With a few months of living with the idea of the “two processors on a single board” architecture that the Arduino Q exemplifies, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about software development environments. We tend to get attached to our favorite IDE, largely because we know where to reach for a tool or a process when we need it. But is the idea of that attachment going to change with the evolution in hardware, or will we find ourselves attached by golden handcuffs to the IDE that works with a particular combination of processor and controller?
I have lived and worked with a bunch of editors and IDEs in my career. To be brutally honest, I’ve spent far more time in text editors than in IDEs because IDEs were fairly new when I was starting out. I began with tools like TECO and its progeny, EMACS, and can remember how exciting it was to see the integrated environment in Turbo Pascal.
Now, we’ve got two factors having an impact on IDE development. One is, of course, the dual processor/controller architecture. The other, probably more significant factor, is vibe coding. If you’re late to this particular party, “vibe coding” is working with Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI engine to develop software. You describe the problem, the AI engine provides an answer, and then you can go through and edit the code to better suit your needs.
Partners in Code
AI is certainly going to be one of the normal tools in a developer’s toolkit from now on. Like modular development, in which software is built from existing blocks rather than being written from scratch, AI just makes too much sense from a productivity standpoint to ignore the possibilities.
Now, that doesn’t mean that AI is going to take over from human developers—it’s too limited in what it can write and far too prone to deliver code that’s beautifully constructed and absolutely incorrect. But there are not, yet, any IDEs that really work to specifically take advantage of AI in a uniform, standardized way.
Software for IT long ago passed the point at which a lone developer, toiling in their un-heated attic with only their pet dragon for company, could compete with teams of programmers in productivity terms. Embedded systems will, I think, remain an area for independent developers for much longer because many of the projects are smaller in scope and highly customized. But that is going to make solid development tools even more important in the next decade.
Embedded systems wil remain an area for independent developers for a long time because many of the projects are smaller in scope and highly customized. But that makes solid development tools even more important in the next decade. I’m beginning to see some exciting developments—the question will be whether the cost of learning yet another new IDE will be justified by the happiness and productivity gains that IDE brings.
So my questions this month are these: What was your favorite text editor or IDE? Are you still using it today? And what would you like to see in a tool that has a chance to become your new favorite? Drop me a note or a message on social media—hearing from readers is high on my list of favorite things.
email: c.franklin@circuitcellar.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtisfranklin/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtis.f.franklin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curt_franklin/
Mastodon: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@Kg4gwa
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/kg4gwa.bsky.social
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PUBLISHED IN CIRCUIT CELLAR MAGAZINE • January #426 – Get a PDF of the issue
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Curtis Franklin has been a journalist working in the computer and technology fields for more than forty years. From his early career as a columnist at Computer Shopper and the founder of the BYTE Testing Lab, he has covered computing devices from handheld to supercomputing and applications from trivial to life-altering. In 1988, he was the first editor of an exciting startup publication that was then called Circuit Cellar INK. Since then, he has edited and written for publications including ComputerWorld, NetworkWorld, InfoWorld, InformationWeek, and Dark Reading. Most recently, he was Principal Analyst for Cybersecurity Management at Omdia.
Curtis co-wrote one of the first books on podcasting and has been a host or co-host on more than 500 episodes of various podcasts, including hundreds of episodes of This Week in Enterprise Technology, a production of the TWiT Podcast Network.
When not telling stories of computers and the people who make them, Curtis is an amateur radio operator (KG4GWA), an artist, and a Florida Master Naturalist. He’s also active in the maker community, working on the teams that produce Maker Faire Orlando and Maker Faire Miami.
