I have pretty bad ADHD, back in the day when I was flipping between editors, I had to carefully catalogue what I want from an IDE and then force myself from ignoring everything else. Here is what my list chiefly has:
0. Reasonable Vim key binding support
1. Linter should highlight as I type. A compile time checker that can point out type errors(mypy, clint what have you) as I type. A reasonable code formatter that formats on save the code I have edited only.
2. A build button that can run a predefined file(useful to run Android apps)
3. Jumping between functions by mouse click.
4. Search bar to find (a) Any Class by Name or (b) any file by name across code bases.
5. A good debugger that can be run from within the IDE. Though for python ipdb is better by miles from the stock pdb debugger. But different languages have different ways they support a debugger so an IDE can abstract over them and just let me place break points and hit run!
6. Sane auto complete: This is easier for IDEs to do in compiled languages, but for non compiled languages like python I have to sometimes futz around.
7. Lately a chat GPT plugin that can answer basic question without diverting my attention to a browser tab.
I would suggest that if you get distracted and have an inner voice(even if its faint), use the inner voice to build out this kind of a list and ignore everything else.
0. Reasonable Vim key binding support
1. Linter should highlight as I type. A compile time checker that can point out type errors(mypy, clint what have you) as I type. A reasonable code formatter that formats on save the code I have edited only.
2. A build button that can run a predefined file(useful to run Android apps)
3. Jumping between functions by mouse click.
4. Search bar to find (a) Any Class by Name or (b) any file by name across code bases.
5. A good debugger that can be run from within the IDE. Though for python ipdb is better by miles from the stock pdb debugger. But different languages have different ways they support a debugger so an IDE can abstract over them and just let me place break points and hit run!
6. Sane auto complete: This is easier for IDEs to do in compiled languages, but for non compiled languages like python I have to sometimes futz around.
7. Lately a chat GPT plugin that can answer basic question without diverting my attention to a browser tab.
I would suggest that if you get distracted and have an inner voice(even if its faint), use the inner voice to build out this kind of a list and ignore everything else.