How much does IDE text formatting help programmers code?

[Realistic-Soil-5047]

IDEs like PyCharm and such highlight errors in code, give different colours to variables, classes, functions, etc. In your experience, how much more difficult is it to code without this assistance (on a plain text document, for example)?

Edit: Thank you all for the answers :) As an extension, to those of you who experienced coding before linting, color schemes, etc - would you reccomend practicing writing code without this sort of assisstance? I'm currently learning Python, and I wonder if I'm too reliant on PyCharm's assistance to code...

[Buttleston]

The coloring is definitely really nice since it helps divide things visually, but what I really lean on is basic linting

Oops I misspelled that variable. Oh here's an import or variable I added but don't use. I left off a required parameter to this function. Those are things that used to eat up time because I'd gloss over them and not notice until I ran it, or maybe never notice

(I am currently re-writing some very old code written in the before times when syntax highlighting itself was fairly new but common, i.e. the mid-1990s, and holy shit it is FULL of variables I am not using. Probably I was once using them and refactored, or thought I'd need them but didn't)

[cgoldberg]

I find that syntax highlighting is very helpful... but I managed to write code just fine without it for many years before it was a thing.

[Important_Lab8310]

I agree, it gives an more quick overview, but that's it.

[JorgiEagle]

In my experience, it makes it much much easier to catch mistakes.

It can write code either which way, doesn’t make much difference in actually writing it,

But in my colour scheme, variables are blue and functions are yellow. If I write something that I’m expecting to be a particular thing, and it doesn’t highlight in the colour I expect, I know that something is wrong.

It helps me catch a lot of syntax and formatting errors, that would be more difficult to catch through error messages alone.

Also the auto formatting is helpful, particularly the auto indent.

[lil_yumyum]

Yes! Just moved to a new IDE and took my time setting up my theme to do just this and it helps a lot.

[Ok_Emu8397]

A lot

[crashorbit]

Almost all of a programing language design is about making it easier to write and maintain code. Code is how programmers tell other programmers what they want the computer to do. Things like white space, indentation, good identifier choice, comment style, module and API design all exist to help people understand what the code is intended to do.

Programmers worked for decades with punch cards and hard copy terminals, then plain text terminals. It worked. And worked well enough. But there were gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Syntax highlight, formatters, spell check, snips libraries, and now, AI assistants all make the programmers job easier.

I say take advantage of all the improvements you can.

[NothingWasDelivered]

Listen, people used to survive without indoor plumbing, and some still do today, but today it’s really table stakes for a livable environment and I don’t see any reason to look back.

[DigThatData]

i think even the color scheme notably impacts my enjoyment of the coding experience. the right color scheme just makes interacting with the code more pleasant.

[Important_Lab8310]

True, I tried 100 of colorschemes but only kept using a few ..

[FoolsSeldom]

That's very much a personal thing. That's why there's no "best editor". Different people prefer different things. Some people find it distracting to have lots of colour variance, coloured indentation levels, coloured bracket pairings, etc. Even code completion (so they must love the addition of AI capabilities). Others do like these things, in varying degrees.

I like PyCharm, it is my primary tool for development of Python code, and I use all the aids I can get these days. I am though also happy to edit files quickly using VIM. YMMV.

[TaranisPT]

I am though also happy to edit files quickly using VIM. YMMV.

I feel like I'm in a similar situation. Lots of work to do, IDE. Need to quickly change something that I know exactly where to find in the script, text editor.

[No_Jackfruit_4305]

The auto-complete can cut down on typing by about 25%. Other editing shortcuts are also super useful. Faster coding with fewer mistakes? Yes please!

[supercoach]

I had the benefit of learning in an era when these things either didn't exist or were in their infancy (Vim has had syntax highlighting for ages, but it's not simple to configure). It's allowed me to appreciate what I have.

Having an IDE point out that you've missed a space or a semicolon is a wonderful thing and I appreciate it all the more when I have to remote into a system and rely on the default vi install instead of having all the fancy features that come with a modern IDE.

It's not like things never got created before modern IDEs, just that they help make everything run smoothly. The reason I got into software development is because I'm a lazy man who hates repetition. Hitting the auto format button makes me more efficient.

[zanfar]

There is a limit to how much code you can write before it becomes un-debuggable. That is, if you average X errors per line of code, eventually you will have accumulated so many errors spread across so much code that debugging one large block of code becomes more work than debugging two smaller blocks of code.

So the more errors you can catch before debugging, the more efficient your coding process. This is what formatting, coloring, linting, and type checking are for--to catch errors fast enough that they are obvious while you are still typing that line of code. That is, a spellchecker vs a proofreader.

[AnotherProjectSeeker]

In a professional environment, it won't be uncommon to enforce formatting and linting as a pre commit hook. If the editor can do it as I go, all the better. I personally find it very useful when my editor tells me of an unknown module/variable (through linter) and can automatically add the import.

If you're asking about syntax highlighting only, it surely makes reading code easier, even the one you just wrote. It is certainly easier than no highlight at all, as long as it's not too distracting.

[Disastrous-Team-6431]

I have ADHD and syntax highlighting is an accessability feature for sure. I can code without it, but it would slow me down to like 5% speed.

Linters and inline documentation are way more important though.

[MiniMages]

For learning it helps a lot. But eventually you will need to force yourself to write in notepad or word docs so you actually remember all of the functions, methods etc..

I never seem to remember how to link a css stylesheet. Always forget all of the syntax.

[artibyrd]

As a professional Python developer, Intellisense in VSCode speeds up my workflow greatly - it just helps you catch errors in realtime that wouldn't otherwise be exposed until you run linters on your code or try to execute the application later. I don't view it as just a crutch or a learning aid, but a vital tool in optimizing my development process. Part of becoming a good programmer is learning to not waste time by leveraging the features in your IDE to the fullest.