Important features for editors

[Dave Angel]

On 07/04/2013 08:38 PM, Joshua Landau wrote:
> On 4 July 2013 08:32, cutems93 <ms2597 at cornell.edu> wrote:
>> I am researching on editors for my own reference. I found that each of them has some features that other don't, but I am not sure which features are significant/necessary for a GOOD editor. What features do you a good editor should have? Keyboard shortcuts? Extensions?
>
> Let me give you some reasons I really, really like Sublime Text.
>
> * Fast. Like, really fast. I've used Vim -- Sublime Text is faster.
> Considering I'm on a middle-end 5-year-old computer (not for long...)
> this matters.
>
> * The rendering is gorgeous. There are subtle shadows, there's
> perfectly crisp text (the main reason I no longer use terminal
> editors, actually), and once you choose the right theme (Nexus and
> Phoenix, Tomorrow Night for me) it's just lovely. There's this feature
> where it shows you tabs -- but only for the part of the file you're
> on. There's, instead of a scrollbar, a little "bird's-eye-view" of the
> whole code on the RHS. This goes on. Visually it is stunning, in a
> helpful way. If it had proper terminal-emulation support, I'd replace
> my terminal with it. It's just that usable an interface.
>
> * Multiple cursors. This is something that no-one else really
> advertises, but it's one of the most used features for me. It's
> something you just have to try for a while -- I think it's a bit like
> Vim's power-of-Regex but easy for a, you know, human. (I just found
> https://github.com/terryma/vim-multiple-cursors).
>
> * Good navigation between and inside of files. A lot of things have
> this, so I won't say much more.
>
> * The "Command Palette" is a dropdown that you do commands from, and
> because of the way you search it, it's like a hybrid between vim's
> command-based power and something that's actually discoverable and
> easy.
>
> * Usable on *really big* files, and has one of the best binary-file
> support I know of. I open binary file a little more than I should, not
> that I can do much with them.
>
> * Useful extensions, installable at a button-press --
> <C-P>in<CR>[search for package]<CR>. Like SublimeREPL. I know
> Emacs/Vim will do better at REPLs, but few others will.
>
> * Etc. This goes on.
>
> Looking at Dave Angel's list, Sublime Text pretty-much aces it.
>
> What I don't understand is where he says:
>
>> The main negatives I can see are:
> ...
>>      It's available for OS/X, Linux and Windows, with a single purchase
>>      The eval/demo is not time-limited (currently)
>
> How on earth are those negatives?
>

A typo.  I was collecting points and trying to put them in categories, 
but somehow that didn't end up in the right place.

> He basically only dislikes it because you have to use PayPal, which is
> his choice. I can't say I agree with it though.
>


-- 
DaveA