Posit has just released a new IDE called Positron (GitHub - posit-dev/positron: Positron, a next-generation data science IDE) based on VS Code. It is specifically tailored for R and Python. Could this be a great opportunity for the Julia community to get involved and improve the editor experience?
As long as posit develops multilingual projects, julia can ride the wave. See for example GitHub - PumasAI/QuartoNotebookRunner.jl
What’s seems much more interesting than the vscode reskin, is that they’re working on an R “super-kernel” that works as a jupyter kernel, an lsp, and dap debugger. GitHub - posit-dev/ark: Ark, an R kernel. From the readme:
we needed to tightly integrate with the Jupyter kernel to provide introspective features based on the current state of the R session.
I.e. They’re using dynamic introspection to improve the language server. That just feels right.
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I think the Julia community should definitely keep an eye on this IDE. It’s good to see that Posit is also using VSC. I think Julia would get even more attention if Posit also supported their data science IDE. Also, there is a good chance that Julia will also benefit from new features.
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Supporting Julia issue is already raised: Julia language as a native citizen? · Issue #3679 · posit-dev/positron · GitHub.
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Positron is making rapid progress towards its release candidate. There is already a lot of interest expressed in supporting Julia on GitHub. Posit members already provided concrete guidance (1 and 2) on what steps are necessary, while of course saying that Positron’s extension API is still experimental.
I would be so happy to see this happen, as I think enabling Julia within Positron would be a HUGE popularity win for the language. Given that Positron is based on VS code, the transition from the current Julia extension to a full language feature within Positron may not be too difficult?
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