contradictioned/areweideyet

Add the "Helix" editor

Opened this issue · 2 comments

usagi-flow commented

I'd like to suggest adding an editor to "Are we IDE yet"!

Helix, which is branded as a "post-modern editor", has been around since a few years, and it's already better in various areas compared to other IDEs/editors mentioned on Are we IDE yet...

Where this text-based, modal shines is its (probably unmatched) speed and the fact that it doesn't require any plugins to function as an IDE.

If you don't mind, I'll take over some key points which I recently mentioned on rust-lang/www.rust-lang.org#1696:

Batteries included

Helix supports Rust out-of-the-box, and that includes syntax highlighting, code completion (using LSP -> rust_analyzer), refactoring, debugging, and so on. There are no plugins required (in fact Helix has no plugin system yet, though that is being discussed), and no configuration.
In fact, there's many features it supports by default (where other Editors like Vim would require plugins).

All of the existing tools (on the "Tools" page) require at least a plugin.

Written in Rust

The editor is entirely written in Rust. This may or may not seem important, but you could indirectly consider Helix as a neat little showcase for a successful Rust application.

None of the existing tools (on the "Tools" page) are written in Rust.

Active development

This is hard to quantify of course, but I think most would agree that development is very active. New features get added frequently.
The repository is on GitHub: helix-editor/helix
The GitHub insights show a nice overview of the high activity: Pulse

Free and Open Source

Helix is licensed under the MPL. There are no commercial versions.

As for the features mentioned on Are we IDE yet, here's an overview of Helix's coverage.

Most of these features are possible thanks to Helix's support for LSP, so they're using rust_analyzer for Rust files.

  • ✔️ Syntax highlighting (.rs)
    • Supported out-of-the-box
  • ✔️ Syntax highlighting (.toml)
    • Supported out-of-the-box
  • ⏳ Snippets
  • ✔️ Code Completion
    • Supported out-of-the-box
  • ✔️ Linting
    • Supported out-of-the-box
  • ✔️ Code Formatting
    • Supported out-of-the-box (:format / :fmt)
  • ✔️ Go-to Definition
    • Supported out-of-the-box
  • ✔️ Debugging
  • ✔️ Documentation Tooltips
    • Supported out-of-the-box
contradictioned commented

Hey, thanks for that extensive suggestion; sounds like a no-brainer to add helix :)

  • 🎉2
Rudxain commented

It's been 2 years :(

  • 👀1