Discussion on "IDE - The beginner's trap"

Younes · 2019-01-10T14:37:21.708Z

Hello everyone, today we talk about IDE's ! But first.. What's an IDE ? For me, an IDE is a software that allows us to write code with a comfortable environment for the language we're using. We can do thing faster and better. I would even say that it...

I think we learn to fulfill needs. When any IDE or framework cannot give what we want, we try to dig deeper.

Todays learning process is little hybrid. People first learn to make crud or an application with more coding, then start exploring framework, libraries and generator. Later they start to learn deeper because of the requirement. This process is OK.

I think everyone should become productive and efficient not just a coder.

Because too many people agree, I need to play the devil's advocate here ;-)

Not only about language, but libs or frameworks, knowing and mastering an IDE makes it easy to learn the new things we have in hands. Let me give an example. I'm writing some Python stuff, I need to use a lib I use often, but this time in a slightly different context. The IDE lets me navigate very quickly to the source of that library, then back, then into that 3rd party source again... at the end of the day it makes me learn much faster that dependency, the conditions under which it works as expected, ... Let's take another example. I'm learning a new framework, and start writing some simple apps with it. Having a powerful debugger with breakpoints (which is one of the criteria to distinguish an IDE from an advanced text editor) let me explore the object structure exposed by the framework or language, verify my assumptions (when we learn a new thing, we're often like 'ok, if I remember correctly this should be x or y'). In short, it let us iterate and experiment faster, with a faster feedback loop. And learning is all about practice. The faster you can iterate, the faster you learn. Don't get me wrong. Reading the docs, understanding and remembering the fundamentals will always be a requirement, no matter the tool. But then you start experimenting, and all those small experiments are the first step in your experience with a language. And having the tools that let you maximize your iteration speed is the key to learn faster. And I have to agree 100%: anyone needs to know his tools. (And choosing a theme for an IDE is not learning how to master it ;-) ). Being able to quickly navigate through the code, use the debugger, inspect the relations, all that stuff is more insights into the new things you're trying to learn.

In other words, I wouldn't say an IDE is a trap for a beginner.... but I understand how one could think it's easier to get sidetracked more easily ;-)

I couldn't agree 100%. Some IDEs can even suggest you the best practices in coding. It will be very beneficial for beginners

Thank's for giving your opinion. 😋

I agree with you. That's like a teacher showing to his students how to do something. But after the demonstration the students have to practice and I think that's the same thing with IDE's, they can show you the best practices but if the IDE generate them all the time, you will never learn or slower. That's why I say that's better to start without it and after use the IDE to improve your way of doing things.

I think especially when you're learning, figuring out how to read and write the most basic syntax of the language serves you better than having to magically autocomplete for you. Writing code really reinforces how to read code, and I have yet to see any IDE that autocompletes reading code for you ;)

I see people every week struggling with linter errors in their editors that are warning them (wrongly) about code that's fine, but because there's an "error" in their editor it stops people from even running the code to see if it works or not. They get stuck before they even try it because they think it's wrong when it's not.

Some tools that can be helpful for advanced users can also be a serious impediment to new learners!

Isn't this a bit like saying you should write assembly before relying on a compiler to do it for you?

I think we have to find the right balance and not fall into the trap of being too dependent on the tool.

Thank's for your comment ^^

Mark j I found this too misleading. So I've written a post. Please check it: hashnode.com/post/how-ide-is-a-blessing-for-begin…

The point is that every convenient tools that does stuff for you - like a compiler or IDE or framework - makes you learn less about the layer below, because you need it less.

But that doesn't automatically mean you should learn the lower layers. Compilers took care of assembly so now most of us don't need to learn it anymore. High level languages took care of GC so now most of us don't need manual memory management anymore. IDEs write public static void main(String[] args) for us so why memorize it?

At the extreme, learning all the lower layers means learning electrodynamics, because all we're really doing is pushing electrons around metal circuits. We can all agree that is ridiculous (I hope), so where's the cutoff? When can you stop learning lower levels?

So to summarize: yes, if you learn with an IDE, you don't learn to do manually what the IDE does for you. But why would you?

Well written. The Abstraction and Convenience of Tools/Frameworks are making people to skip the fundamentals

Discussion

IDE - The beginner's trap

Responses(6)

Recent in Forum

Search Hashnode

IDE - The beginner's trap

Responses(6)

Recent in Forum