# IDE: alternatives to VS Code?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** ide\
**Created:** [November 12, 2024, 8:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526 "2024-11-12T08:17:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![pk1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pk1/32/213441_2.png) [@pk1](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pk1)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/43 "2024-11-16T15:38:44Z")

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I am very new to Julia, and I have to say I am very positively impressed by what I have seen in VSCode so far.  
The support for Julia is so much better than the support for Rust for example.

The debugger will never be perfect. This will become obvious If one compares to the debugger in Pycharm Professional, RustRover and Visual Studio 2022.

I also use vim/neovim regularly, but for bigger projects they can’t be seriously considered as alternatives.

The point will become obvious if someone downloads a very big and complex projects from github and tries to analyze and understand the codebase.

I don’t know if I will become a regular user of julia, but I want to express my thank you to the developers of the julia extension.

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**Author:** ![LaurentPlagne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/laurentplagne/32/10103_2.png) [@LaurentPlagne](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/LaurentPlagne)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/44 "2024-11-16T15:43:14Z")

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Looks cool but I would not consider it for closed source dev.

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**Author:** ![PetrKryslUCSD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petrkryslucsd/32/215825_2.png) [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/45 "2024-11-16T16:15:19Z")

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Cursor is nothing else but a fork of VS Code.

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**Author:** ![eweiss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@eweiss](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eweiss)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/46 "2024-11-18T15:38:31Z")

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I have a project that uses a SQLite database with a table of 6.5 million records to do a lot of graphs and other calculations. I can run it from the command line in 5-6 minutes. When I use VSCode, it takes a couple of hours to load and to run it is still going 24 hours later. So I’m finding VSCode useless.

It would be nice to be able to set breakpoints, step through code and monitor values, but for this project I’m using vim.

I used RStudio (and R) for an earlier version of this project and that IDE worked great.

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**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/47 "2024-11-18T16:25:25Z")

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> [@eweiss](#):
>
> When I use VSCode, it takes a couple of hours to load and to run it is still going 24 hours later.

VSCode with debugging enabled? So perhaps you just run everything in interpreter mode? That could be the problem, but would only indicate that you are not using the debugger correctly.

I normally use just Bash in VSCode and start Julia from Bash. No slow-down, but still nice for programming, as GUI for git and as markdown pre-viewer for the documentation.

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**Author:** ![gdalle](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gdalle/32/27854_2.png) [@gdalle](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/gdalle)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/48 "2024-11-18T17:31:17Z")

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There is no slowdown in the VSCode Julia REPL either, and it gives you access to nicer integration with the IDE (running code from file with `Shift+Enter` being my favorite one). I think you’re right though, such a crazy runtime is most likely due to running the code in interpreter mode. @eweiss can you describe how you run Julia files in the editor (which button you click)?

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**Author:** ![NonDairyNeutrino](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nondairyneutrino/32/221496_2.png) [@NonDairyNeutrino](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NonDairyNeutrino)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/49 "2024-11-18T17:53:05Z")

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+1 (woops wrong site lol) for Modern Julia Workflows. It’s truly a gold mine for understanding how to actually make a full project & package (as opposed to just a collection of source codes) and it should be required reading for any newcomer to Julia. Additionally, I think a big problem is knowing what’s out there in terms of packages and then distilling that down to what works best for different scenarios, and MJW does that very well.

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**Author:** ![eweiss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@eweiss](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eweiss)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/50 "2024-11-18T19:21:24Z")

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I have the directory with my program open. I click on the Julia program. Then I click on Run and Debug (Shift-Command-D). It starts debugging and takes forever. Any suggestions?

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**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/51 "2024-11-18T20:24:28Z")

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I’m amazed by your patience to wait 24 h to check that the command eventually would finish.  
If you want to click buttons I think you can use

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/6/0/607f567cd96be87c0b74155903c94ed4c1c821b1.png)

Though most people (I think) just uses the `include("filename.jl")`, or type a function name with arguments. And there is also the above mentioned “Shift+Enter” that executes a selected block of lines.

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**Author:** ![davidanthoff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/davidanthoff/32/223493_2.png) [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/52 "2024-11-18T20:24:56Z")

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@eweiss that will run the entire program in the debugger, and the debugger is slow unless you tell it to run certain things (like file loading) in compiled mode (which means you can’t debug those parts). There is an option to list all the packages/modules that you want compiled in the UI.

Or you can also just run things not in the debugger. If you click the red circled button in the top right of a Julia file, you see multiple options:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/7/e/7e2e651873d84beccc64586ef725ae44457d4162.png)

Everything except the last option will just run things, but not in the debugger, and should be as fast as if you ran it outside of VS Code.

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**Author:** ![consumere](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/consumere/32/209031_2.png) [@consumere](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/consumere)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/53 "2024-11-18T21:43:32Z")

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i compiled zed on my windows machine and its quite usable at this state… if that aforementioned inline-execution issue will be resolved, i’d totally recommend it!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eweiss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@eweiss](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eweiss)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/54 "2024-11-18T23:44:17Z")

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Thanks. This helps a lot.

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**Author:** ![liu20001028](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/liu20001028/32/211762_2.png) [@liu20001028](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/liu20001028)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 7:16am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/55 "2024-11-19T07:16:38Z")

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what about ZED

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**Author:** ![greatpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@greatpet](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/greatpet)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 9:45am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/56 "2024-11-19T09:45:23Z")

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LanguageServer.jl, which powers the VSCode extension, can give spurious warnings for valid and simple syntax like this:  
 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/6/5/65f26510bb97ba7cceac0db8eede4f7df9fd7871.png)

The warning message under the wiggly line is “Possible method call error”. I think the parser interprets the function definition as a keyword `function` followed by a “method call”, which is a bit counterintuitive and may be causing the problem. I filed an [issue](https://github.com/julia-vscode/StaticLint.jl/issues/382) some time ago but didn’t get a response. I guess the devs handling the parsing part of LanguageServer are overstretched.

Other than these small glitches, VSCode is surely the most polished IDE for Julia, though I still use Emacs for quick edits. I had good experiences with [julia-snail](https://github.com/gcv/julia-snail) in the past though haven’t followed more recently.

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**Author:** ![Mateusz\_K](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mateusz_k/32/31832_2.png) [@Mateusz\_K](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Mateusz_K)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/57 "2024-11-20T19:26:27Z")

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I would love switching to zed, but last time I checked Julia support was limited to syntax highlighting and there was no sent to repl shortcut. But maybe things have improved. This is probably editor that should get more attention form Julia community. It’s developed in Rust, and works cross platform.

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**Author:** ![stevengj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevengj/32/71_2.png) [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/60 "2024-11-21T19:00:53Z")

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: [Development resources for VSCode Julia extension?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/development-resources-for-vscode-julia-extension/122907/14)

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**Author:** ![MJulia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@MJulia](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/MJulia)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 8:03am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/61 "2024-11-23T08:03:39Z")

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> [@Mateusz\_K](#):
>
> there was no sent to repl shortcut

still the same, it is a pity.

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**Author:** ![Hoskins6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9fc348/32.png) [@Hoskins6](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Hoskins6)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 8:33am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/62 "2024-11-23T08:33:55Z")

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Thank you for sharing…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PhilippA](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/philippa/32/21676_2.png) [@PhilippA](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PhilippA)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 9:45am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/63 "2024-11-23T09:45:58Z")

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Positron ([https://positron.posit.co](https://positron.posit.co)) is based on VSCode and the Julia extension already works in Positron as it does in VS Code. I use Positron for Python, R and Julia and it works like a charm.

However, Positron offers more native support for R and Python, such as data viewers, consoles, plot panes, etc. I think Positron is going to be quite big in the Python and R community and native Julia support would just make it easier for a lot of people to get into Julia.

Moreover, given the new possibilities for using Julia binaries in R and Python packages, Posit (the company) may even have an incentive to actively develop native support for Julia itself. And Posit is paying some developers just to develop Positron. In addition, they have already posted some guidelines on how to contribute, and they seem open to collaboration: [Julia language as a native citizen? · Issue #3679 · posit-dev/positron · GitHub](https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/issues/3679)

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**Author:** ![nsajko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nsajko/32/221187_2.png) [@nsajko](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nsajko)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 10:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ide-alternatives-to-vs-code/122526/64 "2024-11-23T10:17:35Z")

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> [@PhilippA](#):
>
> Positron ([https://positron.posit.co](https://positron.posit.co)) is based on VSCode

I fail to see what the value proposition for Positron over VS Code is supposed to be, even after checking out their README and Web site.

> [@PhilippA](#):
>
> Positron offers more native support for R and Python, such as data viewers, consoles, plot panes, etc.

Doesn’t the Julia extension already provide all of those in VS Code?

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