4 ms·

I'm sorry for going off topic, but I keep seeing this kind of comment and I want to get an answer - how is Notepad not a good editor? It can take any ASCII/ANS

by Endy 9y ago

I'm sorry for going off topic, but I keep seeing this kind of comment and I want to get an answer - how is Notepad not a good editor? It can take any ASCII/ANSI/UTF file and output it in plaintext. It has line-wrap as an option. It loads fast and can handle files of decent size without lag. Users can set display and print fonts, etc. I'm really lost as to why anyone says Notepad is not a good text editor for basic text. I've written entire websites in Notepad, not to mention it being my go-to writing tool for anything that doesn't need to be visually impressive or which I can add formatting tags to. I prewrite emails, cover letters, and long forum posts in Notepad. Heck, if I need a DOS batch file, I turn to either Notepad or Edit. On the other hand, Notepad++ takes much longer to load, has more UI elements, and generally makes it harder to do the one very simple thing I want it to do - allow me to create and edit plaintext. Notepad2 was better on the UI last time I used it, but still took longer to load.

freedomben 9y ago
I agree with you actually. Back in the day I coded almost exclusively in Notepad when writing lots of HTML code and Basic code, for example. For the first year of Java I used it for Java because I wanted to really know the language (and without the help of an IDE, you get really, really good at spotting syntax errors and memorizing APIs). The simplicity was impossible to beat, and its ubiquity made it always available. Maybe that's why I use vim for everything now. It's like notepad but with much more efficient keybindings :-) P.S. I do use Intellij for java now when I'm writing Java code, mostly because I have to. That said, the feature set is amazing and for doing Java I'd probably use it even if I didn't have to because I'm spoiled. Still use vim for everything else tho.
abawany 9y ago
Some things that I like in Notepad++: * Multi-window editing * Restoring workspace on load * Background, font, and default spacing options * Source formatting by source type These were just some basic things I used in the few times I used Notepad++ after hearing people talk highly of it; there are probably a ton more along with plug-ins but my usage was basic. It definitely made serious-ish development on Windows easier for me to do.
da_chicken 9y ago
> how is Notepad not a good editor? 1. Only understands Windows line endings. 2. Always saves UTF-8 with a BOM. Only the first one is really a significant issue, but the second one can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Granted, yes, it's a pain in the ass primarily because *nix applications often treat a BOM as data, but it's still a pain in the ass. > Heck, if I need a DOS batch file, I turn to either Notepad or Edit. Edit? You've been gone awhile. Edit has never been released on any x64 platform of Windows, AFAIK. Why? Because it's a 16-bit application! NTVDM, the 16/32-bit DOS and 16 bit Windows emulator only runs on 32-bit Windows. WoW64, the 32-bit Windows emulator for x64 Windows, does not run 16 bit applications.
- Endy 9y ago
  >Edit? You've been gone awhile. Edit has never been released on any x64 platform of Windows, AFAIK. Why? Because it's a 16-bit application! NTVDM, the 16/32-bit DOS and 16 bit Windows emulator only runs on 32-bit Windows. WoW64, the 32-bit Windows emulator for x64 Windows, does not run 16 bit applications. I only use a 32-bit OS and a 32-bit processor for Win7. If it doesn't work in x64, you've just given me a reason to never "upgrade". Then again, if my computer didn't throw a hissy fit over it, I'd be using FreeDOS as my primary OS. Either that or just get an old MS-DOS 6.2 installed.
  - suprfnk 9y ago
    Interesting, can I ask what kind of work you do? I'm assuming programming, what kind of programming do you primarily do?
    - Endy 9y ago
      Actually, I'm just a teacher/office admin/etc for work - by passion and hobby I'm a writer but that hasn't turned into money and likely never will. I don't do programming and never have, the closest I ever came was a brief scrape with BASIC back in the days before Windows. I do some web design, but not too much anymore because I don't do Javascript and I don't like off-page CSS (I sometimes use inline, but that's about it).
baud147258 9y ago
One the machines I'm using at home and at work (Windows 10 Desktop + laptop, Windows 7 latptop, Windows server 2012 running in VMware), I've found that notepad is way slower than notepadd++ to launch. And adding tab support, syntax coloring, sane undo, restoring workspace on load and reload the file without closing the app, there's no competition between the two.
gruturo 9y ago
> how is Notepad not a good editor? - Line endings. It mauls anything not "windows line endings" format - Crappy undo (it will occasionally eat 5 lines of text instead of one word) - No redo - Barfs on large files (on a modern machine) If by accident you double click on a 1GB file you better kill it. Please note I did not mention anything which could be argued as "rather belonging in a professional editor". No syntax highlighting, brackets matching, collapsing code / paragraphs, diff'ing 2 documents, tabs, macros, etc etc.

by Endy 9y ago

freedomben 9y ago

I agree with you actually. Back in the day I coded almost exclusively in Notepad when writing lots of HTML code and Basic code, for example. For the first year of Java I used it for Java because I wanted to really know the language (and without the help of an IDE, you get really, really good at spotting syntax errors and memorizing APIs). The simplicity was impossible to beat, and its ubiquity made it always available. Maybe that's why I use vim for everything now. It's like notepad but with much more efficient keybindings :-) P.S. I do use Intellij for java now when I'm writing Java code, mostly because I have to. That said, the feature set is amazing and for doing Java I'd probably use it even if I didn't have to because I'm spoiled. Still use vim for everything else tho.

abawany 9y ago

Some things that I like in Notepad++: * Multi-window editing * Restoring workspace on load * Background, font, and default spacing options * Source formatting by source type These were just some basic things I used in the few times I used Notepad++ after hearing people talk highly of it; there are probably a ton more along with plug-ins but my usage was basic. It definitely made serious-ish development on Windows easier for me to do.

da_chicken 9y ago

> how is Notepad not a good editor? 1. Only understands Windows line endings. 2. Always saves UTF-8 with a BOM. Only the first one is really a significant issue, but the second one can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Granted, yes, it's a pain in the ass primarily because *nix applications often treat a BOM as data, but it's still a pain in the ass. > Heck, if I need a DOS batch file, I turn to either Notepad or Edit. Edit? You've been gone awhile. Edit has never been released on any x64 platform of Windows, AFAIK. Why? Because it's a 16-bit application! NTVDM, the 16/32-bit DOS and 16 bit Windows emulator only runs on 32-bit Windows. WoW64, the 32-bit Windows emulator for x64 Windows, does not run 16 bit applications.

Endy 9y ago
>Edit? You've been gone awhile. Edit has never been released on any x64 platform of Windows, AFAIK. Why? Because it's a 16-bit application! NTVDM, the 16/32-bit DOS and 16 bit Windows emulator only runs on 32-bit Windows. WoW64, the 32-bit Windows emulator for x64 Windows, does not run 16 bit applications. I only use a 32-bit OS and a 32-bit processor for Win7. If it doesn't work in x64, you've just given me a reason to never "upgrade". Then again, if my computer didn't throw a hissy fit over it, I'd be using FreeDOS as my primary OS. Either that or just get an old MS-DOS 6.2 installed.
- suprfnk 9y ago
  Interesting, can I ask what kind of work you do? I'm assuming programming, what kind of programming do you primarily do?
  - Endy 9y ago
    Actually, I'm just a teacher/office admin/etc for work - by passion and hobby I'm a writer but that hasn't turned into money and likely never will. I don't do programming and never have, the closest I ever came was a brief scrape with BASIC back in the days before Windows. I do some web design, but not too much anymore because I don't do Javascript and I don't like off-page CSS (I sometimes use inline, but that's about it).

baud147258 9y ago

One the machines I'm using at home and at work (Windows 10 Desktop + laptop, Windows 7 latptop, Windows server 2012 running in VMware), I've found that notepad is way slower than notepadd++ to launch. And adding tab support, syntax coloring, sane undo, restoring workspace on load and reload the file without closing the app, there's no competition between the two.

gruturo 9y ago

> how is Notepad not a good editor? - Line endings. It mauls anything not "windows line endings" format - Crappy undo (it will occasionally eat 5 lines of text instead of one word) - No redo - Barfs on large files (on a modern machine) If by accident you double click on a 1GB file you better kill it. Please note I did not mention anything which could be argued as "rather belonging in a professional editor". No syntax highlighting, brackets matching, collapsing code / paragraphs, diff'ing 2 documents, tabs, macros, etc etc.