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Editor of choice
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calverson
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Jun 1, 2011, 09:28 PM
 
For anything textual (essays, documents, code). And why you use what you use.

I'll start off. I code a lot and I use MacVim. I have gotten into the Vim mindset (using hjkl to control cursor position, the built-in regex replace etc) and I find it a lot faster now for coding than anything else.

It is also actively being developed and it's free. Two qualities that TextMate do not have. Download it here if you want it.

If I need IDE functionality, I use NetBeans with jVi.
( Last edited by calverson; Jun 1, 2011 at 11:00 PM. )
     
subego
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Jun 1, 2011, 10:56 PM
 
WriteNow.

     
Laminar
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Jun 2, 2011, 12:01 AM
 
Notepad.
     
iMOTOR
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Jun 2, 2011, 02:23 AM
 
nano for editing config files on Linux server.
xcode for writing C/OBJ-C.
Dreamweaver for html/css.
     
Doc HM
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Jun 2, 2011, 02:26 AM
 
Scrivener.
This space for Hire! Reasonable rates. Reach an audience of literally dozens!
     
Person Man
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Jun 2, 2011, 02:53 AM
 
AppleWorks.

No, not THAT AppleWorks... THIS AppleWorks:



     
Doofy
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Jun 2, 2011, 03:09 AM
 
Doof has taken to using Coda for web stuff, CSSEdit for CSS stuff and Pages for wordy stuff.
Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
     
OreoCookie
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Jun 2, 2011, 04:48 AM
 
TextMate. My editor of choice since 2005
Bundles are extremely powerful and they can be combined efficiently.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
Thorzdad
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Jun 2, 2011, 07:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
WriteNow.

     
-Q-
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Jun 2, 2011, 08:07 AM
 
TextWrangler for anything web-oriented; Pages for everything else.
     
Oisín
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Jun 2, 2011, 09:35 AM
 
Coda for coding.
InDesign for pretty much everything else (except a few things where I have to use MS Word ).
     
andi*pandi
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Jun 2, 2011, 10:47 AM
 
BBEdit and Dreamweaver for code;
Word/NeoOffice for writing plain letters/memos;
Indesign for when it has to look nice.
     
Demonhood
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Jun 2, 2011, 01:52 PM
 
pico/nano for command line stuff - too lazy to learn emacs or vim.
TextWrangler for code - simple and free.
Byword or Evernote for normal writing - Byword for the distraction-free environment. Evernote for it's syncing and collaborative features. also, i sometimes edit one in the other using QuickCursor (which is handy)
Celtx for scripts - it's free and fully functional. no reason to pony up for Final Draft.
     
calverson  (op)
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Jun 2, 2011, 05:36 PM
 


Moderator post c-c-c-combo-breaker!
     
calverson  (op)
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Jun 2, 2011, 05:39 PM
 
Back on topic, one of the reasons that I use Vim so religiously is for command-line editing for making smaller changes on servers.
     
ibook_steve
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Jun 2, 2011, 09:13 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
WriteNow.



+1!!
Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
     
turtle777
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Jun 2, 2011, 09:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by Demonhood View Post
pico/nano for command line stuff - too lazy to learn emacs or vim.
Evernote for normal writing. Evernote for it's syncing and collaborative features.
Ditto.

Word for where Word is needed (resumes, office environment).

-t
     
mattyb
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Jun 3, 2011, 03:47 AM
 
Vi on UNIX/Linux - cos you know that it'll be there.
Notepad++ for code (PL/SQL, SQL, shell scripts) and 'lite' stuff.
Word for the rest.
     
simdude
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Jun 3, 2011, 11:41 AM
 
The best text editor is whatever you have mastered and can get around the fastest. That being said, as a professional programmer, I have tried everything and always come back to vi/vim. Or for the mac, MacVim.

Why? Whenever I see a cool new feature in some editor, I find someone writes a script or shows how it can be easily done in vim. The Textmate bundles were cool, then I found a snippet plugin for vim that works great. The learning curve for vi is a little high, but if you live in a text editor, the speed you can do things once you're comfortable is incredible. I've had people staring at me with their mouths open when I clean up their messy code with hundreds of lines of assignments and I can align everything with one quick command. Or pipe sections of text through a shell or perl script to do just about anything.

I don't believe in the editor religious wars. But if you work with text, your editor is your primary tool so master whichever you pick. Learn as many shortcuts and features as you can. And if you see someone do something cool in one editor, figure out how to do it in your own.

One additional comment on vim is that while it's free, the author, Bram Moolenaar, uses donations to help poor in Uganda. Not just sending money, but he runs an organization and visits regularly. I don't know of any other software project with the developer so involved. Consider skipping a pizza or a couple of pints of beer each year to send a donation if you like the editor.
( Last edited by simdude; Jun 3, 2011 at 11:53 AM. Reason: Additional comment)
     
Haroscarfel
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Jun 3, 2011, 11:53 AM
 
my personal favorite is Smultron
     
besson3c
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Jun 3, 2011, 11:57 AM
 
TextMate and emacs
     
olePigeon
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Jun 3, 2011, 12:25 PM
 
TextEdit.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
calverson  (op)
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Jun 3, 2011, 12:33 PM
 
I agree with simdude – honestly, there is nothing that another editor can't do that I cannot do in vi/m with a few keystrokes.
     
Wingsy
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Jun 3, 2011, 12:53 PM
 
SubEthaEdit for code. Funky name, but excellent editor.

Pages for everything else.
     
stirrell
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Jun 3, 2011, 01:14 PM
 
I really want to learn Vim but I haven't yet had the dedication to learn. I am currently using Netbeans for most of my PHP coding and BBEdit for quick edits.

For the Vim users here, what plug-ins would you recommend to get the following features?

1. Snippets (with abbreviation-tab activation and tab stops).

2. SVN and FTP integration.

3. Projects (with the ability to set up SVN or FTP for each). Is this possible? Unfortunately, not all of our projects are in SVN repositories so I still need to use FTP/SFTP for the odd project.

3. Project-wide function definitions. Not sure if there is a plug-in for this but I LOVE how Netbeans will give auto-complete throughout a project and give the PHPDoc definition in a pop-up. Very helpful.

It is tough because I feel like I am so busy that I don't have the time to learn Vim... but I feel like if I invest the time, it would make me more efficient :-).
     
calverson  (op)
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Jun 3, 2011, 01:24 PM
 
For snippets, I use this: snipMate - TextMate-style snippets for Vim : vim online

For svn, I mount the drive that I am editing as a volume on my Mac via Transmit, and then I have a command line open ssh'd into the dev server that I am editing on. When I am committing code, I use vimdiff, and then when happy, just do command line committing. I am not sure how good you are with the unix command line, but I do usually do something like this:
Code:
svn commit `svn status | sed 's/^M//'`
Which will go through and commit each of the modified files in that folder and subfolders. I switch out the M with a \? for svn adding etc. If there are only certain ones that I want to commit, I go:
Code:
svn commit `svn status | grep 'common\ name' | sed 's/^M//'`
where 'common\ name' will filter what I want to commit.

For projects, not really. That is when I use jVi and NetBeans. It basically gives you Vim's awesomeness with NetBean's awesomeness. E.G NetBeans visual-diff, project management, and auto-completion throughout a project (including things like Drupal functions and our own custom modules), but I get to use Vim's great command interface.
     
dazuma
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Jun 3, 2011, 01:51 PM
 
I've been through a bunch, from BBEdit, TextWrangler, JEdit, TextMate, Aquamacs, and I eventually settled on Sublime Text. (Sublime Text: The text editor you'll fall in love with).

I've been using the alphas of version 2, and while it's not free, it's been the first editor I've used that hasn't had five or six really annoying behaviors that I couldn't figure out how to change. Sublime has better developer features than TextWrangler (which feels like an HTML monkey's editor), but more of a focus on getting stuff done than Emacs/Vim (which, even after all this time still feel like they're primarily designed for editor configuration hackers). And it's compatible with TextMate themes and some TextMate extensions (snippets, languages), but unlike TextMate, Sublime is actually getting regular releases with clear progress and improvements.
     
stirrell
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Jun 3, 2011, 01:55 PM
 
Thanks for the suggestions, calverson. I think I may just have to give jVi a try. I have to admit that part of why I want to switch away from Netbeans is to have something lighter and more "Mac-like." I am really hopeful that the next version of Coda will impress.

I am the proud owner of TextMate, BBEdit, and Coda. Perhaps I just won't ever be happy .
     
calverson  (op)
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Jun 3, 2011, 05:29 PM
 
I too own TextMate, BBEdit, Coda, as well as Espresso and Sublime. I always think "this is going to be my editor" and I use it for a few hours then get frustrated, and go back to MacVim.

This app: About Vico might be exactly what you are looking for when it is completed.
     
efithian
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Jun 4, 2011, 08:08 AM
 
BBEdit from the Mac, HTMLEdit from the iPad for editing html files.
     
jtd
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Jun 4, 2011, 10:04 AM
 
TextWrangler is my overall favorite editor. I've tried AptanaStudio3, but it loaded much too slow for me to like it.
     
Veltliner
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Jun 4, 2011, 08:58 PM
 
TextWrangler.
     
Cronocide
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Jun 6, 2011, 10:31 AM
 
TextWrangler for code, Pages for documents.
It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where YOUR source code is?
     
simdude
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Jun 7, 2011, 04:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by calverson View Post
Great suggestions. Another good thing to research is using tag files. You run a program called ctags on your source to create a reference library. Now, say you're looking at a variable and want to see its declaration. You just hit ctrl-[ and it jumps there. ctrl-t and your back.

The place to check out all the vim scripts is welcome home : vim online. If you browse scripts and look for the most downloaded, you see the most popular. OmniCppComplete is a nice auto-completion script if you're programming in c/c++.

There is also one for project management called project.

The number of scripts is both vims pro and con. Some of the scripts are more difficult to figure out. Some were written and not maintained. You have to poke around a bit and watch the activity and downloads, but if you put a little time in, you'll find you can do just about anything in vim.
     
besson3c
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Jun 7, 2011, 05:21 PM
 
I've been meaning to look at Dreamweaver, I haven't looked at it for years. I kind of want to find out why some people still use it... I've heard it is a pretty good text editor, but what I want to find out is whether it is worth the price, the hassles of waiting for it to launch (it used to be pretty bulky), and the Adobeness which I generally dislike (particularly Flash). I also want to find out if the extra things which are pretty much deprecated in today's day and age (e.g. file management, WYSIWYG editor, the whole concept of Dreamweaver templates, etc.) get in the way, or whether they have sort of been tucked aside?
     
Big Mac
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Jun 7, 2011, 08:37 PM
 
I don't think Dreamweaver's for you, besson. I don't think you'd be happy with the text editor component because that's not the main feature of the app, and there's likely nothing in the graphical portion that you'd be interested in.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
besson3c
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Jun 7, 2011, 10:49 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
I don't think Dreamweaver's for you, besson. I don't think you'd be happy with the text editor component because that's not the main feature of the app, and there's likely nothing in the graphical portion that you'd be interested in.

You're probably right, but I've heard of people swearing up and down that DW makes a great text editor for people like myself, so I don't want to be completely close-minded about it, but I haven't heard a compelling reason for using it over the several other options listed here.
     
Demonhood
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Jun 7, 2011, 11:15 PM
 
I personally try to use DW as an editor every few years. The way it handles files & transfers, however, drives me crazy. It works for lots of people, but I can't stand it.
     
besson3c
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Jun 7, 2011, 11:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by Demonhood View Post
I personally try to use DW as an editor every few years. The way it handles files & transfers, however, drives me crazy. It works for lots of people, but I can't stand it.

Do you mean it wanting to generate links based on the remote directory and stuff like that, ala so-called Web 1.0 sites?
     
leamanc
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Jun 9, 2011, 05:31 PM
 
BBEdit is still the king for me. Some of the younger upstarts look nicer with their Cocoa interfaces, but I am way too used to the feature set in BBEdit, having used it regularly since 1997.

I also use vim on the command line, and MacVim (the Cocoa one that is hosted at Google Code, not the old Carbon version) occasionally when I need to do some quick-and-dirty text processing with a few keystrokes.

But mostly it's BBEdit for me; I will also create CSS in CSSEdit, but the resulting files promptly get opened in BBEdit once created.
     
besson3c
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Jun 9, 2011, 05:37 PM
 
Do you guys primarily work locally and try to recreate your server environment as best as you can locally? If so, do you commit changes with Git/Github and make DB changes via Rails DB migrations or by hand, or do you mount your web server's volume locally so that you can use your local editor while working on remote files?
     
leamanc
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Jun 9, 2011, 11:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by besson3c View Post
Do you guys primarily work locally and try to recreate your server environment as best as you can locally...
I keep a copy in my local machine's web server directory (/Library/WebServer/Documents/ on OS X). I use Transmit for file transfers and for keeping the local and remote directories in sync.

For more complicated projects, I occasionally use rsync.

But in either case, yeah, I keep a web server running locally that is functionally equivalent to the production web server.
     
Curiosity
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Jun 11, 2011, 01:24 AM
 
For a word processor, I am using Bean. For a plain text editor, I use Textwrangler. For things like scripts or stylesheets, I use Smultron.
     
besson3c
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Jun 11, 2011, 01:45 AM
 
Originally Posted by leamanc View Post
I keep a copy in my local machine's web server directory (/Library/WebServer/Documents/ on OS X). I use Transmit for file transfers and for keeping the local and remote directories in sync.

For more complicated projects, I occasionally use rsync.

But in either case, yeah, I keep a web server running locally that is functionally equivalent to the production web server.

Yeah, I work with a buddy of mine who likes to setup a local mirror of the stuff on the server, this is certainly common in Rails tutorials too, but I just don't know if I'm into the amount of work that is sometimes needed to mirror the two environments perfectly, particularly when it comes to stuff that requires interaction with other infrastructure such as LDAP servers and non-local DB servers and stuff like that, not to mention syncing/testing database data and handling DB migrations (although I've recently taken a liking to doing this using the Rails framework)

On the other hand, obviously the offline capability provided by working locally and not having to deal with spinning beach balls and stuff when working with the Finder or your editor during network latency is nice. It would be nice to be able to combine the best of both worlds.
     
   
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