SimpleIDE
github.com43 points by impendingchange 6 hours ago
43 points by impendingchange 6 hours ago
I think development environments are an undervalued field (perhaps because people hate writing UI). Tiny open-source IDEs are a great learning tool and can be starters for research IDEs (whereas VSCode, while more practical for production IDEs, has complexity that gets in the way of experimentation).
Another tiny open-source IDE (for Java) is https://github.com/bobbylight/RText
I've wanted to create an IDE which uses a multi-window design. I think most IDEs are just doing a left-drawer bottom-drawer layout where the left drawer has all your files in a tree and the bottom drawer has your terminal. I've somewhat recently taken to detaching the solution explorer from the main window in Visual Studio and I'm kind of enjoying it. It's like what used to be GIMP's original default interface, with a main editing canvas and a few floating toolboxes
Emacs lets you have as many windows as you like, and you can mix and match terminal and GUI windows all connected to the same session
A lightweight, professional VB.NET IDE built with GTK# 3 on Linux using .NET 8.0. SimpleIDE provides a modern development environment specifically designed for VB.NET projects on Linux systems.
I learned VB .net when it first came out back in 2003 (might have been earlier). VB was quite widely used back then and now days it's declined in popularity a lot. I checked the repo insights and it's a single person who's built this and has been maintaining it. Their contribution and dedication is definitely commendable even though the language isn't popular these and even more so on Linux! This is pure selfless programming!
Seeing as how it's written in VB.Net, and 3 more of his 5 total public projects are also VB.Net, I don't think "selfless" really fits; I'll bet this project very much scratches this man's own itch.
Dedicated for sure though, and commendable, especially since it's FOSS.
Haha, I laughed when you said this. I've only been writing it for a little over two months now. But thank you!
Interesting, I didn't actually know that VB.NET ever got ported to Linux with the rest of .NET Core.
Does it still have the drag-n-drop GUI feature to make graphical apps, or is that a strictly Windows thing?
And what makes this project significant is there's a lack of VB.NET tools on Linux.
It has been challenging trying to get Gtk 3 widgets to play nice. Finally just rolled my own custom-drawn editor, treeview, and listbox. Going to release them later in a library.
Wait, you're not using GtkSourceView? Cool
You could also have used Mono.TextEditor btw. I personally find it better than GtkSourceView, and for having ported it to GTK# 3 myself, it was rather straightforward to port.
This isn't meant to be a passive aggressive dig, but a genuine question...why make an VB.NET IDE?
I think it's cool that you did it, it's just not a language that I've seen get a lot of love.
VB.NET's verbose syntax actually makes it PERFECT for AI assistance. And it is being developed with full AI integration.
And, Linux lacks any such tools. Not even VS Code has a plugin for VB.
The WinForms designer (drag-n-drop GUI) isn't fully supported on Linux - SimpleIDE likely focuses on code editing rather than visual design, as the .NET MAUI/WinForms designers remain Windows-centric despite .NET's cross-platform capabilities.
I did learn programming with VB many years ago. It definitely holds some sentimental value for me although I wouldn’t consider using it today.
Definitely a great deal of nostalgia for me. Years ago, I had written this project up from scratch and later lost all my source code in an accident.
I learned about vibe coding two months ago and, wow, writing this with Claude has been lots of fun. Almost to the point in the project of having full AI integration in the IDE.
I truly don’t mean this as an insult, but it always catches me off guard that people are still using VB in 2025.
Still using COBOL too. I know of a system that has both! Once it works reliably most businesses want to treat code like plumbing - don't touch it until it's broken.
No drag-and-drop GUI builder :( I miss VB6 so much
Absolutely love this! I learned programming with VB.NET and it still holds a special place in my heart.
The screenshot links are 404ing for me here.