editors.md

Editors and Development Environment Glossary

A reference for code editors and the development environment.

Code Editor

A program designed for writing and editing code. Provides features like syntax highlighting, error detection, and terminal integration.

VS Code (Visual Studio Code)

A free, widely used code editor developed by Microsoft. Supports Python, Git integration, terminal access, and extensions. Recommended editor for all operating systems. Download: https://code.visualstudio.com/

Zed Editor

A fast, modern code editor built for performance. An alternative to VS Code, gaining adoption in the developer community. Download: https://zed.dev/

Extension

A plugin that adds functionality to a code editor. VS Code examples: Python extension, Pylance (type checking), GitLens (Git history).

Integrated Terminal

A terminal built into the code editor to run commands without switching to a separate application. In VS Code: View / Terminal, or Ctrl+` (backtick).

Syntax Highlighting

Color-coding applied to code by the editor to make structure and keywords easier to read. Different colors indicate different elements (strings, functions, keywords).

Linter

A tool that analyzes code for style issues, errors, and potential bugs without running it. Helps enforce consistent code quality. Example: ruff.

Formatter

A tool that automatically rewrites code to conform to style standards. Example: ruff format enforces consistent indentation, spacing, and line length.

ruff

A fast Python linter and formatter. Configured in pyproject.toml. Run with uv run python -m ruff check . and uv run ruff format .

Workspace

In VS Code, a workspace is the folder opened as the project root. Open a project by opening its top-level folder in VS Code.

Settings (settings.json)

A VS Code configuration file that controls editor behavior per workspace or globally. Can configure Python interpreter, formatting on save, and other preferences.