Nova 3 Code

[Oliver Parkes]

VSCode definitely has some advantages over Nova including better Git integration, a robust debugging experience, large extension ecosystem. Despite all those wonderful features, VS Code pauses briefly before opening some files. VS Code doesn't tokenize large files because it bogs down the application. VS Code feels out of place on MacOS. Nova UI is snappy in comparison. Nova is a very capable JavaScript IDE. The performance of a native app alone is worth it, but the MacOS feel prompted me to switch.

I am not a fan of subscription based apps at all, but that's just me. I've paid for sublime txt, sketch and other cool tools one payment. As soon as they do subscription I'm out. I want to own the software. If I see an app I like most of the time I'm willing to pay whatever, but one time. If the app is fully functional I don't see why you need constant updates just to get people on subscription updates. Personally imo is better to sell X version one payment provide N amount of updates or updates at reduced price, than perpetual subscription. I'm not saying people won't pay for Nova just saying there are tons of free options.

To me subscription based seems like milking the cow lol. Just sell me something good one time payment, if I can write, run, debug code I am happy. If vscode was subscription based I am sure you and I wouldn't be talking about it. At this point I don't think any text editor or ide can compete with vscode and visual studio market places.

To me, a subscription means continuous improvements and support for the product I use. Which, in the fast moving genre like development, is really important for me. I don't want to find out that software I'm used to (and invested hours and hours into customizing, learning shortcuts and so) suddenly is not supported by my OS/hardware/is based on deprecated packages/is full of security holes/.. and I have to find a new one.

If I know my IDEs developer/s are getting money every month for this software, there's a better chance of them continuing development. If it's OTP, someday they will probably hit some maximum of users, and then what? No income. So, they either start working on something different completely (and abandoning this software), or they announce a new version I have to pay for - which is basically the same as a subscription, but with longer intervals and less security.

I've used vscode on and off for a couple of years, and it's pretty nice, but its autocomplete has become pathological, and it's started inserting crap in my code (if I meant this.foo, I'd have typed this.foo, not foo; and no don't import some random module you think I want). Chasing down just one of of these errors wasted more than $100 of my time because you don't expect your editor to insert garbage into your code.

From some of the comments in this thread and on Twitter I think Microsoft has done web engineers an amazing service by providing an IDE that is free and ubiquitous, but also possibly set an unreasonable expectation that software should be free.

I am (was) a long time Panic customer and to be honest, they lack in updating their apps. I had Coda from day one, they stopped doing it without further notice some years ago. Transmit is update perhaps once a year, if not every two years (it feels like this).

Happy to pay for a decent application (as I do for IntelliJ and Sublime, for example), but knowing about their release cycles and having some devent (more powerful) alternatives, doesn't work for me ... not even talking about a subscription.

Took a year to respond, but here it is! I am, for the most part still using Nova. There are times I switch back to VS Code to use the diff tooling during gross merges or possibly the Jest extension which is much better, but that is about it. I prefer Nova for coding. Fonts render much better in Nova, the performance of the editor is stellar. If Nova incorporates a similar inline diff I will be much more inclined to use Nova all the time. Nova is updated fairly frequently. Panic fixed at least one bug I reported. When I have more time I plan on contributing some missing extension(s), but for now I'm quite happy with Nova.

Better late than never :-) I bought Coda a year ago and used it for a couple of projects (mostly PHP). The performance is good, but at the end, for me it's not really a replacement for VSCode or IntelliJ.

I just started to use Nova and I love how well integrated it is. Visual Studio Code is great, but it's so clunky in MacOS (tbh, I haven't use it in other OS, I use Sublime in Linux). Nova is smooth as silk.

I think the price is okay. I'm a part-time dabbler, so probably won't be upgrading from my old Coda 2 license. If the upgrade was, say $40, it would seem like a more attractive option, but $20 off seems a bit pointless.

Not being a cheapskate but during these hard times every penny counts. Many of us lost their jobs and are now trying to move to freelancing. Licenses - and definitely subscription based ones - can pile up.

This is a funny article. I used to use Coda and later on Nova since many years. I love the MacOS System with all the nice and polished apps. But especially Nova made me now move to VSCode instead. The main problem is what you had as positive point. The editor of nova is not fast and worth 99 bucks but it is slow and sometimes unstable. Just open big JS scripts and see how slow it is scrolling. This is just a nightmare. Just to make it clear - I have an M1 Macbook Pro.

I of course are missing some of the integrated SFTP and Terminal features that Nova has. But every day I work with VSCode I find ways and extensions to make it more "my editor". I am happy without Nova.

@steveblue all this time later, what's your verdict? I bought Nova when it first came out, then regretted the $100 because it didn't quite support what I was doing at the time, and extensions in VS Code made it easy. It's looking much more mature now, but my license only goes back to version 7 which means I'd have to pay $50 to test the waters. VS Code's energy usage (and a few other nit-picky things) have me wanting a native editor. Well, I always want native apps but that's another conversation...

I've been using Nova since the betas, and as a long time Coda user who dropped it about 7 years ago for VS Code, I was very pleased with what Panic brought to the table. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it checks all the boxes I need for my daily driver IDE and it has a smaller memory footprint than VS Code. That's important to me as I'm now using a 2020 Macbook Air with only 16GB of RAM as my main development machine. VS Code runs fine on this machine, but I find it's a bit of a memory hog (no doubt due to being built on Electron). Nova feels light and fast.

I bought Coda and got stuff done with it, but it suffered from some truly brain-dead defects that Panic never fixed. If I remember correctly, one of them was that it didn't switch to the local working directory when you opened up a project; so you could spend hours looking at baffling bugs you swore you'd fixed, only to find that the local-file browser was pointed at the wrong source tree. Panic was aware of this and blew it off. Not very encouraging.

And I also think there was a problem copying projects between computers... again this is half-remembered, but it was as if Panic failed to comprehend the necessity for this; and its iCloud syncing simply did not work.

As far as it being "Mac-like:" This is such a lame approbation. Using a shitty text file to set preferences isn't "Windows-like" either. VS Code's preferences are an obscure mess, a straight-up lazy abandonment of any design effort.

But you know what IS Mac-like? Misusing the Window menu, stuffing it full of things that belong in the View menu. Another Mac-like UI hallmark is a shitload of floating windows, the clumsiness of which it took DECADES for Mac developers to realize. So yeah, it's time to stop using "Mac-like" as a positive evaluation.

The term "complainant" means any individual that submits a complaint alleging that a student violated the Student Code of Conduct. The complainant does not need to be the person who was the target or victim of the alleged violation.

The term "advisor" means any individual that has been designated by the accused student to assist them through the hearing process. This individual may include, but is not limited to, a member of the campus community, parent, guardian, relative, friend, or attorney.

The term "member of the College community" includes any student, faculty member, administrator, other employee, contractor, or guest at Northern Virginia Community College.

The term "Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (OSRR)" should be understood to include all who have responsibility for overseeing the student conduct process in their respective areas. The OSRR may designate an official to act for the OSRR in the conduct process.

The term "sanction" means a penalty that may be imposed after a student has been found responsible for violating the Student Code of Conduct. Any sanction imposed at the campus level applies to the entire College.

The term "policy" means the written regulations of NOVA as found in, but not limited to, the Student Code of Conduct, the online Student Handbook, the College catalog, administrative directives, and the NOVA website.

The term "due process" means a guarantee that all proceedings related to the student code of conduct will be fair and that students will be given notice of the proceedings and an opportunity to be heard before the College acts to take away their rights and privileges.

The term "Student Conduct Panel" means any person or persons appointed to determine whether a student has violated the Student Code of Conduct and to recommend sanctions that may be imposed when a student has been found responsible for a violation.

The term "witness" means an individual or individuals who have had direct involvement in an incident and/or who were provided with information regarding the incident directly from the accused student, alleged victim, or both. This also includes individuals who in their professional capacity have contributed information which led to College charges.

3a8082e126