Ask HN: SublimeText vs. WebStorm

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224461

by cjblomqvist • 11 years ago

6 17 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Which one are you using? Why IDE or editor for web development (node)? Would you recommend any other IDEs, like Visual Studio for example?

NicoJuicy• 11 years ago

I use Visual Studio all the time, but the node integration isn't quite there yet (especially when building node_modules using vc++ compiler )

I'd use SublimeText otherwhise :)

laex• 11 years ago

I use VIM + Tmux for the most part. That being said, editors like Sublime, WebStorm, Atom etc are great and are a part of my tools collections.

factorialboy• 11 years ago

I use both (actually IntelliJ IDEA and not Webstorm).

I choose the tool depending on the size of the code base.

sudpaw• 11 years ago

Intellij all the way :O)

psymatix• 11 years ago

I haven't used Webstorm, and one of my colleagues uses SublimeText. I use NetBeans IDE because it integrates well with Git, and even without Git it keeps a history of your changes so you can diff against previous versions. Also has intelligent code completion, multiple views of the same file in a split screen. And the inbuilt FTP makes it easy to code directly on a remote server. It's really convenient for me because of these and so I haven't felt the need to use the others.

dagw• 11 years ago

I use WebStorm for all my web development. I suppose in theory it's possible to replicate most things it does with a bunch of SublimeText add-ons and additional tools, but why bother. For me the intelligent code completion and refactoring tools are worth the price of admission.

tonteldoos• 11 years ago

I agree with the poster on the size of the codebase and the complexity of the code. Quick and dirty is manageable in vim and the like. For anything bigger than a handful of files and build scripts, it's a different story.

About 2 or 3 years ago I was introduced to Rubymine (also by Jetbrains), and from there have fallen in love with their products. I have personal licenses for Rubymine, PHPStorm (of which WebStorm is a subset) and use IntelliJ and PyCharm regularly. Their products 'just work' (Linux, OS X and Windows), and the similarities/consistencies between the different editors make subsequent learning curves much less steep. I've been using the CLion EAP a bit, and will likely be paying for a license when it's released (simply because it works that well out of the box).

skrowl• 11 years ago

Visual Studio + Resharper for the win.

davismwfl2• 11 years ago

I use Webstorm for all the node development because it is a great integrated environment that really doesn't get in the way. It also lets me use sftp to do quick file deploys to a test box for experimenting etc all in one place. And while I won't say the debugging is perfect, it is pretty damn good and works well.

That said, I will still use vi to do small text edits or JSON file changes etc if I don't need the entire IDE. So I think it is a pick the best tool at the time. I also will use notepad++ if in Windows the same way I would vi on my Mac or a server.

I personally haven't used SublimeText but I know a lot of people swear by it for its flexibility.

azeirah2• 11 years ago

There's little reason to switch to Sublime Text if you're already competent with vi/vim

davismwfl2• 11 years ago

Good to know. I hadn't tried Sublime so I was somewhat curious if there was some compelling reason. But I have been working with vi since the early 90's so its just been comfortable. Thanks

michaelbuddy• 11 years ago

I own php storm and it's OK, but since I do such a mix of file work, small maintenance and web/phpstorm is really project driven. I think for me, ultraedit is the way to go. I guess I just don't really like phpstorm's menus, kb shortcuts and just some other things aren't as logical or easy to find as they could be. Even setting up a project from existing files, it's easy enough to do but just not logical. I would still recommend jetbrains stuff definitely, but I don't know I'm looking for something that matches my personality more and ultraedit / ultrastudio may be better for my workflow. They've also stepped to it lately with multi-cursor, git integration and also ultraedit has dealt much better with large files than some of my other text editors, like notepad plus plus or brackets, would choke on.

chubasco• 11 years ago

I use WebStorm for projects and SublimeText for one-off scripts and tiny prototypes.

WebStorm is great if you need to manage a project as it grows, but if you just want to bang out 200 lines in a few hours, SublimeText is much more lightweight.

azeirah2• 11 years ago

I personally use Sublime Text for smaller code tasks, like simple webpages, smaller edits etc.

While I use WebStorm for larger projects such as building a website for someone or collaborating on projects at school.

Sublime Text, to me, is still just a text editor (a really good one at that), while WebStorm is a fully-fledged IDE.

iends• 11 years ago

I use webstorm for both Angular and Node because the integrated debugger doesn't require a context switch when debugging code. In fact, most development workflows can happen within the editor (and a browser) because of the great tooling.

For everything else (mainly Go/Python these days), I use vim.

dhagz• 11 years ago

I use Vim and Atom. It's enjoyable and does everything I need, especially since I've started moving towards xctool as my builder over Xcode's GUI.

eddie_31003• 11 years ago

Text Editors VS IDEs it's more of a question of what tools do you use to accomplish specific tasks. Although most of my day is spent in a feature rich IDE, I do spend a descent about of time in a text editor for small things.

I prefer SublimeText as a TextEditor. I've been trying to use Atom, but haven't made the complete switch.

I've been playing with WebStorm because I think JetBrains products are #KickAss.

I would recommend to using the best tool for the job/task you're working on. If you're doing .NET Development, then Visual Studio would be your tool of choice.

If you're doing web development for MEAN or LAMP or anything else, you're probably use a combination of SublimeText/Atom and something like WebStorm.

I suggest trying to use as many tools as you can and see which ones work best for you and your workflow. It's always a good thing to know how to use more than one tool.

Ask HN: SublimeText vs. WebStorm

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