QotD: Text Editor
Posted October 6th, 2004 @ 09:16pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: What is your preferred text editor's favorite feature?
My Answer: I use BBEdit, and I think I like that I'm used to it the most. "Vast numbers of preferences" isn't one feature, or I'd consider saying that. I'm used to it. It's entrenched. I "get" it, and I can get around it very, very, very easily.
This makes accepting any other text editor, despite its actual feature set, a very difficult task.
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
Donate Life
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 11:44am #
I use a variety of editors, but my favorite is Emacs. The killer feature for me in Emacs is elisp. The fact that I can make my editor do what I want, exactly what I want, is what makes it my favorite.
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 11:47am #
I'm pretty much in the same position. I am so used to BBEdit that I have a hard time appreciating other text editors.
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 12:38pm #
For me it's familiarity. I'm a vi acolyte, so when I'm dealing with other editors that don't let me slip into command mode and get around with vi commands I get a little irritated. I'm forever putting ^'s, $'s, cw's, dw's, w's, b's, l's and h's in documents until my fingers realize I'm not in vi. In fact my .sig used to be
:wq
and I didn't even specify a sig file in Mail!
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 1:26pm #
Emacs, sometimes in vi-compatible mode.
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 2:51pm #
SubEthaEdit, and the coolest feature? Concurrent editing, especially with someone over the internet.
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 3:03pm #
I use SubEthaEdit as well. I don't make any use of its "killer" feature, collaborative editing, it's just a decent, basic text editor. Collaborative editing a cool idea, I just don't work with anyone else who uses a Mac, at least not anyone with whom I'd need to edit something.
For basic word processing, I like Nisus Writer X. The latest version fixes a lot of problems. I think the authors really took a hit for starting over from scratch (Nisus Writer for older Macs is/was (apparently) a very popular program). But I think it was the right decision.
Rob
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 3:24pm #
BBedit for sure, though hydra is pretty cool.
BBedit's code coloring and search/replace are just so familiar to me that i have a hard time feeling productive with anything else.
Posted 07 Oct 2004 at 4:07pm #
vim, because it works they way I expect. (But then, I'm a bit of a UNIX geek.) 🙂
Posted 08 Oct 2004 at 9:04am #
For me it's familiarity. I'm a vi acolyte, so when I'm dealing with other editors that don't let me slip into command mode and get around with vi commands I get a little irritated. I'm forever putting ^'s, $'s, cw's, dw's, w's, b's, l's and h's in documents until my fingers realize I'm not in vi. In fact my .sig used to be
Posted 08 Oct 2004 at 12:46pm #
I like SubEthaEdit (FKA Hydra) because it is simple, inexpensive, and colors my words for me.
Posted 12 Oct 2004 at 4:47am #
Emacs, sometimes in vi-compatible mode
Posted 14 Oct 2004 at 6:53am #
I use SubEthaEdit as well. I don't make any use of its "killer" feature, collaborative editing, it's just a decent, basic text editor. Collaborative editing a cool idea, I just don't work with anyone else who uses a Mac, at least not anyone with whom I'd need to edit something