trying-out-the-zed-editor-on-windows-for-dotnet-and-markdown/

[giscus[bot]]

trying-out-the-zed-editor-on-windows-for-dotnet-and-markdown/

In this post I try out Zed on Windows to see if it can replace my VS Code usages for quick edits of .NET projects and writing Markdown documents

https://andrewlock.net/trying-out-the-zed-editor-on-windows-for-dotnet-and-markdown/

[DanSpacil]

Hi,
Great article as usual. I would like to add a quick note in terms of .NET support outside of VS Code.
There is currently an open pull request to add support for the new Roslyn based LSP that is used in VS Code's C# Dev Kit - zed-extensions/csharp#11

Although I don't have personal experience with Zed, I'm using Neovim with the Roslyn LSP for my professional work (thanks to https://github.com/seblyng/roslyn.nvim).
Razor support in Neovim is also possible. Previously with another extension (https://github.com/tris203/rzls.nvim), but this has now been archived and merged into roslyn.nvim thanks to upstream changes in VS Code's Roslyn LSP.
Long story short, I would hope that Zed will see the same treatment and a better experience for C# and Razor is not too far away :)

Cheers,
Dan

[andrewlock]

Awesome, good to know, thanks!

[Lanceqt]

the update rolled out today, as of yet its not working with blazor/razor.

[marcovr]

Stop creating pointless sln files!

Just in case you didn't know yet: There's actually an option to disable the annoying behaviour of the C# Dev Kit in VSCode:

"dotnet.automaticallyCreateSolutionInWorkspace": false

[andrewlock]

I didn't, thanks!

[coinzdude]

Great article. Followed you on X. Been interested in zed for that speed.

I'm using vs code/copilot agent mode to add substantial features to a nearly 20 yr old (but modernized) full stack code base. Loving it.

I'm meh on vs code as an IDE. I love jetbrains studio, and also use VS daily for the azure/git work.

[coinzdude]

I think zed will struggle as the power in vs code is its extension support, and I think zed won't have the same reach as for how easy vs code extensions can be created.

[taw00]

I use Zed for markdown editing all of the time. More precisely, I use it, currently, as the external editor tied to Joplin.

• The constant suggestions is indeed annoying. Trying to quiet them is very challenging to impossible, which leads me to …
• Configuration of Zed is a major PITA. Just far too difficult and the docs are a mixed bag and always incomplete.
• Spell check works, but is far more annoying than it should be. Inefficient and non-intuitive workflow.
• Preview of markdown, unless it is very bare bones markdown, is useless. Joplin, though, is one of the few markdown platforms that actually renders even very complex markdown accurately (to include full CSS support). And since I really only use Zed tied up Joplin, this deficiency in Zed is less of an issue.

I will take Zed over VS Code any day of the week, but it still needs work.

[obratim]

Why didn't you tell that c# extention for zed don't have debugger for dotnet and don't have codelens.

[andrewlock]

Honestly, because I use neither of those features 🤷‍♂️ If I want a debugger i'll use visual studio or Rider because they're so much better, and I don't find code lens particularly useful 🤷‍♂️

[reponemec]

I must admit that since I got to know ADOC, I consider MD to be its poorer relative.

[taw00]

ADOC Studio? Mac only (blech and … why in the world!?!) and proprietary (blech) and … yet another subscription (Oi).

AsciiDoc: Yup. That's a thing. Used to write extensively leveraging AsciiDoc. (And before that, LaTeX.) Though I prefer Markdown for most things.

Anyway … your comment is not particularly relevant to this discussion, I don't think.

[reponemec]

Yes, my post is a bit “off topic”, however: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=asciidoctor.asciidoctor-vscode

[taw00]

Yes, my post is a bit “off topic”, however: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=asciidoctor.asciidoctor-vscode

So, how does this address his desire to get away from VS Code, in particular for developing Markdown?
#OffTopic

[juju1704]

Everything is great until I try to debug in Zed, haha. Honestly, I'm sure they’ll update it soon!

[ckob]

Now that the Zed C# extension is using Roslyn instead of Omnisharp this is really an interesting option.
I was missing some Rider features to manage projects, tests, nugets, etc. so I created a TUI companion for Zed (and for any editor actually). It's lazydotnet, like lazygit but for dotnet commands. There is a quick setup for Zed in the readme https://github.com/ckob/lazydotnet

[MaximoMachado]

I also was trying Zed and I just found didn't like the look of the UI, as nitpicky as that can be. It was fast, but everything was extremely low contrast and made it hard for me to discern different files and lines. I wish it the best though, I'd love to see how it is in a year or two and re-evaluate whether it's worth hopping over to.