Other Text Editors
Even if you don't want to use one of the traditional Unix text editors, it's still a good idea to use an editor more powerful and flexible than Notepad or TextEdit, particularly if you ever edit scripting or programming language files, or even HTML. All of the editors below do some sort of syntax highlighting and have at least some auto-indenting support. Some also have features like auto-complete. All are free (as in speech and beer).
Editor |
Platform(s) |
License |
Notes |
Mac (10.4 or higher) |
closed source, but free |
Recommended Mac editor |
|
Windows |
Recommended Windows editor |
||
Windows, Mac, and Linux. |
Mix of GPL, LGPL, and MPL |
Built on top of the Mozilla platform (but not browser-based), so it's pretty heavyweight compared to the rest. And they constantly try to upsell you to KomodoIDE ($295). It is a good editor though. |
|
Linux (Gnome), Windows, Mac |
GPL |
Natively a Gnome editor, it looks like a Linux app even on Mac and Windows |
|
Windows, Mac, and Linux |
GPL |
Cross platform editor written in Java. Doesn't look or act native anywhere. |
|
Linux (KDE) |
|
||
Windows, Linux |
Similar to MIT license. i.e. disclaimer and notice) |
Works on MacOS X with Darwine |