[Sublime + Python Setup] why Atom can’t replace Sublime

Hey there,

"In a nutshell, Atom is a Sublime Text editor that just got better."

When I read this quote I got so worked up I nearly fell off my chair.

Because every time I've tried Atom or VS Code or any other of these newfangled "web-technology based" code editors it's been AWE…ful:

They're janky as heck.

I can just about hear the CSS diesel engines and Web Font Renderers churning beneath the surface: clank, clank, clank…

There is no such thing as a "native web app". Every "native" (ahem) app I've ever used that's based on web technology was easy to bust:

With few exceptions, web apps in a native wrapper just feel paper thin and gLitcHy.

Slow reaction to user input, slow screen refresh, laggy scrolling… just to name a FEW of the problems.

Okay, so why am I ranting about this?

First, because I think using these INFERIOR tools leads to a huge amount of wasted time for software developers—

And second, because it is PROOF that fast and optimized editors like Sublime Text are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Just look at what usability research has to say about sluggish user interfaces:

Slow website page load time has a large effect on user abandonment.

Basically, when humans get bored waiting for something to happen it increases the chances that they'll abandon the original task they had in mind.

As software developers, waiting on tools to complete their job is a normal part of our day to day workflow (unfortunately!)

We're always waiting for a module to install, a test to run, or a commit to finish ("It's compiling!")…

Now sure, we're not "abandoning" our work every time we have to wait a few seconds for a tool to run—keeping focused on the task at hand is what we're getting paid for after all.

Yet, generating that focus costs us mental energy that we might then lack in other areas of our work.

We get tired a little quicker in the afternoon, or introduce a "tiny" little extra bug with our latest commit —

You know the drill. In my experience even small forced pauses and delays add up.

Switching files in a slow editor or jumping between apps on a slow computer is simply harrowing.

It pains the engineer in me to think that things I literally do hundreds of times each day are not performing at optimum efficiency…

And don't get me started on editor typing latencies… Sure, the scale is different—microscopic even—but boy does it feel agonizing to have my cursor freeze in place, or some crappy web-app based editor taking a second to render a character I just typed. Yarghh!

All of those issues just slowly (hah!) KILL productivity…

Here's a little thought experiment, to loosen things up:

Let's say you're waiting for a task to complete for about 1 out of every 10 seconds you spend on productive work.

That adds up to half a day per week, or 2 days a month… or *1 whole month* of time wasted on slow software over the course of a year!

Maybe this estimate is too high—but what if you could "only" get an additional week of productive time a year, just by spending a few hours on optimizing your tools? I'd say that's worth a try.

Heck, what if you could 'only' free up 1 week every 5 years by spending an hour on your tools today? The rational person in me is foaming at the mouth right now…

It turns out you can eliminate *dozens* of these little kinks and hitches in your Sublime Text workflow. And it'll take you less than 60 minutes to do it, see below for details:

>> Click here to improve your Python editor efficiency

— Dan Bader

Key phrases

Older messages

[Python Dependency Pitfalls] How to set the world on fire

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Hey there, #1 on my list of dependency management pitfalls is there for a good reason: It lead to a single developer causing mayhem and breaking thousands of open-source projects around the world in

[Python Dependency Pitfalls] A total mess?

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Hey there, Recently I watched a Pythonista ask for advice on setting up a Python project on his work machine. This new developer had some prior experience with NodeJS and had just started to get his

[Sublime + Python Setup] The Ctrl+s "Heisenbug"

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

"What the **** is going on?!" I heard Keith yell. Returning from my lunch break and in a helpful mood I grabbed my coffee mug and shuffled over to my coworker's desk. "What's

[PythonistaCafe] Q&A

Monday, April 4, 2022

Hey there, At this point you should have a pretty good idea of what PythonistaCafe is about and what makes it special. In this email I want to answer some common questions that I get asked about the

[Sublime + Python Setup] How to become a happier & more productive Python dev

Monday, April 4, 2022

Hey there, I really struggled with setting up an effective development environment as a new Python developer. It was difficult to build the right habits and to find a set of tools I enjoyed to use.

You Might Also Like

PHPWeekly March 28th 2024

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Curated news all about PHP. Here's the latest edition Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. PHP Weekly 28th March 2024 Hi everyone, The long weekend is coming up, and if

Hulu officially joins Disney+

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Morning After It's Thursday, March 28, 2024. A month after taking full ownership of Hulu last November, Disney started beta testing integration with Disney+. Today, Hulu on Disney+ is

Post from Syncfusion Blogs on 03/28/2024

Thursday, March 28, 2024

New blogs from Syncfusion Chart of the Week: Creating a .NET MAUI Column Chart to Visualize the Corporate Investment in AI By Saiyath Ali Fathima M Let's visualize the data on corporates'

New ZenHammer Attack Bypasses Rowhammer Defenses on AMD CPUs

Thursday, March 28, 2024

THN Daily Updates Newsletter cover Webinar: From Blind Spots to Bulletproof: Secure Your Apps with Shared Responsibility From oversight to overwatch: Discover the art of bulletproof app security with

Top Tech 🏆 Synology BeeStation NAS Review — Testing Anker's EverFrost Dual-Zone Powered Cooler

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Also: We Review the Arlo Essential Indoor Cam 2nd Gen, and More! How-To Geek Logo March 28, 2024 📩 Get the hottest deals, how-to's, breaking news, and more delivered directly to your inbox by

Last Chance

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hello there, I wanted to follow up on our last email to let you know that our introductory iPhone Life Insider offer will expire tomorrow! Currently, a subscription to iPhone Life Insider costs $9.99/

Edge 381: Google DeepMind's PrompBreeder Self-Improves Prompts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The method combines chain of thoughts, plan and solve and evolutionary algorithms in a single mthod. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Anthropic beats GPT-4 🤖, Pixel 9 leaks 📱, the fight for AI talent 👨‍💻

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Anthropic's Claude 3 Opus has surpassed OpenAI's GPT-4 for the first time on Chatbot Arena Sign Up|Advertise|View Online TLDR Together With Dollar Flight Club TLDR 2024-03-28 Exclusive offer:

From Request to Response: How APIs Work – Beginners Guide

Thursday, March 28, 2024

In the vast expanse of the digital ecosystem, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) act as critical conduits, facilitating seamless conversations between different software platforms. From clicking

Elastic 8.13 is here: Amazon Bedrock in the AI Assistant for Observability

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Learn about Amazon Bedrock support within the Elastic AI Assistant for Observability ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ elastic | Search. Observe. Protect