27 ms·

Lime Text: Open Source Sublime Text clone

442 points by pykello 12y ago

wintermute306 12y ago
If this can print, I'll move over when it's read. I adore Sublime Text but having to c&p out of it to print is a bit of an annoyance for me. Otherwise it's a perfect app, I adore it.
- gchp 12y ago
  Out of interest, what do you print code from Sublime? Interested in hearing why you need to print code, if that's the case.
  - crusso 12y ago
    That's a huge assumption, that one can only use Sublime for code. Personally, I pick a single text editor and use it for all my plain text editing needs. I don't print very often, but when I do, I do it for a reason. Just the other day, I was creating some offline study information for my child. Printing was my only option. I was editing away in Sublime and then when I went to print, I opened up the File menu and looked a second before I remembered... "Oh yeah, this application knows better than I do about my need to print". Muttering to myself, I copy/pasted the document into Word and continued on my way.
  - inigoesdr 12y ago
    Sublime is first and foremost a text editor, so I don't think it's a stretch to think people would use it for text editing.
beefsack 12y ago
Lime has been around for a little while now, it seems to have a fairly functional backend but still awaiting a high quality frontend implementation. Part of what sets ST apart is the frontend. One of the most impressive goals on the roadmap is to implement a terminal frontend as well as a QT frontend, which I'm quite excited to see. Arch users can install Lime from AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lime-git/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lime-git/
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- actf 12y ago
  > One of the most impressive goals on the roadmap is to implement a terminal frontend as well as a QT frontend, which I'm quite excited to see. I'm also interested to see this. I've said before that I think Go could be a really interesting language to develop GUI software in, however the existing QML package is "alpha quality". I've considered writing GUI software in Go, but at this point I think it would be a mistake given that most, if not all, GUI bindings in Go (and please correct me if I'm wrong) are considered experimental or alpha quality. In theory this will mean the author's progress will be somewhat dependent on the go-qml project, and may involve fixing bugs upstream. If it were me, I would probably choose another language just based on the maturity of Go's current GUI bindings.
christiangenco 12y ago
Oh goodness, I'm sorry, but I can't get past that chunky window toolbar. I use editors like sublime instead of an IDE so my screen real estate isn't taken up by buttons to leave as much room as possible for my code. If that isn't right, there must be untold frustrations in the path of using this editor for me that I don't care to discover.
- beefsack 12y ago
  The frontends are barely started yet, most development focus so far has been backend including plugin and Textmate compatibility.
- easytiger 12y ago
  > I use editors like sublime instead of an IDE so my screen real estate isn't taken up by buttons to leave as much room as possible for my code Why not use something in a terminal with almost no interface then, say emacs or vi. All they require you to have is a mental model of what you are working on which you should have anyway/
  - m_mueller 12y ago
    If parent is like me: I like to use a pointer device, particularly together with sublimes multicursor implementation. See some entries that you want to edit simultaneously, but their pattern is complex to express? In emacs I would just give up and do it manually, in Sublime I can hold down Command, click each position and then apply any edit command. Happens very often in my kind of work.
    - vbsteven 12y ago
      I got exactly the same behaviour in emacs by installing the 'multiple-cursors package and adding the following to my .emacs file (require 'multiple-cursors) (global-unset-key (kbd "M-<down-mouse-1>")) (global-set-key (kbd "M-<mouse-1>") 'mc/add-cursor-on-click)
      - 12y ago
BorisMelnik 12y ago
Great intentions, and huge shoes to fill. Already off on the right foot by going open source. Hope the authors have thick skin, this is one market that people are generally very particular about, and won't hold back on the details. For me UI is almost as important as the engine. I'm a very clean/minimalist/organized person and if the software (or text editor in this case) does not, or cannot reflect that then there will be issues.
fritz_vd 12y ago
Cool! I hope the community of SublimeText/Emacs/Vim/ will not tear you a new one. As editor wars always tend to get quite heated..
eps 12y ago
I don't like how it shamelessly piggybacks on Sublime's reputation by using its name left and right and doesn't hesitate to knock it down by calling itself a "successor". This comes across as disrespectful at least.
- johnnyfaehell 12y ago
  On the main site, it used the name one. It also says it aims to be the successor, not that it is the successor. I wouldn't feel disrespected if someone did this. I would be a bit bummed someone is trying to take my paying user base but that's about it.
- smt88 12y ago
  Sublime is dead. No one is actively developing it. There's a rich history of piggybacking on dead software, and I (and many others) clicked this link because of that piggybacking. I completely support and admire someone who is trying to further the development of Sublime without having the original code base.
  - ivank 12y ago
    "However, development is still active: when I spoke to Jon today he advised me that not only does he expect an update to the beta in August, he has also started mapping out some frameworks for version 4 which will help guide future development." https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16517 https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16517
  - dhruvbhatia 12y ago
    > Sublime is dead. No one is actively developing it. This isn't correct, at least according to the author. This was posted in the ST forum on Mar. 18, 2014 [1]: "From the Sublime office: We are not selling to Github, we are not stopping development of Sublime. As noted by another poster, this is effectively a one man band (I'm here to answer sales questions, process your refunds and get the mail so Jon doesn't have to). The past few months of silence on the development front have been a combination of boring back end work (taxes, new payment platform) as well as a break for the man driving this whole operation. No, we don't currently have a loud internet presence, which is can be an understandable cause for concern-something we intend to address once we move into the production version of 3. There is a vision for continued growth and development, there is momentum behind Sublime Text; it is not dead, just slow. I'm happy to field any specific questions you might have about the Sublime's future: sales@sublimetext.com." [1]: https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15477&start=50#p58951 https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15477&...
piqufoh 12y ago
I applaud the open approach, but I don't see the need to reference Sublime Text to increase traction. Why not market this as a cool new feature rich editor implemented in Go (with the bonus of having all the ST / TextMate compatibility to go?) In fact, why does Lime reference Sublime Text at all?
- weavie 12y ago
  From (https://github.com/limetext/lime/wiki/Goals https://github.com/limetext/lime/wiki/Goals) it is largely aiming to be a drop in replacement : - Compatible with Textmate color schemes (which is what ST is using) - Compatible with Textmate syntax definitions (which again is what ST is using) - Compatible with Textmate snippets - Compatible with Sublime Text’s python plugin API. I’ll probably never implement this 100%, only the api bits I need for the plugins I use. - Compatible with Sublime Text’s keybindings and settings (think most of it is working) - Compatible with Sublime Text snippets - Sublime Text’s Goto anything panel
bubblicious 12y ago
If there is one app I've always been thrilled to pay for, it's Sublime Text. I've purchased and renewed the licence ever since v1 came out. While it may not be open sourced, you can see it was created with a lot of love for code and openness. Today there are thousands of amazing plugins to enhance it. And though I fully respect the open source initiative, I, for once, am very happy to support / give some money to a peer developer who has made our world much better.
- Chronic29 12y ago
  What a touching story you have there. Comments like these are why the "HN bias" spreads.
- sqren 12y ago
  I completely agree with what you say. Sublime is awesome and I don't mind paying money for closed-source software. What I do mind is, that the development seems to have stopped, and being closed-source nobody can move it forward but the original maintainer. It once again brings attention to the most important "bus factor" [0] [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor
  - frou_dh 12y ago
    The funny thing being that the impetus for a lot of people moving to Sublime in the first place was that happening to TextMate 1.
    - bloke_zero 12y ago
      I'm pretty happy with TextMate 2 at this point - pretty regular updates, mature eco system, continuous improvement and its open source.
      - atmosx 12y ago
        The TM2 phenomenon is something weird. TM had a huge traction when it was payware. Then it stalled, then it went open-source and everybody started looking for a new payware solution. Apparently some people, still believe the theory that all you need to know about a product is on the price tag, which is absolutely false (e.g. emacs/vim have no price but are exceptional programmig editors, hardly matched by payware solutions). Anyway, it's good to have choices.
tchai_ 12y ago
I'm sure it's taken a load of work and is still in early stages, but describing yourself as the successor of Sublime Text when it looks as shit as that.. that's some brass!
- Mchl 12y ago
  It's described as 'aiming to become a successor'. Everyone can set their goals wherever they wish. Whether they get there is another thing.
schobesam 12y ago
Always good with more editors. But i think that Atom will be the next sublime.
- erikb 12y ago
  Please go into more details why you think that. After the first buzz of the semi open beta I didn't hear _anything_ about Atom. And last time I checked it only worked on Mac and I couldn't even compile it myself on Linux. Beside having a great idea it is also important how a project is executed.
  - gchp 12y ago
    Compiling on Linux is relatively easy now, though I still find Atom far too slow for everyday use. In my view it has a long way to go in regards to replacing Sublime.
  - aikah 12y ago
    they have a beta version for windows now.
- Dolimiter 12y ago
  Not sure about that. It eats processor cycles and chews up battery life. For no discernible advantage.
randunel 12y ago
Am I the only one who immediately wondered how Atom was doing when seeing this article? :D
- erikb 12y ago
  Yes, me too. The last time I looked it was only for Mac users, which is totally wrong for a HTML based editor. Didn't mind looking a second time (until I hear some great buzz, I guess). I'm also curious about this vim reimplementation some guys are working on. I'll go and check that out right now!
  - ropiku 12y ago
    There is a build for Windows now. I've started using Atom along with Sublime and Atom is a lot more stable now.
    - asantos3 12y ago
      You can use it the ppa and it's on AUR too. I use it on windows and on arch and it's fairly stable for something in alpha.
  - guilbep 12y ago
    You can use it on linux! It's really fine on my setup.
  - shawndumas 12y ago
    http://blog.atom.io/2014/07/09/hello-windows.html http://blog.atom.io/2014/07/09/hello-windows.html
- krisgenre 12y ago
  No, me too wondered.
- Corrado 12y ago
  I would love for Atom to make some progress. The last time I tried it I really liked it, however it was way too slow to be useful to me. There was a perceivable delay between when I typed a character and when it showed up on screen. This is a deal breaker for an IDE, IMHO. Then again, it is a really young editor and has a lot of room to grow and mature. So, here's to both Lime Text & Atom. May our text processing future be bright!
unicornporn 12y ago
Is there a binary somewhere?
- erikb 12y ago
  I'm not sure, but wasn't Go a JIT compiler?
  - patrickg 12y ago
    No, it's a regular compiler (not jit). But anyway, you'd need to install Go, which, I'd guess, not everybody wants to do.
    - rakoo 12y ago
      If you want to compile it yourself, sure; if you already have the binary, you don't need anything else.
gamesbrainiac 12y ago
Interesting take on the GUI.
areski 12y ago
If there is One project where a lot of developers would want to hack is definitely their own editor! It's a big dilemma, I love the idea of seeing an open alternative but I also love the possibility to support developers working on what they love! One problem that raise here is that we haven't find a way to ensure that open source projects can bring an incomes to their maintainers, even if there is many users.
higherpurpose 12y ago
One of the things I like most about Sublime over Atom or Light Table, is the chosen colors for highlights. I think Lime needs a little more improvement in that area to make me switch.
kopparam 12y ago
Love the fact that the backend is in GoLang. And just like all of you, Sublime Text is one of those few apps where you actually feel like contributing to the developers. The only thing to do now is get on the IRC and check it out.
oridecon 12y ago
Few months ago I moved from ST but I would come back to a similar open source solution if it implemented IDE features on packages. So I can have two shortcuts, one opens with everything IDE-like, the second one would only load a few packages and be very Sublime-ish. Fast and simple.
- softinio 12y ago
  Out of interest what did you move to?
  - oridecon 12y ago
    PhpStorm (jetbrains.com/phpstorm), but it's not open source :( there are lot of free options too, like NetBeans
    - smt88 12y ago
      Netbeans is fantastic for PHP editing, except the go-to-anything functionality is terrible out of the box. Even after configuring, it's not as good as ST. Other than that, it's excellent.
overgard 12y ago
I wish they wouldn't attach themselves to the sublime brand. It's not theirs, and it's pretty shady to ride another project's coattails when their intent is essentially to cannibalize it by being sublime-but-free. You can discuss the merits of open source and paying for tools all you want, but basically their goal is to put a man out of business who's made something that a lot of people love, because he has the gall to charge $60. Anyway. I'm all for competition, but do it under your own banner with your own ideas. Also, I think it's weird that the fact that it's made in Go is part of the pitch. I mean, unless I'm contributing... I don't care. You could write it in brainfuck if it does the job.
- oridecon 12y ago
  I agree, but the main reason for most people (I can't comment on the author's intention) is that Sublime is lacking updates and transparency about the development. They did announced something recently, like getting ready for ST 4. And 3 is not even a major upgrade from ST2, IMHO.
  - Aldo_MX 12y ago
    As long as Sublime doesn't go the Jetbrains way where they never reach a stable status, but they keep increasing the version number every year, I'm fine.
  - dyeje 12y ago
    I've been using Sublime Text 2 for a few years now. I'm not sure what a major upgrade would entail when it works so well already. Do Emacs and Vim get 'major upgrades'? [actual question]
    - klibertp 12y ago
      > Do Emacs and Vim get 'major upgrades'? Yeah, they do. It's very hard to do in both cases, for different reasons - licensing for Emacs, code quality/style for Vim - but it happens. For Emacs just read this: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Antinews.html#Antinews http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Ant... and this: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Antinews.html#Antinews http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Ant... (or look at normal changelog, but I kind of like this "backwards in time" format, it's fun :)) to get a feeling for what you'd miss by not doing a "major upgrade".
lucio 12y ago
IMHO there's no need for an OS version of sublime. Sublime is working fine, stable, has a free unlimited trial. It makes no sense to make a verbatim "copy". Maybe he can prepare a release into OS if the proverbial bus hits him?
guilbep 12y ago
Just for information. I was using sublimeText 3. I updated two weeks ago the last release (Build 3059) and even (Build 3062) and it crashes.. since I don't want to bother using a close thing that crashes. I switched to atom.io And so far It's way better than three months ago (It's now fast enough) And It's really getting traction on the plugin side also.. I don't think I'll ever come back to sublimetext. I even went back to emacs for one week.
- Dolimiter 12y ago
  atom.io is not fast enough, not even close. Not for a professional developer who is using it 8+ hours a day.
  - guilbep 12y ago
    Sorry for being an 10+ hours a day professional developer more productive on atom.io (latest) than on a buggy sublime text 3
    - tillinghast 12y ago
      Well, see, you could only be an 8+ hours a day professional developer… :-)
softinio 12y ago
Sublime is great but I must admit it is going the way of textmate in lack of support. Developer should open source it and get contributors working on it. Like someone suggested he can raise money on kickstarter to take it to next level and maybe charge for a pro version which he can add extra features to if he wants. Personally I am using Sublime still but the next time I have to pay for a license won't be for sublime. Most likely going the IntelliJ Idea route. Name for Lime Text is shameless :-) Come on you could have come up with something original !
Siecje 12y ago
Why don't you make a package to install, instead of requiring people install from source?
- judk 12y ago
  Why don't you? (This is an Open Source koan)
james33 12y ago
Isn't Atom the open source Sublime Text clone?
- bratsche 12y ago
  "The"? This isn't the Highlander, there can be more than one.
- zenocon 12y ago
  atom.io is nothing but an icon in the Finder for me until they fix the terrible performance bottlenecks. i really like the app / features / ux, etc. but the performance is abysmal compared to sublime.
  - ulisesrmzroche 12y ago
    The new update switched to React on the background, and it feels much snappier, but It still groans like a dying whale at least a few times a day though.
    - Shorel 12y ago
      That would mean a rewrite in a compiled language, like go.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Atom and Light Table seem to be open source editors largely in the same vein as ST (I wouldn't say they are clones).
  - ihuman 12y ago
    Isn't Light Table more focused on being an editor-REPL combination than being a text editor?
    - dragonwriter 12y ago
      All three are focussed on being plug-in extensible into full IDEs for various languages, and have a generally similar design aesthetic that contrasts to earlier GUI editors, which is why I say they are in the same vein. Yes, they have feature and focus differences (which is why I say Atom and LT aren't clones of ST), and one of those is Light Table's having inline evaluation as a central feature.
zura 12y ago
I wander why SlickEdit is not as popular as Sublime Text? Is this due to price? Otherwise, SE is quite powerful and extensible as well.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  ST leveraged the popularity of TextMate and its ecosystem with support for TextMate bundles. Given the popularity of open-source tools and how that makes it harder to launch a pay tool, I thinks its a big boost for a payware tool if its able to capitalize on the popularity and ecosystem of an existing pay tool just at the time when people are looking for an alternative to it.
- DigitalJack 12y ago
  We have licenses for SlickEdit at work, and I love it. But never in a million years would I pay $500 for a text editor.
1971genocide 12y ago
I have seen peasant art students shell out insane amount of cash for photoshop, etc. Hell a calculus textbook for first year college is cheaper than sublime text. You know software developers are dirt poor ( or really cheap ) when they cannot shell out 60 dollars for a piece of software they use everyday. Sublime puts so many expensive IDEs to shame and it costs a fraction ( as a donation ) and people still are up in arms about it.
- zanny 12y ago
  I use Kate as my main editor, and I have contributed $100 in the last year to the KDE project. That is a bit more than the cost of a Sublime license, at least. It is not about cost. It is about freedom. And there is no way I'm giving someone money to take away my software freedoms if I have an alternative. And I will always give the free alternative the money I would have spent on the proprietary one.
  - 1971genocide 12y ago
    I agree, sublime could have been made open source. But compared to the elephant in the room ( VS ), Sublime is mostly open source ( all its plugins are ). Their core could have been made open source. but I think its an act of self-preservation by the creator which I do not have a problem with.
headgasket 12y ago
Sublime Text is a sublime textbook example for small shops/single devs wishing to make a dent in the status quo. Love the problem space. Look around. Listen to input from good counsellors, ignore the negative "it already exists your reinventing the wheel" and the "i'll try it when it has x". Here's what the author got as initial feedback. If he had let that negativity get to him we wouldn't have sublime. http://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/anatomy-of-a-next-generation-text-editor http://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/anatomy-of-a-next-g... I suggest a high pass filter on comments on your current project: smart people with helpful comments know how to give valuable feedback to even the worst idea without negativity. Cheers, and march on! GLTA F
husted 12y ago
Always great with more competition, hopefully it will result in better editors for everyone. I wish someone would make SourceInsight for OSX, it's by far the best editor I've ever used but it's only available for Windows.
netghost 12y ago
I like that it's being developed with separate front ends (QML and Console).
pantalaimon 12y ago
Does it support Code completion akin to SublimeClang? That plugin is pretty much the reason I'm sticking to Sublime Text 2 (can't get it to work with 3). I know it's from the same author as lime, but according to the github description he lost interest in C/C++, so I'm wondering if this feature is to be implemented still? Or is lime compatible with the old ST2 plugin?
Mandatum 12y ago
I'm not opposed to an open-source text editor that aims to replicate features of a closed-source application. But "Lime Text" is clearly riding on the success of "Sublime Text", and it irks me because "Sublime Text" isn't owned by a big large company or someone with a lot of money - it's a project that started as someone's side-project and has just recently started as a full-time job. John, the author, has been clear in the past that if for some reason he no longer wants to continue developing Sublime Text, he'd open-source it so it wouldn't rot in the bit graveyard. Yes, GIMP rides the coattails of Photoshop, and LibreOffice rides the coattails of Microsoft Office; but these are commercial applications that are supported and paid for by consumers. Sublime Text is optional. Sublime Text is free, but you can pay for it - if you like. Change the tag-line and keep the name.

442 points by pykello 12y ago

If this can print, I'll move over when it's read. I adore Sublime Text but having to c&p out of it to print is a bit of an annoyance for me. Otherwise it's a perfect app, I adore it.

gchp 12y ago
Out of interest, what do you print code from Sublime? Interested in hearing why you need to print code, if that's the case.
- crusso 12y ago
  That's a huge assumption, that one can only use Sublime for code. Personally, I pick a single text editor and use it for all my plain text editing needs. I don't print very often, but when I do, I do it for a reason. Just the other day, I was creating some offline study information for my child. Printing was my only option. I was editing away in Sublime and then when I went to print, I opened up the File menu and looked a second before I remembered... "Oh yeah, this application knows better than I do about my need to print". Muttering to myself, I copy/pasted the document into Word and continued on my way.
- inigoesdr 12y ago
  Sublime is first and foremost a text editor, so I don't think it's a stretch to think people would use it for text editing.

beefsack 12y ago

Lime has been around for a little while now, it seems to have a fairly functional backend but still awaiting a high quality frontend implementation. Part of what sets ST apart is the frontend. One of the most impressive goals on the roadmap is to implement a terminal frontend as well as a QT frontend, which I'm quite excited to see. Arch users can install Lime from AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lime-git/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lime-git/

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
actf 12y ago
> One of the most impressive goals on the roadmap is to implement a terminal frontend as well as a QT frontend, which I'm quite excited to see. I'm also interested to see this. I've said before that I think Go could be a really interesting language to develop GUI software in, however the existing QML package is "alpha quality". I've considered writing GUI software in Go, but at this point I think it would be a mistake given that most, if not all, GUI bindings in Go (and please correct me if I'm wrong) are considered experimental or alpha quality. In theory this will mean the author's progress will be somewhat dependent on the go-qml project, and may involve fixing bugs upstream. If it were me, I would probably choose another language just based on the maturity of Go's current GUI bindings.

christiangenco 12y ago

Oh goodness, I'm sorry, but I can't get past that chunky window toolbar. I use editors like sublime instead of an IDE so my screen real estate isn't taken up by buttons to leave as much room as possible for my code. If that isn't right, there must be untold frustrations in the path of using this editor for me that I don't care to discover.

beefsack 12y ago
The frontends are barely started yet, most development focus so far has been backend including plugin and Textmate compatibility.
easytiger 12y ago
> I use editors like sublime instead of an IDE so my screen real estate isn't taken up by buttons to leave as much room as possible for my code Why not use something in a terminal with almost no interface then, say emacs or vi. All they require you to have is a mental model of what you are working on which you should have anyway/
- m_mueller 12y ago
  If parent is like me: I like to use a pointer device, particularly together with sublimes multicursor implementation. See some entries that you want to edit simultaneously, but their pattern is complex to express? In emacs I would just give up and do it manually, in Sublime I can hold down Command, click each position and then apply any edit command. Happens very often in my kind of work.
  - vbsteven 12y ago
    I got exactly the same behaviour in emacs by installing the 'multiple-cursors package and adding the following to my .emacs file (require 'multiple-cursors) (global-unset-key (kbd "M-<down-mouse-1>")) (global-set-key (kbd "M-<mouse-1>") 'mc/add-cursor-on-click)
    - 12y ago

BorisMelnik 12y ago

Great intentions, and huge shoes to fill. Already off on the right foot by going open source. Hope the authors have thick skin, this is one market that people are generally very particular about, and won't hold back on the details. For me UI is almost as important as the engine. I'm a very clean/minimalist/organized person and if the software (or text editor in this case) does not, or cannot reflect that then there will be issues.

fritz_vd 12y ago

Cool! I hope the community of SublimeText/Emacs/Vim/ will not tear you a new one. As editor wars always tend to get quite heated..

eps 12y ago

I don't like how it shamelessly piggybacks on Sublime's reputation by using its name left and right and doesn't hesitate to knock it down by calling itself a "successor". This comes across as disrespectful at least.

johnnyfaehell 12y ago
On the main site, it used the name one. It also says it aims to be the successor, not that it is the successor. I wouldn't feel disrespected if someone did this. I would be a bit bummed someone is trying to take my paying user base but that's about it.
smt88 12y ago
Sublime is dead. No one is actively developing it. There's a rich history of piggybacking on dead software, and I (and many others) clicked this link because of that piggybacking. I completely support and admire someone who is trying to further the development of Sublime without having the original code base.
- ivank 12y ago
  "However, development is still active: when I spoke to Jon today he advised me that not only does he expect an update to the beta in August, he has also started mapping out some frameworks for version 4 which will help guide future development." https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16517 https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16517
- dhruvbhatia 12y ago
  > Sublime is dead. No one is actively developing it. This isn't correct, at least according to the author. This was posted in the ST forum on Mar. 18, 2014 [1]: "From the Sublime office: We are not selling to Github, we are not stopping development of Sublime. As noted by another poster, this is effectively a one man band (I'm here to answer sales questions, process your refunds and get the mail so Jon doesn't have to). The past few months of silence on the development front have been a combination of boring back end work (taxes, new payment platform) as well as a break for the man driving this whole operation. No, we don't currently have a loud internet presence, which is can be an understandable cause for concern-something we intend to address once we move into the production version of 3. There is a vision for continued growth and development, there is momentum behind Sublime Text; it is not dead, just slow. I'm happy to field any specific questions you might have about the Sublime's future: sales@sublimetext.com." [1]: https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15477&start=50#p58951 https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15477&...

piqufoh 12y ago

I applaud the open approach, but I don't see the need to reference Sublime Text to increase traction. Why not market this as a cool new feature rich editor implemented in Go (with the bonus of having all the ST / TextMate compatibility to go?) In fact, why does Lime reference Sublime Text at all?

weavie 12y ago
From (https://github.com/limetext/lime/wiki/Goals https://github.com/limetext/lime/wiki/Goals) it is largely aiming to be a drop in replacement : - Compatible with Textmate color schemes (which is what ST is using) - Compatible with Textmate syntax definitions (which again is what ST is using) - Compatible with Textmate snippets - Compatible with Sublime Text’s python plugin API. I’ll probably never implement this 100%, only the api bits I need for the plugins I use. - Compatible with Sublime Text’s keybindings and settings (think most of it is working) - Compatible with Sublime Text snippets - Sublime Text’s Goto anything panel

bubblicious 12y ago

If there is one app I've always been thrilled to pay for, it's Sublime Text. I've purchased and renewed the licence ever since v1 came out. While it may not be open sourced, you can see it was created with a lot of love for code and openness. Today there are thousands of amazing plugins to enhance it. And though I fully respect the open source initiative, I, for once, am very happy to support / give some money to a peer developer who has made our world much better.

Chronic29 12y ago
What a touching story you have there. Comments like these are why the "HN bias" spreads.
sqren 12y ago
I completely agree with what you say. Sublime is awesome and I don't mind paying money for closed-source software. What I do mind is, that the development seems to have stopped, and being closed-source nobody can move it forward but the original maintainer. It once again brings attention to the most important "bus factor" [0] [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor
- frou_dh 12y ago
  The funny thing being that the impetus for a lot of people moving to Sublime in the first place was that happening to TextMate 1.
  - bloke_zero 12y ago
    I'm pretty happy with TextMate 2 at this point - pretty regular updates, mature eco system, continuous improvement and its open source.
    - atmosx 12y ago
      The TM2 phenomenon is something weird. TM had a huge traction when it was payware. Then it stalled, then it went open-source and everybody started looking for a new payware solution. Apparently some people, still believe the theory that all you need to know about a product is on the price tag, which is absolutely false (e.g. emacs/vim have no price but are exceptional programmig editors, hardly matched by payware solutions). Anyway, it's good to have choices.

tchai_ 12y ago

I'm sure it's taken a load of work and is still in early stages, but describing yourself as the successor of Sublime Text when it looks as shit as that.. that's some brass!

Mchl 12y ago
It's described as 'aiming to become a successor'. Everyone can set their goals wherever they wish. Whether they get there is another thing.

schobesam 12y ago

Always good with more editors. But i think that Atom will be the next sublime.

erikb 12y ago
Please go into more details why you think that. After the first buzz of the semi open beta I didn't hear _anything_ about Atom. And last time I checked it only worked on Mac and I couldn't even compile it myself on Linux. Beside having a great idea it is also important how a project is executed.
- gchp 12y ago
  Compiling on Linux is relatively easy now, though I still find Atom far too slow for everyday use. In my view it has a long way to go in regards to replacing Sublime.
- aikah 12y ago
  they have a beta version for windows now.
Dolimiter 12y ago
Not sure about that. It eats processor cycles and chews up battery life. For no discernible advantage.

randunel 12y ago

Am I the only one who immediately wondered how Atom was doing when seeing this article? :D

erikb 12y ago
Yes, me too. The last time I looked it was only for Mac users, which is totally wrong for a HTML based editor. Didn't mind looking a second time (until I hear some great buzz, I guess). I'm also curious about this vim reimplementation some guys are working on. I'll go and check that out right now!
- ropiku 12y ago
  There is a build for Windows now. I've started using Atom along with Sublime and Atom is a lot more stable now.
  - asantos3 12y ago
    You can use it the ppa and it's on AUR too. I use it on windows and on arch and it's fairly stable for something in alpha.
- guilbep 12y ago
  You can use it on linux! It's really fine on my setup.
- shawndumas 12y ago
  http://blog.atom.io/2014/07/09/hello-windows.html http://blog.atom.io/2014/07/09/hello-windows.html
krisgenre 12y ago
No, me too wondered.
Corrado 12y ago
I would love for Atom to make some progress. The last time I tried it I really liked it, however it was way too slow to be useful to me. There was a perceivable delay between when I typed a character and when it showed up on screen. This is a deal breaker for an IDE, IMHO. Then again, it is a really young editor and has a lot of room to grow and mature. So, here's to both Lime Text & Atom. May our text processing future be bright!

unicornporn 12y ago

Is there a binary somewhere?

erikb 12y ago
I'm not sure, but wasn't Go a JIT compiler?
- patrickg 12y ago
  No, it's a regular compiler (not jit). But anyway, you'd need to install Go, which, I'd guess, not everybody wants to do.
  - rakoo 12y ago
    If you want to compile it yourself, sure; if you already have the binary, you don't need anything else.

gamesbrainiac 12y ago

Interesting take on the GUI.

areski 12y ago

If there is One project where a lot of developers would want to hack is definitely their own editor! It's a big dilemma, I love the idea of seeing an open alternative but I also love the possibility to support developers working on what they love! One problem that raise here is that we haven't find a way to ensure that open source projects can bring an incomes to their maintainers, even if there is many users.

higherpurpose 12y ago

One of the things I like most about Sublime over Atom or Light Table, is the chosen colors for highlights. I think Lime needs a little more improvement in that area to make me switch.

kopparam 12y ago

Love the fact that the backend is in GoLang. And just like all of you, Sublime Text is one of those few apps where you actually feel like contributing to the developers. The only thing to do now is get on the IRC and check it out.

oridecon 12y ago

Few months ago I moved from ST but I would come back to a similar open source solution if it implemented IDE features on packages. So I can have two shortcuts, one opens with everything IDE-like, the second one would only load a few packages and be very Sublime-ish. Fast and simple.

softinio 12y ago
Out of interest what did you move to?
- oridecon 12y ago
  PhpStorm (jetbrains.com/phpstorm), but it's not open source :( there are lot of free options too, like NetBeans
  - smt88 12y ago
    Netbeans is fantastic for PHP editing, except the go-to-anything functionality is terrible out of the box. Even after configuring, it's not as good as ST. Other than that, it's excellent.

overgard 12y ago

I wish they wouldn't attach themselves to the sublime brand. It's not theirs, and it's pretty shady to ride another project's coattails when their intent is essentially to cannibalize it by being sublime-but-free. You can discuss the merits of open source and paying for tools all you want, but basically their goal is to put a man out of business who's made something that a lot of people love, because he has the gall to charge $60. Anyway. I'm all for competition, but do it under your own banner with your own ideas. Also, I think it's weird that the fact that it's made in Go is part of the pitch. I mean, unless I'm contributing... I don't care. You could write it in brainfuck if it does the job.

oridecon 12y ago
I agree, but the main reason for most people (I can't comment on the author's intention) is that Sublime is lacking updates and transparency about the development. They did announced something recently, like getting ready for ST 4. And 3 is not even a major upgrade from ST2, IMHO.
- Aldo_MX 12y ago
  As long as Sublime doesn't go the Jetbrains way where they never reach a stable status, but they keep increasing the version number every year, I'm fine.
- dyeje 12y ago
  I've been using Sublime Text 2 for a few years now. I'm not sure what a major upgrade would entail when it works so well already. Do Emacs and Vim get 'major upgrades'? [actual question]
  - klibertp 12y ago
    > Do Emacs and Vim get 'major upgrades'? Yeah, they do. It's very hard to do in both cases, for different reasons - licensing for Emacs, code quality/style for Vim - but it happens. For Emacs just read this: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Antinews.html#Antinews http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Ant... and this: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Antinews.html#Antinews http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Ant... (or look at normal changelog, but I kind of like this "backwards in time" format, it's fun :)) to get a feeling for what you'd miss by not doing a "major upgrade".

lucio 12y ago

IMHO there's no need for an OS version of sublime. Sublime is working fine, stable, has a free unlimited trial. It makes no sense to make a verbatim "copy". Maybe he can prepare a release into OS if the proverbial bus hits him?

guilbep 12y ago

Just for information. I was using sublimeText 3. I updated two weeks ago the last release (Build 3059) and even (Build 3062) and it crashes.. since I don't want to bother using a close thing that crashes. I switched to atom.io And so far It's way better than three months ago (It's now fast enough) And It's really getting traction on the plugin side also.. I don't think I'll ever come back to sublimetext. I even went back to emacs for one week.

Dolimiter 12y ago
atom.io is not fast enough, not even close. Not for a professional developer who is using it 8+ hours a day.
- guilbep 12y ago
  Sorry for being an 10+ hours a day professional developer more productive on atom.io (latest) than on a buggy sublime text 3
  - tillinghast 12y ago
    Well, see, you could only be an 8+ hours a day professional developer… :-)

softinio 12y ago

Sublime is great but I must admit it is going the way of textmate in lack of support. Developer should open source it and get contributors working on it. Like someone suggested he can raise money on kickstarter to take it to next level and maybe charge for a pro version which he can add extra features to if he wants. Personally I am using Sublime still but the next time I have to pay for a license won't be for sublime. Most likely going the IntelliJ Idea route. Name for Lime Text is shameless :-) Come on you could have come up with something original !

Siecje 12y ago

Why don't you make a package to install, instead of requiring people install from source?

judk 12y ago
Why don't you? (This is an Open Source koan)

james33 12y ago

Isn't Atom the open source Sublime Text clone?

bratsche 12y ago
"The"? This isn't the Highlander, there can be more than one.
zenocon 12y ago
atom.io is nothing but an icon in the Finder for me until they fix the terrible performance bottlenecks. i really like the app / features / ux, etc. but the performance is abysmal compared to sublime.
- ulisesrmzroche 12y ago
  The new update switched to React on the background, and it feels much snappier, but It still groans like a dying whale at least a few times a day though.
  - Shorel 12y ago
    That would mean a rewrite in a compiled language, like go.
dragonwriter 12y ago
Atom and Light Table seem to be open source editors largely in the same vein as ST (I wouldn't say they are clones).
- ihuman 12y ago
  Isn't Light Table more focused on being an editor-REPL combination than being a text editor?
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    All three are focussed on being plug-in extensible into full IDEs for various languages, and have a generally similar design aesthetic that contrasts to earlier GUI editors, which is why I say they are in the same vein. Yes, they have feature and focus differences (which is why I say Atom and LT aren't clones of ST), and one of those is Light Table's having inline evaluation as a central feature.

zura 12y ago

I wander why SlickEdit is not as popular as Sublime Text? Is this due to price? Otherwise, SE is quite powerful and extensible as well.

dragonwriter 12y ago
ST leveraged the popularity of TextMate and its ecosystem with support for TextMate bundles. Given the popularity of open-source tools and how that makes it harder to launch a pay tool, I thinks its a big boost for a payware tool if its able to capitalize on the popularity and ecosystem of an existing pay tool just at the time when people are looking for an alternative to it.
DigitalJack 12y ago
We have licenses for SlickEdit at work, and I love it. But never in a million years would I pay $500 for a text editor.

1971genocide 12y ago

I have seen peasant art students shell out insane amount of cash for photoshop, etc. Hell a calculus textbook for first year college is cheaper than sublime text. You know software developers are dirt poor ( or really cheap ) when they cannot shell out 60 dollars for a piece of software they use everyday. Sublime puts so many expensive IDEs to shame and it costs a fraction ( as a donation ) and people still are up in arms about it.

zanny 12y ago
I use Kate as my main editor, and I have contributed $100 in the last year to the KDE project. That is a bit more than the cost of a Sublime license, at least. It is not about cost. It is about freedom. And there is no way I'm giving someone money to take away my software freedoms if I have an alternative. And I will always give the free alternative the money I would have spent on the proprietary one.
- 1971genocide 12y ago
  I agree, sublime could have been made open source. But compared to the elephant in the room ( VS ), Sublime is mostly open source ( all its plugins are ). Their core could have been made open source. but I think its an act of self-preservation by the creator which I do not have a problem with.

headgasket 12y ago

Sublime Text is a sublime textbook example for small shops/single devs wishing to make a dent in the status quo. Love the problem space. Look around. Listen to input from good counsellors, ignore the negative "it already exists your reinventing the wheel" and the "i'll try it when it has x". Here's what the author got as initial feedback. If he had let that negativity get to him we wouldn't have sublime. http://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/anatomy-of-a-next-generation-text-editor http://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/anatomy-of-a-next-g... I suggest a high pass filter on comments on your current project: smart people with helpful comments know how to give valuable feedback to even the worst idea without negativity. Cheers, and march on! GLTA F

husted 12y ago

Always great with more competition, hopefully it will result in better editors for everyone. I wish someone would make SourceInsight for OSX, it's by far the best editor I've ever used but it's only available for Windows.

netghost 12y ago

I like that it's being developed with separate front ends (QML and Console).

pantalaimon 12y ago

Does it support Code completion akin to SublimeClang? That plugin is pretty much the reason I'm sticking to Sublime Text 2 (can't get it to work with 3). I know it's from the same author as lime, but according to the github description he lost interest in C/C++, so I'm wondering if this feature is to be implemented still? Or is lime compatible with the old ST2 plugin?

Mandatum 12y ago

I'm not opposed to an open-source text editor that aims to replicate features of a closed-source application. But "Lime Text" is clearly riding on the success of "Sublime Text", and it irks me because "Sublime Text" isn't owned by a big large company or someone with a lot of money - it's a project that started as someone's side-project and has just recently started as a full-time job. John, the author, has been clear in the past that if for some reason he no longer wants to continue developing Sublime Text, he'd open-source it so it wouldn't rot in the bit graveyard. Yes, GIMP rides the coattails of Photoshop, and LibreOffice rides the coattails of Microsoft Office; but these are commercial applications that are supported and paid for by consumers. Sublime Text is optional. Sublime Text is free, but you can pay for it - if you like. Change the tag-line and keep the name.