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Antonio Scandurra - Atom, Zed and the Future of Text Editors

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Mar 24, 2025
Antonio Scandurra, co-founder of Zed and former core contributor to Atom, shares his journey through text editor development. He highlights the evolution from Atom to the Rust-based Zed, emphasizing its performance and collaborative features. The conversation dives into Zed's innovative data structures, like the sum tree, and the significance of a custom UI framework. Scandurra also discusses integrating AI into text editors while maintaining simplicity, envisioning a future where collaboration and intelligent features redefine coding experiences.
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ANECDOTE

Atom Contributions

  • Antonio Scandurra's first interaction with open source was contributing to Atom.
  • He improved split selections, paired with Nathan Sobo, and eventually joined GitHub.
INSIGHT

Atom's Extensibility Challenges

  • Extensibility in Atom was a double-edged sword.
  • While it fostered a thriving plugin ecosystem, it made API changes and performance management difficult.
INSIGHT

Performance Focus in Zed

  • Performance issues in Atom stemmed from Chromium's deep abstractions, limiting control over startup and rendering.
  • Zed prioritizes performance by using Rust and controlling the entire rendering pipeline.
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