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Atom vs CodeMirror: What are the differences?
Key Differences Between Atom and CodeMirror
Introduction
This article aims to provide a clear understanding of the key differences between Atom and CodeMirror, two popular text editors used for coding. Below are the main differences between the two:
Customization and Extensibility: Atom offers extensive customization options and allows users to personalize their coding environment with themes, plugins, and packages. CodeMirror, on the other hand, is focused on providing a lightweight and flexible editor without built-in customization features. Customization in CodeMirror can be achieved through its JavaScript API.
Collaborative Editing: Atom is designed to support real-time collaborative editing through packages like Teletype. This feature allows multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously. CodeMirror, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for collaborative editing, although it can be implemented using external libraries or tools.
Ecosystem and Community: Atom benefits from a large and active community of developers, resulting in a vast ecosystem of themes, packages, and plugins. CodeMirror also has a supportive community, but due to its focus on simplicity, the available ecosystem may not be as extensive as Atom's.
Performance and Resource Usage: Atom is known for its flexibility and extensibility, but this comes at the cost of performance and resource usage. It can be slower and more resource-intensive compared to other text editors, including CodeMirror. CodeMirror, being a lightweight editor, is designed to prioritize performance and efficiency.
Built-in Features: Atom comes with a rich set of built-in features, such as smart autocompletion, Git integration, and a fully customizable environment. CodeMirror, on the other hand, is more minimalistic and does not come bundled with many advanced features. It provides a basic editing experience, focusing on simplicity and speed.
Integration with Other Tools: Atom can integrate seamlessly with a variety of external tools and services, such as linters, debuggers, and version control systems, due to its extensibility. CodeMirror also supports integration with external tools, but its focus on simplicity may require more manual setup for integrating with specific tools.
In Summary, Atom and CodeMirror differ in terms of customization and extensibility, collaborative editing support, ecosystem and community, performance and resource usage, built-in features, and integration with other tools.
Since communication with Github is not necessary, the Atom is less convenient in working with text and code. Sublim's support and understanding of projects is best for us. Notepad for us is a completely outdated solution with an unacceptable interface. We use a good theme for Sublim ayu-dark
I use Visual Studio Code every day, it was very refreshing coming from Atom to get a lightweight, all i need setup right out of the box.
After working with Atom for around 2 years I switch to VSCode.
Here is why:
- Color display of variables in code. This may now sound much, but it improve the display of scss variables and its a core feature.
- Out of the box features.
- Automation! VSCode suggests usefull things to you.
- Integraded console. I love the console in VSCode. It is faster than my 'default' cmd on Windows. For Atom you would have to install a package, that doesn't work so well on Windows.
- Output logging per Plugin.
- Setup time. In VSCode I can set up my workspace in under 5 minutes. For Atom I need
- Plugins work perfect out of the box. This is a mayor one for me. For example: In order to set up Editorconfig you have to adjust mutliple values and plugins to get it work. Plugin creators of Editorconfig for Atom are not to blame: They include a linter, that verifies whether the settings are correct or not.
- Git implementation. VSCode ships with Git and even if the git packet of vscode doesn't look like much, theres a lot to it. For example you can watch changes inline.
- Minimap and vertical scrollbar. This feature is much better implementet in VSCode and you don't need an extra plugin.
- Auto completion. Sass mixins example:
@includeand you press CTRL+SPACE and VSCode shows you every Sass mixin. - Copy paths from open file tab. In VSCode you can copy the path of an file directly when you have it open. In atom you need to select 'show in tree view' and than copy the path or relative path.
- Tree view. The tree view VSCode automaticly brings you to the current open file by default. This helps when working with components.
- File search. The file search supports the asterisk so you can search for eg
molecule-*.ts. - Tasks support. Tasks are integrated in VSCode so eg. for Typescript you can
CTRL + SHIFT + Band selecttsc: watch - tsconfig.ts. - Short waiting time. For example when deleting files or beautifying 20.000 lines of json (Atom hangs up).
- More releases. Faster feature implementation. Active community.
Pros of Atom
- Free529
- Open source449
- Modular design343
- Hackable321
- Beautiful UI316
- Github integration170
- Backed by github147
- Built with node.js119
- Web native113
- Community107
- Packages35
- Cross platform18
- Multicursor support5
- Nice UI5
- TypeScript editor5
- Snippets3
- Simple but powerful3
- Open source, lots of packages, and so configurable3
- cli start3
- Chrome Inspector works IN EDITOR3
- Awesome2
- Smart TypeScript code completion2
- Well documented2
- It's powerful2
- Code readability2
- works with GitLab1
- User friendly1
- full support1
- vim support1
- Split-Tab Layout1
- "Free", "Hackable", "Open Source", The Awesomness1
- Apm publish minor1
- Hackable and Open Source1
- Consistent UI on all platforms1
- Publish0
Pros of CodeMirror
- Integrable in your application6
- Better content manipulation methods4
- Easy Custom Mode3
- JavaScript based1
- Easy setup1
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Cons of Atom
- Slow with large files19
- Slow startup7
- Most of the time packages are hard to find.2
- No longer maintained1
- Cannot Run code with F51
- Can be easily Modified1
Cons of CodeMirror
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