Important features for editors

[rurpy at yahoo.com]

On 07/04/2013 08:24 AM, MRAB wrote:
> On 04/07/2013 14:22, Tim Chase wrote:
>> On 2013-07-04 05:02, Dave Angel wrote:
>> [snip an excellent list of things to look for in an editor]

> It's 2013, yet Unicode support is merely a "nice-to-have"?
 
I agree that this is pretty important.  Even if you don't
have to deal with Unicode today, the chances are good that 
you will need to, if only in an occasional way, in the 
future.

One thing not mentioned (sorry if I missed it) that I
use more than many of the features that have been mentioned
is some form of advanced search/replace.  I.e. something
that can do regular expression searches and replaces 
including multiline ones.

Another feature I find necessary is very fast start up time
since I open an editor hundreds of times a day.

Because advanced features and fast startup seem to be mutually
exclusive, I often use two editors, a simple but quick starting
one like Gedit on Linux or Notepad on Windows for 90% of 
routine editing and Emacs for the the other 10% when I need 
to do something more powerful.  But as a disclaimer I should 
add that I do not spend 8+ hours a day doing nothing but 
programming so YMMV.

BTW, the group is currently having a problem both with
trolls and with regulars here that bite at every baited 
hook that drifts past their screen.  There seems to nothing
to be done other than ignore the obnoxious posts but I am
sorry they have infiltrated your discussion.  Hopefully
this comment won't add to the problem.