A suggestion: can autocomplete be added to the Codecademy Editor?

The codecademy editor is great, but I really can’t stand coding without the editor Autocomplete and Emmet modules. I know that Codecademy uses Ace Editors and that attaching autocomplete will not be difficult. I’ve done some of that myself.

I would like to suggest that the autocomplete and emmet extensions be added into the editor or that there is a setting where you can turn them on.

Thank you.
Happy Coding.

The editor in the Learning Environment is the Monaco editor, as found in Visual Studio Code. :slight_smile:

However, I have a feeling that the lack of intelligent typing aids is by design with the intention of having you write everything out “the long way” as a learning tool.

Once you know what you’re doing, sure it’s convenient to have the editor write chunks of the code itself… but if the editor is the one producing the code, does the learner understand what it’s doing? One suspects not.

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So you’re saying that adding autocomplete will make a worse experience for those who don’t know what they’re coding?

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I’m not saying that there haven’t been occasions in the Codecademy material where I’ve found an unreasonably long variable or function name to be irritating, having to type it out… and yes, I can see how a more proficient learner might also want to have this functionality.

Opening up developer aids like this to complete beginners however opens the door to learning by rote, at which point you’re not learning what the code does but rather what pattern solves the exercise.

I’d draw a comparison to someone learning to play the guitar. Many people when they’re learning the instrument will learn a scale, say C Major, in discrete blocks of notes. They know that specific pattern they’re playing is the C Major scale, but not necessarily what notes it contains or where / how else they can play those same notes outside that pattern.

If the budding guitarist goes back to first principles and learns the theory behind why that is the C Major scale, how to formulate that scale, and where the root occurs elsewhere they’ll have a better understanding of the instrument.

Same with programming. Tools like Emmet are there to make you more efficient, not to replace foundational knowledge of how to produce the code in the first place.

We see plenty of people come to the forums as it is with questions about “how quickly” they can complete certain tracks, when the focus should always be on “how completely” they understand the material. For the most part, I think we manage to convince them that speed is not the important metric… but I suspect that introducing Emmet and other convenience features to the Learning Environment would exacerbate that and lead to poorer learning outcomes…

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Definitely agree with this! I find I have a hard time remembering some of my HTML doc set up bits because VSC is so good about just filling them in for me. :sweat_smile:

For the really repetitive code blocks (like if/else statements with loooong variable names), my solution has been just to type up the first time and then ctrl+c ctrl+v it, changing the bits that need to be changed. It seems like a nice middle ground!

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I second the suggestion for autocomplete or at least an option to enable it. Not everyone needs the continue rote exercise of typing out long variable names. I can see not having autocomplete beneficial to newbies but for those that have many computer languages in the toolbelt already and are trying to learn more, autocomplete can help us more quickly go through the courses. As a benefit, it helps those with wrist issues like myself.

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I think autocomplete helps people like myself who has a disability and has problems with one of my arms and hand. It helps me because I don’t have to agonise about typing every word letter for letter. And I have say, many of my friends and me basically copy and paste stuff in the instructions into the editor anyways, to save time, but don’t know any coders who do that. I will be better to put autocomplete in the editor, because it’s basically mimicking what we will be faced with on the job!

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Yeah, looking back at my previous replies to this topic I think there’s some room for improvement as regards my position.

Would definitely support bringing some of the auto/tab-complete functionality of Monaco to the Learning Environment, so I’ve voted for this topic. :slight_smile:

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I second this…In a progessional enviroment we weill have Emme autocomplete

or they can just add a feature that when you click the code in the instruction copy it .to type those variables out is helpless for studing

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Agreed. At least the opening and closing angle brakets

I’d just like to throw my vote in for this too. Intellisense would be most welcomed as I’m going through the C# course and having to type out ‘Console.WriteLine();’ dozens of times, even with copying and pasting, is getting old.

Whoa, I agree with Mr @thepitycoder . Haven’t you heard of veteran programmers’ stories writing their code using just paper and pen back in their days? That’s what makes them forged by steel.