In theory, but not in practice. Visual Studio starts off great but it eventually chokes and dies for C++. Tools like Visual Assist can extend the lifetime but eventually it too will fail. This is true for every game and every engine I've ever worked on.
I now do 100% of code editing in Sublime Text. Other people use other text editors. I'm now of the opinion that code bases should be useable and searchable in plaintext form. It's not difficult and even with an IDE makes things better imo.
C++ support in VS is horrible, that's correct, but having the ability to be supported by compiler services that can parse (invalid) code is a major milestone when it comes to handling more complex codebases.
It does not matter how smart you are, the easier it is for you to understand and reason about the code, the more will fit in your head.
Refactoring is just one of the many amazing tools that make me a much better and more productive programmer today then I was without when using vi in the 90s. Add in static analysis, intellisense etc... Every bit of complexity that tooling can hide from you is worth gold.
Reality for C++ is grim though in this regard. Let's hope we get better compiler services for it soon.
I agree that the easier it is to understand and reason about code the better. That's why I'm opposed to most uses of auto. It makes code harder to understand. It might not make code harder to understand if it was used with tools that doesn't exist. But those tools don't exist. I'm constantly re-evaluating my opinions and for auto I keep reaching the same conclusion. I pray that someday new tools are released that make my work life better. When they are some of my re-evaluations, related to auto or otherwise, will certainly change. But sadly that day is not today.
