I mean, you could go write up an IDE that acts like that old one in a few weeks now. Could use a ton less RAM. You'll be the only person using it while everyone else uses the browser for convenience.

You don’t even need to do that, there are plenty of IDEs that are lightweight and not web-based.

There’s just no reason to be mad that something is popular. Sure, VSCode is the most popular, if that person doesn’t like it they should just use something else.

I'm not mad that VScode is popular. I am mad at people that are not appalled by the resource use of vscode and clones, by the sluggish UI, by the abysmal security (with the latest example being the multi-billion bitcoin theft), by the walled garden that allowed that despite its very stated purpose... You know, all factors that a competent programmer would find important when making a choice of tools...

Two things.

One: A very many programmers have their tools selected by their jobs, not their own choices.

Two: There are very few competent programmers.

I’m not appalled by it because the resource use is “free.”

I already have 32GB of RAM plus an M2 Max in my laptop because my company issued it to me. I already have 32GB of RAM and a 9850X3D in my desktop because I play games.

What non-ideological motivation do I have to ration computing resources on my IDE?

If I was coding on a raspberry pi my story would change, but I’m not so I don’t care.

>What non-ideological motivation do I have to ration computing resources on my IDE?

I feel gross explaining this.

If we both have the same exact machine, but I choose to use software that uses substantially less resources -- well -- then I get to run more of that software simultaneously.

if you use computers as some big single-tasked typewriter equivalent then yeah, who cares.

it's not all fucking style and ideology, sometimes behaviors have a decent concrete reasoning.