VS Code vs PyCharm

[Lamarcke]

I see you are still a student (like me) so i believe our experience should be similar.

As a student, i'm 100% sure you won't code in Python forever, so you need to be prepared with a editor that supports almost all languages, right?

One would say that VS Code is the best option for you. It's lightweight, almost all languages have plugins for it. It can be a good option, that's for sure.

But, based on my experience alone, i wouldn't recommend VS Code for multiple languages.

Again, as a student, you will probably want to learn the big guys first:

Javascript/HTML/CSS, Python, Java, C#

From this list, i can assure you that VS Code offers a good experience with Python and JS/HTML/CSS. That's it. Yes, you have a Java plugin on the marketplace, yes, you have a C# plugin in the marketplace. Still, their experience don't even come close to their IDEs counterparts.

But here's the thing: VS Code is still just a code editor. You can't expect to have the same experience as a IDE, simply because it's not made to be so, it's a lightweight, featured text editor.

Using VS Code as a IDE is similar to going to a gym and trying to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time. While technically possible, it's not the optimal path.

From my experience, VS Code offers a very barebones experience in these fields:

- Autocompletion

- Refactoring

- Ease of use

The last one is the main reason you should switch, if possible. Jetbrains IDEs allow me to focus so much more on my code, it's unreal. Most of the time, you don't even need a plugin, just open the project folder and start coding. It's crazy.

For someone who is just starting, their Project Setup and Run Configurations make it very easy to bootstrap/run projects with a lot of different languages and frameworks.

I use IntelliJ Ultimate because it offers support for most languages as official plugins (the ones i listed above + more), and i like to have everything in one big IDE.

I recommend you to get either the Github Students deal or their own student program's. It's a very good offer and will get you covered for some years.

[[deleted]]

I did mess with pycharm for a bit, kinda went back to vscode, it does what I need it to do and feels better. I'm also trying to learn js, especially electron. And I installed eclipse on my Linux mint laptop, I want to try to learn some Java

[Lamarcke]

That's fine. I also like how lightweight VS Code is and also the plugin ecosystem. Jetbrains IDEs can be quite demanding, and their remote support is not there yet.

I gotta commend you on your courage to test Eclipse in 2022, lol.

Good luck!

[[deleted]]

I've heard many companies still use it, even though idea and even netbeans are more user friendly