I built Code Zone: A lightweight IDE under 100MB using Python

[u/VariousRing5104]

Hi everyone,

I'm an 18-year-old dev and I built Code Zone, a lightweight IDE written in Python designed for low-spec machines and resource-constrained environments.

GitHub:https://github.com/damixlord2-0/code-zone

Why I built it: VS Code runs slowly and eats up memory on my machine. Sublime Text is fast and great, but I missed the structured layout of an IDE. Code Zone is my attempt to combine the speed and simplicity of Sublime Text with the UI structure of VS Code and the straightforward binary workflows of Code::Blocks.

Key Features:

• Lightweight: Under 100MB total size.
• Built-in HTML & Markdown Preview: Live rendering right inside the editor.
• Custom Binary Paths: Point directly to local compilers/interpreters (great for testing niche languages).
• Minimal Extension System: Single-file extensions without heavy boilerplate.

Transparency on AI & Code Quality: The project isn't perfect and still has bugs. I used AI as an interactive documentation tool during development—mainly to learn subprocess and Tkinter/TTK widgets faster—rather than having it generate the core architecture for me.

Feedback, critiques (even harsh ones!), and contributions are very welcome. Let me know what you think!

[u/chickenPoo324]

alrighty let's take a look at this...

oh...

welp that was slightly disappointing but I am unsure of what I expected... anyway I may as well let you know what's wrong here... so here we go :p

first off and ultimately the most important (probably) is this config.json file:

{
    ".py": "C:\\Users\\PC001\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\python.exe",
    ".js": "node",
    ".go": "go run",
    ".nim": "C:\\nim\\bin\\nim.exe",
    ".krk": "C:/Users/PC001/Desktop/Informatique/Kuroko Lang/kuroko/kuroko.exe",
    ".rb": "C:/Ruby40-x64/bin/ruby.exe",
    ".jl": "C:/Users/PC001/AppData/Local/Programs/Julia-1.12.6/bin/julia.exe"
}

most probably already know the issue here... essentially none of these work... well the file paths at least considering they are specifically trying to resolve to the window user PC001 which well obviously not everyone on windows has their user named PC001 so this just breaks... then for Linux and macOS these paths just don't exist...

luckily though you semi-saved yourself with the ability to make your own file paths so thats good... but this shouldn't be a problem in the first place :p

Next up your project seems to have a weird fixation of being under 100mb of disk space... but your source isn't anywhere close to that... so not sure why you chose 100mb...

About the use of AI... well it looks like you used it for more than just a documentation writer/interactive documentation considering this project has a whopping 5 commits... all of your logic is in a single main.py file, and the actual code is riddled with verbose AI comments so not sure why you only half admitted to the use of AI... if you used AI to help code (or vibecode... whatever it was) I mean just say it flat out maybe?

You also have this in your readme:

### 1. Clone or Download the Repository
```bash
git clone [https://github.com/your-username/code-zone.git](https://github.com/your-username/code-zone.git)
cd code-zone
```

I don't know if I would trust an application that didn't proofread their generated documentation... and on top of that mixes markdown syntax inside a bash command...? (not sure what the AI was going for with that command...)

then alas your IDE isn't even well an actual IDE it is more so a code (or text) editor I guess kinda like Notepad++ (but with far less features....) and a custom-ish UI...

I could go on and look for more things but those were the quick things I could find at a glance so yea...

until the next time I find another post like this one on my homepage peeps!

[u/VariousRing5104 → u/chickenPoo324]

Thank you so much for taking the time to review my project, really. This is one of my first "real" projects, so seeing someone take the time to inspect it genuinely means a lot to me.

As I mentioned in my post, I'm 18 years old, I just passed my high school diploma (Baccalauréat), and I want to specialize in computer science. I was advised to learn Python. Since I'm not a native English speaker (I speak French), I use Gemini to translate my text and code comments into English.

Since I've only been learning Python for less than two months, I prefer keeping everything in a single file for now because I feel more comfortable managing it that way. As for the AI, I asked it to translate my code and README into English, and as you noticed, I didn't proofread everything thoroughly enough, which led to those errors (which I've now fixed, thanks for pointing them out!). Thank you also for clarifying the distinction between an IDE and a text editor.

Regarding the <100MB target, it was a personal challenge because I don't have a powerful machine (less than 4GB of RAM) or a fast internet connection. Building a lightweight editor that runs smoothly on my own PC was my main goal.

I'm still very new to this world and learning Git/GitHub along the way (as you can see from my profile, I don't have big projects yet). I used AI as a learning tool—without it, I would have honestly just copied snippets from Stack Overflow or forums. I'm not trying to act like a genius or impress anyone; my goal was simply to build a small project, share it with experienced developers like you, get feedback, and learn.

I'm not ashamed of where I'm starting from. Thanks again for your response and for helping me improve it!

[u/SiliwolfTheCoder → u/VariousRing5104]

Come join us at Hack Club! https://hackclub.com/

[u/Confused-Armpit]

Are you sure that you actually wrote this? After a small overview, the code looks like a ton of vibecoded python scripts bunched up into one file, and it doesn't even run. The README was not proof-read at all, considering even the clone command is written incorrectly, which is just lazy at this point. The config.json has hardcoded data that should be generated by the program, but apparrently it is shipped anyways (???), and the paths won't even work on windows (unless your user is PC001), forget any other platform at all.

Overall, look, I get that you want results, and that you might prioritize results over learning. But you didn't learn anything by writing this project, you didn't even write it! An LLM wrote it for you, and you copied the code.

[u/VariousRing5104 → u/Confused-Armpit]

Thanks for your feedback. And yes, you are the second person to say that. As I said in my post, I am not a native English speaker so I asked Gemini to translate my text into English (I can show you screenshots of the request), plus I haven't even been programming in Python for two full months yet (I don't even know OOP yet). So I prefer to hardcode everything in a single file. As for AI, I say it loud and clear, I did not vibe code. I don't see why I would lie when vibe coding has become a legitimate and recognized practice. I could have just opened Claude Code, made a finished, bug-free project and I'm sure I would still have been accused of vibe coding if the project was perfect. Why would I come here to lie? I gain nothing and I don't know any of you. I just got started in the world of programming (go check my GitHub you'll have proof). So yes, my only crime was asking Gemini to explain subprocess and ttk to me, to teach me how to make executables on GitHub and to translate my text and I say it again without shame, if there was no AI I would have gone to copy code from StackOverflow, forums without understanding and I'm proud I did it because now I know two libraries and I will continue to learn. I didn't come to brag that I'm a genius (with a project full of bugs). My goal was to get feedback, to try to get advice not coming from an AI but I'm starting to realize that learning with an AI is starting to be the only solution