[zem]

his argument is pretty specific:

8x--------------

He’s a really good programmer, but that’s not why his solutions were better. Since he didn’t have suggestions to guide him, he read the docs and by simply perusing them, was aware of methods and other features that the IDE did not suggest. There were better ways in the libraries they were using that weren’t apparent in the IDE. And that makes sense: in the interface for a suggestion in an editor, how much complexity can you really manage?

8x--------------

it makes sense to me - if the API is large and complex enough that you can discover good ways to do things via serendipity, IDE autosuggestions will stick you in a local maximum.

[conductr]

It’s not mutually exclusive though right? For instance, google search has auto complete/recommendation to nearly any query. I use that when helpful and know when to ignore it as well and type in my entire query. (Genuinely curious as I don’t use these IDE features.)

[zem]

no, not mutually exclusive, but the author had at least one anecdotal datapoint to suggest that people who relied on the IDE did not discover "unusual" functions that were better for the specific task

[sockpuppet69]

Is the 8x meant to be scissors?

8<———————

Looks nicer.

Never seen it before. Good idea. Gonna use it from now on instead of quotes or > on every line!

[tym0]

Wow you just made me realise why they picked that symbol for usage in git commit messages...

[zem]

yeah, it's a habit I picked up on usenet! useful for sites that manage quoted text awkwardly.

[rendall]

I usually format it this way. I like the scissors, though. Interesting.

> "He’s a really good programmer, but that’s not why his solutions were better. Since he didn’t have suggestions to guide him, he read the docs and by simply perusing them, was aware of methods and other features that the IDE did not suggest. There were better ways in the libraries they were using that weren’t apparent in the IDE. And that makes sense: in the interface for a suggestion in an editor, how much complexity can you really manage?"

[rendall]

I did find that argument compelling. I'm not sure if I will yet abandon my IDE, but it's a check in that column.

[pvorb]

I'm using an IDE, but I read the docs anyway. I also just jump into the implementation and figure if the docs are correct. I don't know why the IDE should prevent anyone to do that. Again, it doesn't depend so much on the tool but more on the type of programmer you are.