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Doom Emacs VS IntelliJ IDEA

Compare Doom Emacs VS IntelliJ IDEA and see what are their differences

Doom Emacs logo Doom Emacs

Emacs configuration similar to Spacemacs but faster and lighter.

IntelliJ IDEA logo IntelliJ IDEA

Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM
  • Doom Emacs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-21
  • IntelliJ IDEA Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-20

Doom Emacs features and specs

  • Optimized Performance
    Doom Emacs is engineered to be fast and responsive, minimizing the lag that can be present in a heavily customized Emacs setup.
  • Modular Configuration
    It uses a modular configuration system that allows users to enable or disable individual modules easily, helping tailor Emacs to specific workflows without much hassle.
  • Community Support
    Doom Emacs has an active and helpful community, providing ample support, tutorials, and extensions.
  • Modern Defaults
    It comes with sensible defaults and polished aesthetics out of the box, reducing the need for extensive user configuration.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Doom Emacs provides thorough documentation that helps new and old users understand the configuration options and customization procedures.
  • Evil Mode
    For Vim users, Doom Emacs comes with Evil Mode pre-configured, enabling Vim-like keybindings and making the transition smoother.

Possible disadvantages of Doom Emacs

  • Learning Curve
    Although easier than vanilla Emacs, Doom Emacs still has a learning curve that may be steep for users unfamiliar with Emacs or Vim.
  • Opinionated Setup
    Its opinionated defaults may not suit everyone's preferences, requiring users to spend time customizing it to fit their specific needs.
  • Emacs Dependency
    It relies on the original Emacs distribution, which means you still need to understand and maintain Emacs, adding complexity.
  • Heavy on Resources
    Even though optimized, Doom Emacs is still more resource-intensive compared to lighter editors, potentially impacting performance on older systems.
  • Complexity in Customization
    While modular, the customization can become complex and intimidating, especially for users who need to diverge significantly from the provided defaults.
  • Frequent Updates
    While updates are generally positive, the high frequency of updates can sometimes lead to breaking changes, requiring users to adapt frequently.

IntelliJ IDEA features and specs

  • Intelligent Code Completion
    IntelliJ IDEA offers advanced code completion features, which help to speed up coding by suggesting relevant keywords, variable names, and methods. It understands the context of the code, making suggestions more accurate and useful.
  • Powerful Refactoring
    IntelliJ IDEA provides an extensive set of refactoring tools that simplify code restructuring. Developers can easily rename, move, and change the signature of classes and methods without breaking the application.
  • Integrated Version Control
    Supports various version control systems such as Git, SVN, and Mercurial. This integration allows seamless code commits, merges, and history tracking directly within the IDE.
  • Rich Plugin Ecosystem
    Offers a vast library of plugins to extend its functionalities by adding support for additional languages, frameworks, and tools, making it highly customizable.
  • Built-in Terminal
    Includes a powerful built-in terminal that allows for command-line operations without leaving the IDE, improving workflow efficiency.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    IntelliJ IDEA is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing consistency for developers who work across different operating systems.
  • Comprehensive Debugging
    Features advanced debugging tools that provide detailed inspection of variable states, stack traces, and execution flow, making it easier to identify and fix issues.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Offers a highly intuitive and customizable user interface that simplifies navigation and enhances productivity.

Possible disadvantages of IntelliJ IDEA

  • Resource Intensive
    IntelliJ IDEA can be very demanding on system resources, such as RAM and CPU, which may affect performance on less powerful machines.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    New users may find it challenging to learn all of its features and settings, as the IDE offers a wide range of tools and options.
  • Cost
    While there is a free Community edition, the Ultimate edition with full features requires a paid license, which can be expensive for individual developers or small teams.
  • Occasional Sluggishness
    Users may experience occasional sluggish performance, especially with large projects or extensive usage of plugins.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up IntelliJ IDEA for the first time, particularly for specific project configurations, can be time-consuming and complex.
  • Frequent Updates
    While regular updates are beneficial for security and new features, they can sometimes cause interruptions or require downtime to install.
  • Dependency on Plugins
    Some key functionalities may rely heavily on third-party plugins, which can sometimes lag in updates or lack sufficient documentation.

Doom Emacs videos

Doom Emacs - Getting Started

More videos:

  • Review - Doom Emacs For Noobs

IntelliJ IDEA videos

Overview of IntelliJ IDEA

More videos:

  • Review - Why I Use IntelliJ IDEA
  • Review - Be More Productive With IntelliJ IDEA by Trisha Gee

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Doom Emacs and IntelliJ IDEA)
Text Editors
20 20%
80% 80
IDE
17 17%
83% 83
Software Development
21 21%
79% 79
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Doom Emacs and IntelliJ IDEA

Doom Emacs Reviews

We have no reviews of Doom Emacs yet.
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IntelliJ IDEA Reviews

Explore 9 Top Eclipse Alternatives for 2024
Developed by JetBrains, IntelliJ IDEA is a versatile Integrated Development Environment (IDE) initially built for Java and Kotlin, but extends its prowess to incorporate a myriad of other languages through plugins. A unique and user-centric environment favorably touted for its tuneability and keyboard shortcuts that enhance productivity, IntelliJ IDEA has grown to compete...
Source: aircada.com
Top 10 Android Studio Alternatives For App Development
IntelliJ IDEA is an IDE that was developed by JetBrains and is written in Java, Groovy, and Kotlin. It helps in building the IntelliJ IDEA community from the source code and also produces high-quality code.
The Best IDEs for Java Development: A Comparative Analysis
Intelligent Coding Assistance: What sets IntelliJ IDEA apart is its intelligent coding assistance. It seems to understand your code, predict your needs, and assist you with a range of development tasks from start to finish. By virtually mapping your Java projects, it can detect errors, suggest code variants, conduct refactoring, and more. It’s like having a coding assistant!
Source: dev.to
20 Best Diff Tools to Compare File Contents on Linux
Intellij Idea is an enterprise development, cross-platform software for multiple operating systems. It is used to review the differences between any two files, folders, text sources, or database objects, as well as between local files and their repository versions.
Source: linuxopsys.com
9 Of The Best Android Studio Alternatives To Try Out
IntelliJ IDEA, the routine tasks like coding, are handled by IntelliJ IDEA, which leads to accelerated development. It also allows the programmer to focus on functionality.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Doom Emacs seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 156 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Doom Emacs mentions (156)

  • I just got an ad in VS Code
    Leave? I started with vanilla Emacs a couple of years ago, ran C-h t, did that for an hour or two, and began editing joyfully and it hasn't stopped. Picked up new stuff when the need arose. However, if you want everything looking sexy and modern from the start and you're a cool kid, give this 30 minutes and see what you think: - Source: Hacker News / 18 days ago
  • Helix-gpui: helix gpui front end
    Having used evil-mode as my main driver for years, I can confirm that it truly works as expected. Requires some setup though. I used https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs to do the heavy lifting though. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • M-X Reloaded: The Second Golden Age of Emacs – (Think)
    Yes, you need to install Emacs. It is probably available from whatever package manager your system uses. I prefer Doom (https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs) to Spacemacs. However I haven't looked at Spacemacs for many years; perhaps it's now on par with Doom. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • From Doom to Vanilla Emacs
    Ever since I've started my Emacs journey it seemed like the wholy grail to have your own (vanilla!) configuration without any hard dependencies on frameworks like Doom or Spacemacs. There are plenty of dotemacs configurations ouf there which can serve as a great source of inspiration. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Emacs 29.1 Released
    I am a long-time Emacs user and used to maintain my own config, but I switched to Doom Emacs [1] a year ago. Doom Emacs is like a pre-packaged/pre-configured emacs distro. You still need to configure the features that you want to use, but it's a lot easier (and faster) than having to do everything from scratch, and definitely if you already have some emacs background anyway. For me, it makes the newer, more... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
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IntelliJ IDEA mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of IntelliJ IDEA yet. Tracking of IntelliJ IDEA recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Doom Emacs and IntelliJ IDEA, you can also consider the following products

Evil - The extensible vi layer for Emacs.

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

Org mode - Org: an Emacs Mode for Notes, Planning, and Authoring

Xcode - Xcode is Apple’s powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode 4 includes the Xcode IDE, instruments, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs.

Neovim - Vim's rebirth for the 21st century

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft