5 ms·

Honest question: as a Vim user, what are the benefits/strong suits of Notepad++ (and NotepadNext)?

droopyEyelids 5y ago
By asking 'what are the benefits' you're assuming someone is pitching this as a replacement/improvement on Vim. Where did you get that impression?
- simonklitj 5y ago
  Alright, sorry for that insinuation. I did also ask about strong suits which is probably all I should’ve only asked about.
hereforphone 5y ago
mike00632 5y ago
For me, Notepad++ was a replacement for Notepad. I don't do development in Notepad++ but rather just view text files.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  Yeah the default "keep all tabs open between sessions" is great if you muck about with a lot of scratch/copy pasta files
  - glenneroo 5y ago
    Added bonus: it will reopen tabs even if the file has changes and/or has never been saved. Very practical in some use cases.
wolpoli 5y ago
Notepad++ works like a classical Windows application, with minimal learning curve for existing Windows users. It's mainly a preference thing.
- simonklitj 5y ago
  Makes perfect sense. I don’t use Windows, so haven’t really been exposed to Notepad++ very much. Just hear about it from time to time. Thanks!
  - digisign 5y ago
    You don't have to use Windows to appreciate it, X Window and Mac use the same to similar keybindings.
digisign 5y ago
It uses CUA keybindings which everyone should know. If you're already invested in vim, there's not much benefit, other than not having to use different keybindings in different windows.
AdmiralAsshat 5y ago
It's reasonably intuitive for a non-technical user to use (since it has pretty much the same control scheme as the familiar Notepad), but has enough technical tools built into it that you can do some serious diagnostic work. In my job I often have clients install it so that we can review their datafiles and diagnose load problems. Many of my calls sound like this. (On Zoom) Me: Okay, so I understand this file is not loading, can you show me the file? Client: (opens file) Me: Ok, hard to see what's wrong at a glance. Can you open the file in Notepad++ for me? Client: (Reopens file in N++) Me: Ah, here we go. You see those characters in blue on line 49? Those are non-ASCII characters. You've got some garbage in there. NULLs, control characters, or some other thing. Those will break the XML parser. Try removing them and reloading the file. Or: Me: So it looks like this is coming from your source system with no line endings, and is quite difficult to read. Can you download the plug-in XML Tools/JSON Tools/Poor Man's TSQL Formatter and let's see if we can get the files indented to make reviewing easier? Or: Me: So if you click on the "View" tab and show the line-endings...thank you. This file is coming over with Windows CRLF line endings instead of the expected LF endings on UNIX/Linux. It's probably throwing off the record parser by one byte for each row. You can use the tool under 'EDIT' to change the newlines to UNIX convention, and you should be good to go. Small things like that. It's a heck of a lot easier to teach the client to do that rather than try to convince them to run dos2unix on a terminal.
- deltarholamda 5y ago
  This covers it. Trying to talk a normal person through vim is like doing a keyhole appendectomy through the urethra. It's a handy thing to have on Windows for anything text-oriented. Having a dual-platform version would be a benefit as well, as probably 95% of Notepad++ users are comfortable on Linux as well, so it would be helpful to talk somebody through it over the phone without having to access the dusty recesses of their memory.
  - dgfitz 5y ago
    Fwiw it runs like a champ under wine with no fussiness
  - 5y ago
keithnz 5y ago
For a Vim user, this an alternative you would suggest to other people for editing files. ie, like its name suggests, if you can use standard notepad, you can use Notepad++, but you get more toys. I think its main advantage is it is fast, features are discoverable through UI, and out of the box it understands many kinds of filetypes and has a ton of features, macro recording, it has plugins with a plugin browser also. But as a Vim user, you don't really need it, though I do use it sometimes for random obscure things instead of Vim (like Mime encoding/decoding)

By asking 'what are the benefits' you're assuming someone is pitching this as a replacement/improvement on Vim. Where did you get that impression?

simonklitj 5y ago
Alright, sorry for that insinuation. I did also ask about strong suits which is probably all I should’ve only asked about.

hereforphone 5y ago

mike00632 5y ago

For me, Notepad++ was a replacement for Notepad. I don't do development in Notepad++ but rather just view text files.

stjohnswarts 5y ago
Yeah the default "keep all tabs open between sessions" is great if you muck about with a lot of scratch/copy pasta files
- glenneroo 5y ago
  Added bonus: it will reopen tabs even if the file has changes and/or has never been saved. Very practical in some use cases.

wolpoli 5y ago

Notepad++ works like a classical Windows application, with minimal learning curve for existing Windows users. It's mainly a preference thing.

simonklitj 5y ago
Makes perfect sense. I don’t use Windows, so haven’t really been exposed to Notepad++ very much. Just hear about it from time to time. Thanks!
- digisign 5y ago
  You don't have to use Windows to appreciate it, X Window and Mac use the same to similar keybindings.

digisign 5y ago

It uses CUA keybindings which everyone should know. If you're already invested in vim, there's not much benefit, other than not having to use different keybindings in different windows.

AdmiralAsshat 5y ago

It's reasonably intuitive for a non-technical user to use (since it has pretty much the same control scheme as the familiar Notepad), but has enough technical tools built into it that you can do some serious diagnostic work. In my job I often have clients install it so that we can review their datafiles and diagnose load problems. Many of my calls sound like this. (On Zoom) Me: Okay, so I understand this file is not loading, can you show me the file? Client: (opens file) Me: Ok, hard to see what's wrong at a glance. Can you open the file in Notepad++ for me? Client: (Reopens file in N++) Me: Ah, here we go. You see those characters in blue on line 49? Those are non-ASCII characters. You've got some garbage in there. NULLs, control characters, or some other thing. Those will break the XML parser. Try removing them and reloading the file. Or: Me: So it looks like this is coming from your source system with no line endings, and is quite difficult to read. Can you download the plug-in XML Tools/JSON Tools/Poor Man's TSQL Formatter and let's see if we can get the files indented to make reviewing easier? Or: Me: So if you click on the "View" tab and show the line-endings...thank you. This file is coming over with Windows CRLF line endings instead of the expected LF endings on UNIX/Linux. It's probably throwing off the record parser by one byte for each row. You can use the tool under 'EDIT' to change the newlines to UNIX convention, and you should be good to go. Small things like that. It's a heck of a lot easier to teach the client to do that rather than try to convince them to run dos2unix on a terminal.

deltarholamda 5y ago
This covers it. Trying to talk a normal person through vim is like doing a keyhole appendectomy through the urethra. It's a handy thing to have on Windows for anything text-oriented. Having a dual-platform version would be a benefit as well, as probably 95% of Notepad++ users are comfortable on Linux as well, so it would be helpful to talk somebody through it over the phone without having to access the dusty recesses of their memory.
- dgfitz 5y ago
  Fwiw it runs like a champ under wine with no fussiness
- 5y ago

keithnz 5y ago

For a Vim user, this an alternative you would suggest to other people for editing files. ie, like its name suggests, if you can use standard notepad, you can use Notepad++, but you get more toys. I think its main advantage is it is fast, features are discoverable through UI, and out of the box it understands many kinds of filetypes and has a ton of features, macro recording, it has plugins with a plugin browser also. But as a Vim user, you don't really need it, though I do use it sometimes for random obscure things instead of Vim (like Mime encoding/decoding)