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I never understood the need for Notepad++. If I want to edit text quickly, notepad works fine, maybe I'll use vim or something if needed. If I want to view code

I never understood the need for Notepad++. If I want to edit text quickly, notepad works fine, maybe I'll use vim or something if needed. If I want to view code, again vim works fine, and maybe VSCode if I know I'll be actively working on it. I don't see the usecase for Notepad++ personally speaking.

badsectoracula 2y ago
Notepad++ is an alternative to Vim, so if you are using Vim you are covering most use cases of Notepad++ already. In Windows i use Notepad++ so i don't have to use Vim (which is for me the only viable alternative of a lightweight "programmer's editor" and what i used for a while before learning about Notepad++ - everything else, like vscode, emacs, etc feel much more heavyweight) since i dislike its modal nature and non-standard[0] shortcuts. [0] i know that technically they predate whatever Notepad++ uses but pretty much everything else (including on KDE, GNOME, most X11 toolkits, etc) uses the same or similar shortcuts and keys as Notepad++ so who came first is moot, it is what i am used to that matters
Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
> I don't see the usecase for Notepad++ personally speaking Then don't use it. For sure regular notepad works fine for quick text edit. The use case for notepad++ is for when you want to do more than that. I, for example, frequently have to do a bunch of more complicated things to plain text files and notepad++ works great for those where notepad has no chance.
hyperdimension 2y ago
Try notepad2. It's an decent improvement from notepad while not going full notepad++. I install it on new Windows boxes and have it replace notepad.exe (there is an option to do this in setup.)
0x073 2y ago
I dont trust notepad to edit configs, \n is no problem anymore but there is always a way to corrupt files with notepad. Never had this issues for notepad++. For text it's fine.
cmehdy 2y ago
Off the top of my head: - open a file for editing, realize you needed admin rights, npp allows you to relaunch with escalation and keeping the change in memory - find all gives you a list of items, a count of them, and quick preview of each - supports the editorconfig format, so inherits rules you've designed for your other IDEs - colors - allows tail -f (the eye icon) - can be extended with plugins (unlike notepad) although the out of the box works well enough for most (unlike vsc) - less bloated than electron apps, when comparing with any vscode setup you would use for larger developments - tracks which open files have had a change, lets you choose if you want to reload the file (update contents displayed without reopening the app) or not (helps you save what you're seeing before verifying what might have replaced it) - lets you see and change encoding very easily There's more, but I just picked a few things I find useful every day when I need to deal with many windows machines at a midsized company.

badsectoracula 2y ago

Notepad++ is an alternative to Vim, so if you are using Vim you are covering most use cases of Notepad++ already. In Windows i use Notepad++ so i don't have to use Vim (which is for me the only viable alternative of a lightweight "programmer's editor" and what i used for a while before learning about Notepad++ - everything else, like vscode, emacs, etc feel much more heavyweight) since i dislike its modal nature and non-standard[0] shortcuts. [0] i know that technically they predate whatever Notepad++ uses but pretty much everything else (including on KDE, GNOME, most X11 toolkits, etc) uses the same or similar shortcuts and keys as Notepad++ so who came first is moot, it is what i am used to that matters

Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago

> I don't see the usecase for Notepad++ personally speaking Then don't use it. For sure regular notepad works fine for quick text edit. The use case for notepad++ is for when you want to do more than that. I, for example, frequently have to do a bunch of more complicated things to plain text files and notepad++ works great for those where notepad has no chance.

hyperdimension 2y ago

Try notepad2. It's an decent improvement from notepad while not going full notepad++. I install it on new Windows boxes and have it replace notepad.exe (there is an option to do this in setup.)

0x073 2y ago

I dont trust notepad to edit configs, \n is no problem anymore but there is always a way to corrupt files with notepad. Never had this issues for notepad++. For text it's fine.

cmehdy 2y ago

Off the top of my head: - open a file for editing, realize you needed admin rights, npp allows you to relaunch with escalation and keeping the change in memory - find all gives you a list of items, a count of them, and quick preview of each - supports the editorconfig format, so inherits rules you've designed for your other IDEs - colors - allows tail -f (the eye icon) - can be extended with plugins (unlike notepad) although the out of the box works well enough for most (unlike vsc) - less bloated than electron apps, when comparing with any vscode setup you would use for larger developments - tracks which open files have had a change, lets you choose if you want to reload the file (update contents displayed without reopening the app) or not (helps you save what you're seeing before verifying what might have replaced it) - lets you see and change encoding very easily There's more, but I just picked a few things I find useful every day when I need to deal with many windows machines at a midsized company.