Atom now using Io.js

[juddlyon]

For those of you who like me who aren't sure what this is about: Atom - text editor from Github, Io.js - node.js fork.

[sanderjd]

Ah, thanks, I forgot that was the name of the fork and was definitely puzzled.

[dshankar]

This isn't particularly surprising, NW.js (previously called node-webkit) switched to IO.js as well.

Edit: to clarify, this is relevant because both Atom and NW.js use a webkit shell.

[teleclimber]

Oddly enough Atom-Shell has apparently not made the switch to IO.js? No mention of it in the releases page.

https://github.com/atom/atom-shell/releases

[xpaulbettsx]

To be pedantic, Atom Shell and NW.js are both based on Chromium (Blink), not WebKit

[sigzero]

Until they fix the 2MB limitation on editing files. No way.

[PlzSnow]

Moore's Law should apply, and eventually processing power should catch up. I think we'll see the 2MB limit removed by 1997/1998.

[cordite]

Or syntax highlighting breaking because some code you've been given has some 8K-long regex on one line in the middle.

[bdg]

I'm so happy I don't work on the files you work on.

[pbiggar]

So the thing about Atom (and any "disruptive" software) is that it doesn't have to be amazing at everything. It only has to be 10x better for some niche of people who will be this product's early adopters and evangelists.

That will gain it enough traction to prove itself in the market, and over the next few years it will fix all the problems such as the 2MB limit, and whatever else is there. And then, laggards (well, you're probably more of an "early majority" type of person in Crossing the Chasm lingo) will see enough value to join.

[frewsxcv]

Why do all threads about Atom seem to be full of people opening huge files with text editors? I've never had performance issues with Atom with a 2013 MBA.

[JohnBooty]

I see this limitation mentioned often when Atom is discussed.

On the constructive side of things, anybody have recommendations for editors that do handle large text files well?

Obviously vi and emacs do. (Correct?)

OSX - TextWrangler and its big brother BBEdit are the best I've found - but this is not something I've extensively researched.

Windows - UltraEdit boasts that it can edit files of arbitrarily large sizes and in my experience this is true. UltraEdit costs money but I have an old version I keep around for when I need to work with bigger files.

[Hapa]

2MB limitation should be handled when 1.0 is released, meanwhile view-tail-large-files package might help.

[mirekrusin]

you can write loops or recursive functions to make your code smaller.

[joshstrange]

This is good news but I'm a little confused, if Io.js supports ES6 why do you need 6to5?

[netcraft]

ES6 support is not a binary thing. IO.js has a newer version of V8 that supports more ES6 features than node.js's V8 version, but its not even close to all of ES6. to 6to5 shims the rest of the ES6 featureset. see here for more info: http://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/

[jbrooksuk]

What does this mean for Atom? Is it faster? Is the compiled size now smaller?

[kenperkins]

Most likely it means that there's a newer V8 involved. Otherwise there's not a tremendous delta.

[kikki]

This is interesting, and a very big business move to make the switch. Does this say something for the future of Node?

[xasos]

I though the whole point of io.js was that they would work on the project faster than Node, but eventually merge back into Node once Joyent became more transparent. The Node release cycle was pretty slow and they had some dispute with the contributors (top 5 original Node contributors now working on io.js)

[luisrudge]

plus 6to5 support! :)

[agmcleod]

Any idea if that would mean auto compilation for your own files in a project? Or is it more for plugins and such?

[crucialfelix]

I was just wondering today when this might happen. specifically because I want to use generators in a plugin (supercollider ide). great job guys !

[visarga]

90% of my work is on remote files by SFTP/SSH. How's that working in Atom?

[Hapa]

You do have have few packages which helps you connect remotely.

[bpicolo]

FUSE / sshfs?

[jbeja]

Who cares? Is going to be slow an unusable non the less.

[jtth]

Why would I ever use a text editor that uses even node.js, let alone some even newer thing? I don't understand how people can commit to such a thing.

[Hapa]

You might use it if you are familiar with javascript as many people are. It makes creating packages for many people possible.

[jackweirdy]

Because it’s a text editor, not a child. If you don’t like it you can close it and the world will keep on turning.