Good Bye ATOM 👋

Publish Date: Jul 24 '22

15 32

So Github has decided to discontinue its ATOM text editor.you can read more about it here: https://github.blog/2022-06-08-sunsetting-atom/. ATOM will be discontinued on 15th December
In 2018, Microsoft acquired Github, and VS Code is also owned by Microsoft. So we all knew this was eventually going to happen. They won't be maintaining two different softwares for the same purpose.

Are VS Code and ATOM really that similar?

Both are code editor, but offer very interesting features for text editing. Both are based on electron. But the main difference was user experience. VS Code is more inclined towards being an IDE, while Atom is more inclined towards being just a text editor for developers.

_{^{Image credit - itsfoss.com}}

Why use ATOM instead of VS Code?

VS Code is great. But there are many times I just wanted to make some quick edits. At that point I didn't wanted to open VS Code because its quite heave when compared to ATOM due to so many extensions I have installed 😅. I also prefer to use ATOM when working on small projects because ATOM is faster than VS Code. ATOM also supports extensions and they are pretty useful too. But even after installing so many extensions it was still lightweight and faster than VS Code.
ATOM is for people who wanted more than a text editor but still want it lightweight.

What is the future of ATOM?

ATOM will be officially discontinued on December 15th. Till then you can use it normally. After that also you can use it but there won't be any updates. You will still be able to use extensions. However I think that the development of extensions will also stop after that. And eventually it will become very outdated. Since ATOM is open source, many forks may emerge but I don't think that they will get the same amount of attention from the community and extension developers.

What are the alternatives?

There are a few good alternatives to ATOM.

First is Brackets by Adobe. I mainly for frontend developers only. So I didn't want to use it.

Next is Sublime text, Its really good, fast, and easy to use. It also supports various extensions. However, its not free. Most of the features are there in the trial version but the trial version show unlicensed product on the top bar , prompts many times to purchase a license. These small things sometimes makes the experience a little less enjoyable. If you can afford Sublime text, then you should definitely buy and use it. Its really great.

Another one is Kate. The text editor from the developers of KDE plasma. And since I'm using KDE, it works really great for me.(Its cross platform, supports Win, Mac, Linux) Its very customizable, offers many plugins, is very lightweight, has a lot of features. The only thing it lacks is support for third party plugins. But noticing the nature of KDE software, I think it will allow third party plugins soon as well.

For me, I will be switching back and forth between Kate and ATOM as of now.

Comments 32 total

Ben SinclairJul 24, 2022

Next is Sublime text, Its really good, fast, and easy to use. It also supports various extensions. However, its not completely free. Most of the features are free but the free version show unlicensed product on the top bar , prompts many times to purchase a license.

Sublime isn't free at all.

This is what it says in the official notes:

Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use.
- Rachit KhuranaJul 24, 2022
  Ya, you are correct.
  I edited and corrected it.
Leober RamosJul 24, 2022
If you want a faster code editor for quick edits and small projects use Vim or Sublime Text, instead of Atom.
- Rachit KhuranaJul 24, 2022
  Vim isn't very beginner friendly, and sublime prompts for licence key again and again, So I use Kate instead. I have mentioned this in the post too
  - Leober RamosAug 1, 2022
    I didn't know this code editor, it's native right?, nothing about electron and stuff, it looks good... Let's see how you have it configured to see if it motivates me to use it.
    - Rachit KhuranaAug 1, 2022
      Ya, Its native.
      My kate uses my desktop's theme and goes well with my OS
      Here is a preview:
Eljay-AdobeJul 24, 2022
I've been using Vim for about 25 years. Best editor I've ever used, and I've used many different text editors. (...but I haven't used ATOM, VSCode, Brackets, or Kate. I have used Sublime.) Also, Vim is on every platform I care about.

Before I switched to Vim, I had used Emacs for about 8 years.

The feature I like best about Vim is that it gets out of the way. It's a zen-like experience. I can become one with the keyboard.

I would not use Vim as an IDE substitute, although some die-hard Vim fans do use it as an IDE. Not its wheelhouse.
- revoltezJul 24, 2022
  i would be curious to hear your opinion on doom emacs ! why did you switch to vim, it sure must be something awesome since you spent 8 years on emacs !
  - Eljay-AdobeJul 25, 2022
    A coworker of mine used Vim. He and I would extol the virtues of our favorite editors (Vim for him, Emacs for me).
    
    We made a challenge bet, I'd use Vim for a month, he'd use Emacs for a month. After the month was up, he went back to Vim, and I didn't go back to Emacs. (For the reasons mentioned earlier.)
    - Ben LovyJul 26, 2022
      I had the opposite happen - I was a long-time Vim user, tried Emacs "just to see", have never once considered moving back. It takes all kinds I guess.
      - revoltezJul 27, 2022
        what is it that made you switch vim for emacs? what could emacs do that vim can't or do it better?
        
        Eljay-AdobeJul 27, 2022
        Emacs is bigger than Vim. It's an environment. It's practically an operating system. The only thing it lacks is a good editor.
        
        revoltezJul 28, 2022
        yeah i know all the quotes, none makes sense, its like i give you an empty buffer and i tell look at this extensible environment, you could program it to do anything, the only limit is your when you get tired programming what you want.
        
        Eljay-AdobeJul 28, 2022
        That was the point: Vim is a good editor. If you want to edit, Vim is good at it.
        
        Emacs is not good at it. Emacs is good -- great even -- at many other things.
        
        Ben LovyJul 29, 2022
        I have to say - I also don't understand. Can you make the criticism more concrete? I do many things with Emacs, including editing text, and do not find it deficient.
        
        Eljay-AdobeJul 29, 2022
        I'll try to make it more concrete by using an analogy.
        
        I've eaten chocolate ice cream. It's okay. I had eaten it for 8 years.
        
        Then I tried vanilla ice cream. It was much better. I loved it. It's the only ice cream I've been eating now for 25 years.
        
        I just don't like chocolate ice cream very much.
        
        Now you've told me you used to eat vanilla ice cream. Then tried chocolate ice cream, and you love chocolate ice cream. And you would never go back to vanilla ice cream.
        
        It's okay that I like vanilla ice cream. It's okay that you like chocolate ice cream.
        
        The things I don't like about chocolate ice cream are the things you like about it. The things I like about vanilla ice cream are the things you don't like about it.
        
        Ben LovyJul 29, 2022
        Hm - that's all well and good, I understand the taste thing. That's not what I'm asking about - you claimed Emacs is actually bad at editing text, which is a different claim than you simply prefer something else. 100% with you on divergent preferences, but the phrase was "Emacs is not good at it. Emacs is good -- great even -- at many other things.". I still don't follow. Is it bad because you found a tool you like better, or is it inherently worse in a way I'm missing? That's what I mean by "concrete", specific criticisms of how emacs fails where vim succeeds at editing text. I'm conversant in both and can't think of any that aren't personal preference.
        
        Eljay-AdobeJul 29, 2022
        
        Is it bad because you found a tool you like better, or is it inherently worse in a way I'm missing?
        
        You used to use Vim, for a long time. Now you use Emacs. Obviously you think Emacs is better, and doesn't suck at editing.
        
        I used used to use Emacs, for a long time. Now I use Vim. I think Emacs sucks at editing.
        
        Emacs gets in the way of editing; Vim gets out of the way and editing becomes a zen-like experience. I think Emacs is inherently worse at editing; but you don't see it. Okay, that's fine. If it works for you, it works for you.
        
        Hence my ice cream analogy.
        
        Ben LovyJul 29, 2022
        Okay, thanks - just wanted to find out if you knew something technical I hadn't experienced yet. Appreciate your time!
        
        Eljay-AdobeJul 29, 2022
        No problem, it takes all kinds I guess.
  - OisínJul 30, 2022
    I used Emacs for a little while in the late 1990s and liked it. I'd tried vim and didn't really get it.
    Then a few years later, a research colleague was using vim to do some basic editing while SSH'ed into a compute cluster. I asked her why she was using vim and how she was doing things. She pointed out that on the cluster the only available editors were nano and vim, and gave me a quick tutorial. Once I started to get comfortable with vim's movement actions, especially things like "daw" (delete a word), % (jump to matching bracket/paren/etc), f and F to jump forward/backward the next matching character, gg/:NN to jump to the top or a specific line... I really enjoyed it and have never wanted to go back. That was about 10 years ago.
    Also, Vimgolf helped me learn more effective ways of navigating and editing text.
- Rachit KhuranaJul 25, 2022
  Nice, But vim/emacs aren't very beginner friendly. I tried to learn them but found opening a text editor like Kate much easier and faster
  - Eljay-AdobeJul 25, 2022
    I agree with that!
    
    I can't recall the text editor I used when I was a beginner. It would have been on the Apple IIe, in 1983. I suspect it also wasn't very beginner friendly, but I didn't know better at the time.
- Ivan JeremicJul 26, 2022
  Atom, Brackets or any of these are not in the same Category as VSCode, VSC has so much you can't call it texteditor, it is a full blown IDE for web+
- blackmouse572Jul 29, 2022
  I like the way Vim can customize and lightweight. I really want to replace VSCode to Vim. But still, vscode have the power of user friendly and extensions. Now when code React, I use Vim, when code Flutter, I use vscode :v
LachiJul 24, 2022
Bye bye ATOM
revoltezJul 24, 2022
i think there are 3 main editors today, vim( or nvim) , emacs, vscode, i prefer to use nvim because everything vscode does nvim does it and it never leaves the terminal (formatting, linting, autocomplete, glorious themes, endless extension). just give it a weekend configuring it and a day or two learning the keybindings and you will never regret it. you will easily save 1.5 gb of ram and it is waaaaay much faster
- Rachit KhuranaJul 25, 2022
  Vim/emacs aren't really that beginner friendly. I tried to learn them but found opening a text editor like Kate much easier and faster
  - revoltezJul 25, 2022
    yeah that is why i said it takes a weekend to learn.
    - Rachit KhuranaJul 25, 2022
      I'm going to learn it, thats for sure. But I'm not sure when 😅
ShshankJul 25, 2022
I've used Sublime, Brackets and VSCode and personally found Sublime to be more fast, but prompt to purchase licence that's where I hate it 🥴 so using VSCode only.
Raí B. ToffolettoJul 25, 2022
You have Vim, GEdit, Elementary OS Code, XCode, Notepad++, Emacs... so many text editors. They come and go, choose. what fits you best 😉. It's a pity to see the project discontinued though, but since it's open source, and MIT licensed I guess the community will fork it into a new project.

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Rachit Khurana @dilutewater