There are a great number of text editors available, some editors offer limited functionality, this makes them easy to use, but more complex editing tasks are quite tedious. Other text editors claim to be powerful, offering every possible feature the developers could think of. You can do a many things with those editors, but their complexity will hinder you.
Editors like dreamweaver, Coda, Textmate and others, it’s no surprise that more and more people have partially forgotten about simpler code editor such as Window’s Notepad but still they might meet our exact preferences without the need for expensive upgrades.
For this roundup we have compiled a list of 12 Best Source Code Editors you should have in your arsenal. Following source code editors are easy-to-use, simple, and effective.
1. Notepad++
Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License. It includes plenty of features, such as plugin support, drag and drop, tabbed editing, split-screen editing, spell checker, file comparison, and more. Notepad++ offers syntax highlighting and syntax folding support for 48 programming, markup, and scripting languages. Although it’s mainly intended for Windows users, it also works in MAc OS X, BSD, Unix, and Linux.
2. jEdit
jEdit is a mature programmer’s text editor with hundreds (counting the time developing plugins) of person-years of development behind it. Written in Java, it is open source and supports hundreds of plugins and macros. The main window can be split horizontally or vertically and also comes with “auto indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages.” There are many customization options for making everything from the dock to the status bar to the toolbar look and feel exactly the way you want. The supported programming languages include: LOTOS, ActionScript, Python, Ruby, ColdFusion, and COBOL. You can use efficient keyboard shortcuts to make your work faster.
3. Crimson Editor
Crimson Editor is a professional source code editor for Windows. This program is not only fast in loading time, but also small in size (so small that it can be copied in one floppy disk). While it can serve as a good replacement for Notepad, it also offers many powerful features for programming languages such as HTML, C/C++, Perl and Java. There is even a built-in FTP client and you have the ability to manage groups of related files and save them as projects.
4. ATPad
ATPad is a simple Notepad replacement written in pure C and Windows API. Keeping simplicity of Notepad it provides many additional features, such as: customization, tabbed editing, word wrapping, bookmarking, and other features that are great for a free alternative. The latest update was released in December 2010, but that doesn’t mean you cannot test ATPad for some of your projects.
5. Araneae
Araneae (pronounced ah-RAN-ee-ay) is a simple, yet powerful text editor, providing only the features necessary to create websites and scripts using the latest web technologies. Araneae includes several extensions and localizations right out of the proverbial box—no extra downloading required! This includes HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript, PHP and Ruby files, as well as English, French, Greek, Spanish, and Estonian localizations!
6. Komodo Edit
This is the open-source version of the well-known Komodo Ide. It does not offer some of the more advanced features of the paid version, but it’s still an effective source code editor, especially when you’re a beginner. It supports the most important programming languages, so you can use it to develop products with HTML5, PHP, CSS3, Python, Perl, Ruby, XML, and JavaScript. It comes with customizable syntax coloring, background syntax check, folding, and other features you’ll love.
7. EditPad Lite
EditPad Lite is a compact general-purpose text editor. Use EditPad Lite to easily edit any kind of plain text file. With EditPad Lite you can easily open and edit many text files at the same time. There’s no limit. Many of EditPad Lite’s editing commands can work on all files in a given project at once. Quickly switch between files and projects by clicking on their tabs. Move back and forth with the handy “previous editing position” and “previously edited file” commands. Easily edit all kinds of lists with handy commands to sort lines alphabetically and delete duplicate lines. Use these commands with rectangular selections to sort and trim lists of multiple columns on one of the columns.
8. TextWrangler
If you are familiar to BBEdit, then you’ll recognize TextWrangler as its lighter, more accessible version. Although it does not support the extensive professional feature of its “big brother” TextWrangler still a very capable program for Mac users. It’s only available in English. Although the interface seems too plain and basic, it still offers great features, such as syntax coloring and function navigation for 40+ programming languages, as well as a Document Drawer.
9. RJ TextEd
RJ TextEd is a full featured text and source editor with Unicode support. It is also a very powerful web (PHP, ASP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS) development editor. The functionality extends beyond text files and includes support for CSS/HTML editing with integrated CSS/HTML preview, spell checking, auto completion, HTML validation, templates and more. The program also has a dual pane file commander, as well as a (S)FTP client to upload your files.
10. KompoZer
KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding. KompoZer supports tables and templates, tabbed editing, integrated file management via FTP, and 21 languages.
11. Sublime Text
Sublime Text Edior is well known name amonsgt developers, if you are a developer you cant underestimate the power of this tool. Sublime Text is a cross-platform text and source code editor, with a Python application programming interface (API). Sublime Text is proprietary software. Its functionality is extendable with plugins. Most of the extending packages have free-software licenses and are community-built and maintained.
12. Ecoder
ecoder is a simple open source web-based code editor built with PHP & JavaScript. It provides real-time colour syntax highlighting, and allows multiple documents editing online at the same time. The application contains a file browser and file uploader. Multiple files, while being edited, can be browsed within tabs and saved easily.