Skip to content
Hallway
0:00 / 0:00

#neovim#lua#pde

PDE: A different take on editing code

TJ DeVries

119K subscribers • 4 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 2 people: 2 on Hacker News.
  • Presented by TJ DeVries, Neovim core developer
  • An opinion. It argues one side of a question engineers disagree on.

Intermediate. Assumes working knowledge.

87K views4 years ago2 recommendations

Tools and practiceVim, Emacs and editorsDeveloper productivity

TJ DeVries introduces the concept of a Personalized Development Environment, contrasting highly customizable editors like Neovim with traditional out-of-the-box IDEs.

Today we talk about a new term that I'm coining called: PDE (Personalized Development Environment). If you like this talk and/or style, please let me know in the comments. I would love to get your thoughts on branching out from just straight tutorial #neovim content and into something more general in #programming. Also, you might be interested in watching me on twitch if you enjoyed this talk, cause I talk about stuff like this there! Twitch: twitch.tv/teej_dv

Why it's here

2 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a compelling explanation of why developers prefer highly customizable editors like Neovim over standard out-of-the-box IDEs.

ts0000on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Vim is touch-typing on steroids”

For anyone not understanding why (neo)vim exists, or why some developers prefer it to IDEs, I suggest watching "PDE: A different take on editing code" 1. It reframes (neo)vim as a "Personalized Development Environment". I've been using (neo)vim for years, and don't want to use anything else. It isn't just about productivity (I would probably be as productive in an IDE). It's because its _mine_. It's a highly customized environment, catered to my needs. 1 link to this video
View on Hacker News

ivanjermakovon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Trying out Zed after more than a decade of Vim/Neovim”

> Lua is great, but one JSON file is even better I will never understand how you go back from a very customized editor setup to the one with "reasonable defaults with little to no things to configure". Great talk on this topic by TJ: Personal Development Environment: link to this video
View on Hacker News

petepeteon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Vim 9.0”

One of the neovim devs released a video just a couple of days ago on the topic. He suggests neovim (and vim, emacs etc) fall into a category between text editor and IDE. The term he uses is PDE (personalised development environment). In short, you have lots of power to customise your setup; you can give it some IDE-like behaviour but the way you do it tends to be by making personal choices of plugins and config. It's not just a text editor, it's definitely not 'integrated'. I'm inclined to agree with him. link to this video
View on Hacker News

avnigoon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: Is Vim still worth learning?”

Worth it? Absolutely, without a doubt. Should you? Only if you find it fun, especially if you prefer the keyboard to the mouse, although you can definitely use the mouse in vim too. I would go with neovim over vim nowadays, and if you want something more familiar that will get you up and running more quickly, try AstroNvim 0. Later on, if you also like to tinker, you can set it all up just the way you like it. I've heard of vim being called a PDE (personalized DE) 1, and I think that makes a lot of sense. 0: link 1: link to this video
View on Hacker News

code-bloodedon Hacker News • Mentions

On “I have reached Vim nirvana”

…feature (e.g. I wanted to have a function header visible in the first line of editor even when the top of the function has scrolled off the screen) and either find a plugin or program it yourself. This is exactly the kind of primal joy that initially made me pursue the career of software engineer. 1 The concept of PDE is explained in this video: link to this video 2 Easily is relative. IMO each little customization is quick, but you'll end up customizing hundreds of things over time.…
View on Hacker News

littleladyon Hacker News • Mentions

On “My Emacs eye candy”

…something to consider. I've tried a lot of editors over the years... Currently I'm using neovim. It's been pretty nice--after some major adjustments. I like altering my configs and changing what's not working for me. Would I use it exclusively? No, but it's a nice tool to have in my toolbox. And with some effort it also can look very pretty. 1: link to this video…
View on Hacker News

petepeteon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Effective Neovim: An Instant IDE [video]”

TJ actually has a video on this very topic link to this video The tl;dw is that the term 'PDE' means the tool requires some work in order to personalise, but because neovim exposes a robust API that work is fun and rewarding. Additionally, he makes the point that because you configure it in the same language as you script it with (lua), you have much greater control over how all the pieces fit together.
View on Hacker News

aquariusDueon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Claude Code IDE integration for Emacs”

…d to at first, how copy and paste works out of the box without CUA-mode for one, but they're that big of a deal after a short while as some people make them out to be. I'll say this though, Emacs is like tiling window management, you either love it and extol its virtues everywhere or you look at its proponents like aliens from another galaxy. 0: link to this video…
View on Hacker News