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Comment by jasonlotito | Hacker News Reader

Most auto complete that I've seen implemented in the last decade has timing attached to it. So if you are typing empty(), it's not just going to pop up. Rather, it waits for a pause, an indication that you aren't sure.

I also don't know of a single language that requires auto-complete for everything. I do know languages that make more use of it, but I also don't now of a single language that benefits from not having some form of autocomplete. Even your myVector example could benefit from autocomplete (either having a better name them "myString" or "myInt" or me just typing 3 keys instead of 8 for completing myVector.

Do bad interfaces exist? Sure, I don't know of a single UI element that can't be done poorly or messed up.

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> if you are typing empty(), it's not just going to pop up. Rather, it waits for a pause, an indication that you aren't sure.

That's a negative experience for me. If I'm pausing, it's because I need to think about something.

In that instant, a suggestion distracts me.

The chances of the suggestion being relevant to my pause are pretty low.

The best option is when you can invoke the autocomplete/docs on demand - using a convenient shortcut.

> That's a negative experience for me.

Sure, I wasn't talking to you. I was referencing another user and a specific element of their comment. I also wasn't giving an exhaustive list of all the options available in modern autocomplete features.

> The best option is when you can invoke the autocomplete/docs on demand - using a convenient shortcut.

Autocomplete has that as well. Seems like people are assuming that there is only one way to do things, which is silly. Instance, delayed, and activated. These all exist.

So yes, you can customize things to fit your easily distracted nature.

I find that the timing is actually worse, because then I start waiting for the menu to appear as affirmation for some assumption I made about the namespace. It’s also jarring that it appears out of sync with keystrokes. Turning off the delay and working on menu placement instead could provide for better PX, but it is something that can be user tested a lot, at least.

> I find that the timing is actually worse

That's fine. Amazingly, these things are customizable to fit everyones needs. Thinking there is only one way to do it is silly, but apparently a number of developers things autocomplete can be done only one way.

They aren’t really customizable that much. I don’t think there is a property in VS or VS Code to haggle with to reduce autocomplete timing to zero, and it still doesn’t deal with it being too intrusive to be used continuously. Each design decision has a cascading consequence, making customization very difficult.

Happily, there are some settings like that. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/intellisense

``` // Controls the delay in ms after which quick suggestions will show up. "editor.quickSuggestionsDelay": 10, ```

Neat! I've actually never had a problem with the delay in VS Code, and 10ms is basically the way I like it anyways (immediate).

Some people might still be annoyed by the code completion menu placement, which isn't configurable (yet).

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