VS Code is nice for green developers, however I always encourage finding a different editor. This helps encourage exploration, customization, and configuration. You will need to take the training wheels off sometime in your career.
Another reason to prefer other editors is they tend to stay out of your way. VS Code tries really hard to make you not even leave the window.
Anecdotally, a previous colleague once sold me on SublimeText. I had liked it and used the free version but VS Code was also free without pay. The colleague encouraged that it was better to buy a software sometimes (SublimeText license) than continue searching for a free solution for every tooling issue I had. It was the first time I was able to rework my reasoning as to why I should pay for software. The reasoning is simple: invest in yourself. This is more powerful than investing in an no-cost ecosystem to solve your problems.
Editor and tooling has been flame bait since vim and emacs and you're just stoking the flames.
The idea that VS Code is for "green" development only is flatly false, I've used it to work on and debug GCC, hardly green.
The idea you should always be looking for new tooling is also false. If you're a power user of emacs then enjoy it. Consider it your super power, I'm not interested in taking that from you.
VS Code is, in my opinion, thee editor for several languages. The package support is it's real killer feature and the fact that it hits a decent compromise on performance between Sublime and Atom. Atoms packaging is arguably better and more flexible but it leads to bad package performance. Sublimes packaging was annoying when I used it in the past, no better then the train wreck that is MELPA of emacs. Again, all of that being my personal opinion.
It means if I want to use VS Code for anything other than code editing then I’m out of luck. Where as alternatives are text editors first with code editing support.
VS Code wants to be in your way with a complete set of tools, even including a terminal. And your OS already has one of those.
> Isn't this exactly what vi and emacs proponents cite as a benefit?
I don’t know, is it? Are we talking text editors or IDEs? The difference being that you can configure vi and emacs to be any kind of workspace. An IDE has a text editor, a text editor can be configured to be an IDE. Similar but not the same.
Another reason to prefer other editors is they tend to stay out of your way. VS Code tries really hard to make you not even leave the window.
Anecdotally, a previous colleague once sold me on SublimeText. I had liked it and used the free version but VS Code was also free without pay. The colleague encouraged that it was better to buy a software sometimes (SublimeText license) than continue searching for a free solution for every tooling issue I had. It was the first time I was able to rework my reasoning as to why I should pay for software. The reasoning is simple: invest in yourself. This is more powerful than investing in an no-cost ecosystem to solve your problems.