GirlHacker's Random Log

almost daily since 1999

 

It always takes me a few weeks to make peace with a new IDE (integrated development environment). Along the way I usually decide that the whole concept is a bad idea and I should just use the editor, compiler, and debugger that I get along with best. There’s always some editor quirk I don’t think I can live with, some compile setting that I know the command line flag for but can’t find the darn checkbox for. I’ll grab a sympathetic coworker and rant about programmers who are given a customer they can actually understand (themselves) but still can’t create a decent UI. Then I remember that I’m not them. I hold onto the grand vision of interoperability and plow on through. I’m getting used to my sixth one now, and, true to form, I am going nuts. After fighting with CodeWarrior for hours, I realized that it doesn’t spit out class files until it has compiled all the Java files in a project. Augh. But I haven’t had any fights with the editor yet, and about all that remains is to remap the function key shortcuts in my brain. I suppose what I really need is a fully customizable environment. But I doubt I’ll get the malleability I want in the places I need it.

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