True, but it provides this support natively, without any extension, and the functionality of the plot and data viewer, for example, is the same for R and Python. In addition, Positron natively recognises all installed versions of Python and R, allowing you to switch between them. Furthermore, their (R) debugger is amazing as they can even debug in C++ (see 48:00 https://youtu.be/8uRcB34Hhsw?si=LSlCNwWMn29S6ITZ).
These are certainly nuances, but in my experience people new to a language will acknowledge similar behaviour from IDEs. And native integration between Julia, R and Python will certainly help Juliaâs popularity as well. Another advantage, imho, is that Posit provides financial resources to develop this IDE.
Personally, I agree and both VSCode and Emacs work fine with Julia for my needs.
On the other hand, Posit is the company behind RStudio and if Positron has a similar look and feel, comes pre-configured etc, I can see the appeal in a company setting.
RStudio or Spyder users say ick when they see my VSCode window. They love their data science layout, where the code, plots, and variables are in standard locations and look and feel.
I often lose control of my VSCode (actually Cursor) layout and consistently have more panes open than I want. My Python pane says shift-return should execute in Interactive but it doesnât, it goes to my Terminal. My Interactive says Enter to execute, but it doesnât, have to use cmd-Enter. Dunno what extension is messing up the keyboard shortcuts, would take a binary search of depth â„5 to figure it out. But youâd have to pry VSCode from my cold, dead fingers because itâs so easy to edit the occasional LaTeX, html, or C.
I suspect Posit is testing out Positron as an eventual replacement for RStudio. The momentum behind VSCode is just too strong.