@TheKeyboard Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code is a violent psychopath who knows where you live.

In a post earlier this week I had talked about the fact that I have turned into an “editor waffler”, paralyzed with fear that I couldn’t decide on what editor to use for my day-to-day use. I had promised that by the end of the week I would reveal what editor I’ve decided on using. But before I talk about that, I wanted to talk some more about my thoughts on why I can’t decide.

I had prepared a really long blog post to answer this question but I started rambling and I deleted it all. It comes down to a fear of freedom. That’s right, a fear of freedom. I have enlightened employers who don’t care what tools I use as long as I get the job done. I’m grateful for that, so I am constantly looking for tools that meet my requirements from project to project. I think I’ve settled on the collection of tools that are working for me on a daily basis. Thanks to Marc Grabanski for his Arsenal of Web Development Tools post for reminding me that it’s about tools that you don’t fight with that help you get the job done.

Here’s my personal web development stack:

• TextMate — built in SVN integration, syntax highlighting for all sorts of common web langauges *and* I found a plugin that highlights what files in the file drawer are under version control
• Terminal — still a CLI guy for a lot of tasks, especially for code generation
• Firefox with Firebug — if there was something as good for Safari I’d use it instead
• CocoaMySQL — sometimes I use the CLI client, but CocoaMySQL is the tool I use most of the time for MySQL work. I need to find one that I like as much for Postgres
• CSSEdit — I was so impressed at how it helped this CSS and layout n00b fix a problem, I paid for a copy

Those 5 tools are the ones I find myself using consistently, day-in and day-out. But that’s not to say I don’t use other things as well. I use vim for quick editing of system-level files and for editing on various remote servers. I do use Komodo when I really need to do some deep debugging, like I had to do a few weeks ago to try and figure out why an upgrade to the latest version of Code Igniter was failing for a work project (they broke their Active Record implementation when dealing with Postgres for whatever reason, please prove me wrong if that’s not true) and it helped me narrow down the problem a lot faster.

By being an “editor waffler” I have learned enough about a variety of tools that I feel like they are all part of my toolkit. It’s like having a large number of tools and making sure that you use the right one for the job. Okay, enough angst from for now on my choice of editors.

Taken from a discussion with my friend Kevin via IM earlier today (warning, may contain bad language):

webslinginfool
or try pida
which _is_ what you wanted no?

Chris Hartjes
pida?

webslinginfool
*sigh*

Chris Hartjes
not really

webslinginfool
http://pida.co.uk/files/screenshots/pida_0-5-2_17.png

Chris Hartjes
if I want that, I can go with Textmate

webslinginfool
true
very true
actually , why dont you use textmate?

Chris Hartjes
I do use it
but you get me looking at that vim stuff

webslinginfool
ahh
a man of weak faith
tsk
tsk
tsk

Chris Hartjes
very weak when it comes to editors

webslinginfool
wait, let me halt construction of your monument
i've never met anyone like you actually

Chris Hartjes
in what way

webslinginfool
editor waffling

Chris Hartjes
yeah, that's pretty rare
I dunno why I'm like that

webslinginfool
i've never even  heard of it
you should totally add an "editors"
section to your blog and simply detall
your experiences
oh, and make friends with a bishop

Chris Hartjes
fuck
YOU

webslinginfool
because you'll start a holy war!

Kevin is a vim guy, and is always giving me tips (solicited or not) on how to make my vim experience more enjoyable. A lot of what he gives me *is* useful. I probably have a vim setup now that will work okay for me, and I did give vim a two-week audition as my main editor a while back. However, it didn’t have the GUI file drawer / file explorer crutch that I’ve gotten used to. Besides, I think my arguments about why I use each editor are just lame.

• Komodo - got a free license after talking at the Vancover PHP conference last year (please, go to Open Web Vancouver this year so they can get enough money for me to fly business class ;)), cool editor, nice debugger…but I find it slow and unresponsive at times.
• TextMate - one of the first OS-X apps I ever paid for, nice and snappy, great syntax highlighting…but doesn’t have the tooltip stuff that Komodo does. I did find a cool plugin that shows me what files I’ve modifed in version control right there in the file drawer, but it’s not an IDE like Komodo is
• vim - very powerful, pretty much does everything I need in an editor…but all those damn commands to remember, and where’s my pretty GUI file explorer?!?!

Those are three of the lamest statements I’ve come across in my talking to people about the editor I use. Editors are usually a religious issue amongst developers: you can pry the one they use every day from their cold, dead hands.

So, maybe it’s time to grow up as a developer and stop switching between editors. But can I do it? Yes, I know you’re not used to reading my angst-filled posts about what editor to use. Damnit, why am I so weak on this issue?!?

This post is not intended to become a holy war on what editor to use, I’m just expressing my frustration at my inability to decide what to do here. If I look at it objectively, it’s about what tool I would be the most productive in. The problem is, I can’t figure that out…probably because I keep switching all the damn time.

Is it fear of commitment? Fear that I pick the wrong editor for what I need? I have started branching out into other languages, so my editor needs to support those as well. All three can do it. *sigh*

Komdo vs. TextMate vs. vim. Maybe there is no winner, just a loser. Me.

One of the thing the Pragmatic Programmers said (when not trying to get us to buy their books all the time) is to settle on one editor, whatever one that is, and learn ALL it has to offer because you might be surprised what it can do for you. Flipping back and forth is no way to do that. More like a delaying tactic from someone who doesn’t want to HAVE to pick, maybe?

Well folks, that day has come. I must pick and stick with it for once. I’ll let you guys know at the end of the week what I picked. Go back to making fun of me in the other posts, okay?