use. My OS is Windows XP and
Server 2003.

Other people are working on the same project using either eclipse on a
linux box
or another editor of choice.

Eclipse works very well for me. The facilities I like are:
* A handy object browser which lets be jump into the part of the code
I am interested in
 (I work with several, quite large modules).
* Autocompletion: When I write . it gives me a suggestion of the
methods/attributes available
  and the doc string (if available) is shown as a tool tip. It can
autogenerate a generic signature
  for a method call with the attribute names prefilled. Very handy as
I quite often forget the order
  of arguments.
* Unit tests: It is quite convenient to write and run unit tests in
the environment (unittest run targets)
* Refactoring: Intelligent rename for instance is handy for renaming
methods and attributes across modules
* Debugger: I debugger environment which works well for me with
watchlists, step-into, step over.
* Chroma-coded
* Auto-indentation
* Macros for block commenting, indenting and unindenting.
* Nice integrated diff toll which integrates well with subversion.
* And tons of other things which I have not explored yet. Like a
coverage run target for instance.
* Some Syntax checking

I am personally satisfied with the startup time and overall
responsiveness of Eclipse, but users of Emacs/Vim
may have other bars for responsiveness than me.

Sometimes I experience some problems with cascading inexplicable
errors ocurring in the IDE when running unit test suites.
This is annoying and they do not occur when I run the tests stand-
alone outside on the command line.

This IDE works well for me. I do not have an opinion about how it
works in comparison with Emacs and Vim,
just wanted to give my opinion on Eclipse and Python as this had not
been discussed so much.

On the prestige level it is certainly not considered as "cool" to use
Eclipse as Emacs/Vim where I am working.
I often hear the opinion that you are not a proper coder/hacker is you
do not master any of these classic editors.

I also think it depends much upon your coding style. Personally I
spend much more time thinking on "how" to implement
this-and-that, than actually coding. That may reflect that I am still
a novice Python Programmer.

-- Slaunger