Zed “kills” VSCode

Summary

The video compares the new Zed code editor to the popular Visual Studio Code editor. It tests the speed and latency of each when opening files, rendering keystrokes, utilizing the GPU, and collaborating. While Zed is faster at some tasks like opening files, VS Code has more features and extensions. The video concludes that VS Code remains strong while Zed has potential if it can add cross-platform support, plugins, stability and catch up to VS Code's maturity. But VS Code's dominance means Zed has years of work ahead to truly compete.

Takeaways

• 😊 Zed editor is faster than VS Code at rendering keystrokes based on frame rate measurements
• 😲 Zed opens files/folders much faster than VS Code due to its GPU-based UI framework
• 👀 Zed's UI does not scale with zoom like VS Code's, limiting its use for presentations
• 🚫 Zed currently lacks VS Code's tab dragging and multi-window capabilities
• ✅ Both editors have AI assistant support (CoPilot, Cody, TabNine, etc.)
• 🔧 Zed has very limited extensibility compared to the rich VS Code extension ecosystem
• 👥 Zed's live collaboration is quite buggy currently compared to VS Code's Live Share
• 🐛 As a young startup, Zed is still working through UI bugs in its new GPU framework
• 💪VS Code benefits from Microsoft resources and a mature extensibility model
• 🤔 It's worth trying Zed for quick edits, but VS Code remains fully featured editor

Q & A

What is Zed and how does it compare to VS Code in terms of speed?

Zed is a new code editor that claims to be faster than VS Code. Tests showed that Zed opens files and folders noticeably quicker than VS Code, but for other actions like typing and scrolling there was not a significant perceivable difference in speed.

What makes Zed so fast at certain actions?

Zed uses a new UI framework called GP UI that utilizes the GPU for rendering, similar to a video game. This allows quick response times for actions like opening files.

What features does VS Code have that Zed currently lacks?

VS Code has better zooming capabilities, tab management with dragging tabs to new windows, more extensions and plugins, multi-platform support beyond Mac, and more mature collaboration features.

Why did Zed open source their code base?

Likely to speed up development and catch up to VS Code more quickly by allowing the community to contribute.

What are some bugs Zed is still working through?

Issues with their GP UI framework that have caused crashes and other problems. It's still very new.

How does VS Code's live share compare collaboration in Zed?

Live share has much less delay, indicates who makes each change, and prevents changes from directly affecting your local files.

Why can't Zed replace VS Code yet?

It lacks maturity, extension ecosystem, multi-OS support, and likely funding/resources compared to the backing of a giant like Microsoft.

What are the pros and cons highlighted between Zed and VS Code?

Zed pros: faster at some actions, open source. VS Code pros: extensions and plugins, collaboration, mature product, multi-OS support.

Who is the target user for Zed right now?

Developers who want increased speed for simple actions like opening files, and don't need the full extensibility of VS Code.

What potential does Zed have moving forward?

If the developers can catch up on features, fix bugs, support more OSes - Zed does have the potential to possibly surpass VS Code.