We Have to Start Over: From Atom to Zed

In a detailed conversation, the co-founders of Zed—Nathan, Max, and Antonio—discuss their journey from working on Atom to developing Zed, highlighting the technological choices that shaped their approach. They emphasize the role of Rust in overcoming limitations they faced with Atom, such as issues with JavaScript's memory management and performance constraints. The founders reflect on their commitment to owning the entire technological stack, which allows them to make precise optimizations tailored to their vision of a lightweight, powerful, and extensible text editor. They share experiences of rewriting and refining components to enhance performance, underscoring the importance of continuous learning and iteration. The conversation also touches on the benefits of using Rust for its zero-cost abstractions, multi-threading capabilities, and the community's contributions facilitated by its accessibility. The founders express a dedication to building a performant editor that aligns with their vision, acknowledging the trade-offs involved in their development process.

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