Does Relying On an IDE Make You a Bad Programmer?

itwbennett writes "Writing about his career decisions, programming language choices, and regrets, Rob Conery says that as a .NET developer he became more reliant on an IDE than he would have with PHP. Blogger, and .NET developer, Matthew Mombrea picks up the thread, coming to the defense of IDEs (Visual Studio in particular). Mombrea argues that 'being a good developer isn't about memorizing the language specific calls, it's about knowing the available ways to solve a problem and solving it using the best technique or tools as you can.' Does using an IDE make you lazy with the language? Would you be better off programming with Notepad?"

Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Real programmers use butterflies. [xkcd.com]

Walk before you can run code

[DiamondGeezer]

I remember the days when all real programmers needed was a magnetized pin and a steady hand *puffs pipe*

Apple

[GweeDo]

If only Apple has been using an IDE that looked for unreachable code...

What the hell, is it the 90s again?

[glwtta]

Up next: do you really need source control?

Re:Yes

[Sigma 7]

It leads people to rely on building the application with the IDE instead of issuing standard Makefiles

In other words, it causes the programmer to rely on an automated build system instead of an automated build system.

Perhaps if DICE had used an IDE

[gman003]

Perhaps if DICE had used an IDE, we could have avoided Slashdot Beta.

Re:No...

[CCarrot]

BTW: There was some research done a while back that did show that using spell and grammar checkers improved the bad english-skills people, but actually made the people who were already good english-skills people worse!

That's it, blame the spelling and grammar checkers...

Re:No

[Zero__Kelvin]

" Likewise notepad, VI, emacs are passe arts."

Comparing Notepad to vim or emacs is like comparing Mayim Bialik to Kaley Cuoco.

Re:No

[Krishnoid]

... it offers loads of little "this code block can be refactored this way for this reason" hints - shows you just what can be done and why.

Oh good -- I was worried if and when Clippy would find work again, what with the husband and little staples to feed.

Re: No

[nwf]

Yes, using bad analogies is like cutting a tree down with a fish.

Re:No

[Darinbob]

She's the one on the show with Mayim Bialik.