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by billisonline 2091 days ago
> Should it be expected that all programmers use these text editors and have access to these tools?

If they don't have access, then the tools ought to be standardized to the point where they can be integrated into any editor. The Language Server Protocol[1] seems like a step toward this.

> I'm of the opinion that code should be written independent of the tools used to understand and modify that code.

This a widespread, "common sense" opinion that I've come to disagree with strongly. No one would argue that, e.g., illustrators, 3D modelers, music producers, etc. should be so tool-agnostic—and yet their situation is quite similar. One could produce a complex piece of music in Audacity instead of using Logic or Ableton, but musicians don't have the same mentality of picking the cheapest, most austere, or lowest-common-denominator tool. Instead, they invest in tools that enhance their productivity. And that's precisely what's at stake here. Pairing (a) a language that allows implicit "smart" features like type inference with (b) an equally smart editor to make what is implicit in the code explicit to the developer as needed, is more productive than forcing the developer to make everything explicit themselves.

Re: using VIM over ssh, your choice of scenario is revealing. Why would you limit your everyday development work based on the lowest common denominator tool you're forced to use in an emergency? Also, it's not necessary to run code inspection on the remote box. JetBrains IDEs, for example, will copy a folder from ssh or a similar environment, index and inspect them locally, and then sync them back as needed.

1: https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol/