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Development Tools

Posted by Lasse Pedersen
Lasse Pedersen
1,337 Points

Best Text Editor?

So, currently I'm using Sublime Text 2, but I was just wondering if there are better alternatives which are also free? Any ideas? :)

8 Answers

Tom Bedford
Tom Bedford
15,645 Points
Tom Bedford
Tom Bedford
15,645 Points

Try Sublime Text 3 which is free while in beta.

If you are on windows Notepad++ is free forever.

I've not found a better editor than Sublime.

Stephen Whitfield
Stephen Whitfield
16,771 Points
Stephen Whitfield
Stephen Whitfield
16,771 Points

Aptana is fantastic. Everybody harps on about Sublime, but Aptana actually gives you a results window when executing python or ruby codes. Sublime just tells you whether or not the code is error-free.

Xing En Xiao
Xing En Xiao
3,315 Points
Xing En Xiao
Xing En Xiao
3,315 Points

There's really no such thing as the "best" text editor. It really depends on what are you going to use the editor for. I'm using Notepad++, it's free and it gets the job done on my Windows PC. I don't like Sublime because I don't feel it's worth paying $70 for a text editor. I'm sure there will be people saying you don't have to pay for Sublime Text 2 if you ignore the annoying nagging to buy Sublime.

We are all beginners here. Just pick something simple and easy to use. Once you become an advance developer then you could join the thirty years old religious flame war to determine whether vim or Emacs is the best editor.

Xing En Xiao
Xing En Xiao
3,315 Points

Word of Warning: the learning curve for vim and Emacs are very steep.

User User
User User
3,705 Points
User User
User User
3,705 Points

As a beginner to coding, I can only really go off of what I am currently using: Sublime Text. I think it is really good for just learning off of Tree House. More importantly, I think that no matter what you use, consider learning the keyboard shortcuts for your program / operating system. They absolutely help to speed things along.

For example, it is easy to turn lines of code into a comment on a Mac on Sublime by using "Command + /". You can also duplicate lines of code with another keyboard shortcut. Or know how to delete characters, words, and whole lines (both before and after the text cursor) with the keyboard. Super useful stuff! :)

Abdul Momen
Abdul Momen
3,052 Points
Abdul Momen
Abdul Momen
3,052 Points

Bluefish is also a free cross platform text editor.

Sublime text is the best though :)

Lasse Pedersen
Lasse Pedersen
1,337 Points
Lasse Pedersen
Lasse Pedersen
1,337 Points

I've tried Notepad++ a while back, and I prefer Sublime of the two. I'll try out the beta of Sublime Text 3 as well as Bluefish and Aptana.

Thanks for the input. :)

Calvin Lai
Calvin Lai
903 Points
Calvin Lai
Calvin Lai
903 Points

Are you using Sublime Text 2 on Windows?

If so, do you have trouble scrolling up with your touch pad?

removejackdonley
removejackdonley
2,829 Points
removejackdonley
removejackdonley
2,829 Points

Depending on what your using it for, Eclipse could be a good one.