The Best Code Editor: 2020 Edition
As a developer, few things are as important as your text editor. When you’re working on a project, you need something that can keep up with you—and help make you a better programmer. You need an editor that is reliable and hackable, so it behaves just the way you want it to. And of course, your editor should look clean and sleek, with colors that pop and fonts that fly.
A text editor is essentially a toolbox for developers. It’s how you interact with your app or website, and how you get things done. If your toolbox sucks, it makes everything harder… but if it’s awesome? Well then you’re unstoppable.
To save you a lot of time in research (and money in testing!), we’ve compiled our picks for the top code editors in 2020.
Best Code Editor 2020
10 best code editors for 2020
So you just learned your first programming language. Or maybe you are tired of using your current code editor. You want to change your taste and go for another code editor. However, there’s a problem – you don’t have the time to search for the best code editor that can support your current project. Or maybe you just want to select from a list the best code editors. I have compiled a list of top 10 best code editors – both open source and premium. So, let’s have a look at them:
1. Visual studio code
Visual studio code commonly referred to as VS code, is one of the best code editors in the market. VS code is a product of Microsoft. Like many Microsoft brands, VS code is a cross-platform editor. Developers can use this powerful tool either on Windows, Linux, and mac. VS Code has powerful features that will fully support developers’ work. With the VS code, you are assured of fast system debugging and auto-completion.
Key features
- Cross-platform
- Built-in Git and git commands
- Reliable autocomplete and syntax highlighting using IntelliSense
- Debugging code right from the editor
- Easy to integrate with terminal
- Extensions for customizing and extending functionalities
- Ease of deploying projects to such platform as Microsoft Azure
- Compatible with almost every programming language
- Easy to use
- Lightweight and robust as compared to other editors
Platforms
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
2. Sublime text
If you are looking for a very lightweight yet robust code editor, the sublime text is your option. Sublime text is easy to install and opens rather quickly than other lightweight code editors. It is available on all platforms. Developers can enjoy the robust and remarkable features of sublime text regardless of the platform they are using.
Key features
- Cross-platform
- Fast customization of the editor to suit your likes
- Supports split editing
- Switching from one project to another is like a dream
- High performance
- Enables multiple selections
- Command palette for holding rarely used functionalities
- Keyboard shortcuts for file opening
- Project index generation from syntax definitions information
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
3. Atom Editor
Atom is a cross-platform code editor. If you want to share your project progress, then the atom is the best option. Atom allows developers to work together using teletype for atom – from sharing knowledge to teaching. One of the critical things for developers is collaboration while working to share ideas. Atom enables this operation right from your editor.
Key features
- Cross-platform editing
- Code sharing and collaboration using teletype
- GitHub support
- Built-in package manager
- Smart code auto-completion
- Easy system browser opening
- Multiple panes support
- Find and replace functionality
- Customizable themes
- Easy customization and style
- Many packages
- Open-source
Platforms
- OS X
- Windows
- Linux
4. Notepad++
Notepad++ is a free and open-source code editor governed by GPL License. It supports several programming languages. Notepad++ is written in C++ and thus offers a smaller program size and a higher execution speed of programs. It’s one of the code editors to reduce world carbon dioxide emissions. Notepad++ allows your system to use less CPU power, thus reducing power consumption to contribute to a greener environment.
Key features
- Code auto-completion
- Syntax highlighting
- Lightweight
- Higher performance
- Search and replace functionalities
- Multi-language environment support
- Highly customizable
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
5. Bluefish
Bluefish is among the code editors equipped with a lot of features to support your work. It supports the integration of external programs such as weblint to handle error detection or top-level text processing. If you worry about speed and performance, then bluefish are here to fix your worries. Here is a list of the most outstanding or essential features offered by bluefish:
Key features
- Lightweight
- Fast and high performance
- Supports multiple document interface
- Multiple project support
- Powerful search and replace
- Recursive file opening
- Multithreaded support for remote files
- Full-screen editing
- Unlimited redo/undo functionality
- Site download/upload
- Inline spell checker
- Supports nearly every programming language
- Customizable support for programming language
- Zen coding support
- Multiple encoding supports
Platforms
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Solaris
6. Brackets
Brackets is a powerful yet lightweight and modern text editor. It’s one of the contemporary open-source code editors that understand web design. Brackets are created from the ground up for front-end developers and web designers. It makes it easier to design in the browser as it supports preprocessor and focused visual tools.
Key features
- Live preview
- Inline editors
- Preprocessor support
- Lightweight
- Powerful with reliable performance
- Extension support
- Beautify functionality
- Git support
- Autoprefixer
Platforms
- Linux
- Windows
- macOS
7. Phpstorm
Phpstorm is more of an IDE than a text editor. It is a cross-platform and commercial smart PHP IDE. Just like the name suggests, phpStorm supports PHP language only. It is more applicable by PHP developers, offering them a wide range of advanced features and high performance. It is perfect for working with popular frameworks such as Laravel, Joomla, WordPress, symphony, Magento, Yii, and other frameworks. Phpstorm has a thirty-day trial, after which you have to purchase the product from Jetbrains.
Key features
- Major framework support
- Availability of all the PHP tools
- Inclusion of front-end technologies
- Built-in developer tools
- Databases/SQL support
- Intelligent coding assistance
- Smart code navigation
- Safe and fast refactoring
- Easy testing and debugging
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
8. GNU Emacs
Gnu Emacs is a free and customizable text editor. It is licensed under the GNU License and thus is entirely available for free across several platforms. GNU Emacs is here to help developers deal with some of the features that are barriers to efficiency in other text editors. Emacs is equipped with complete documentation or manuals fragments offering guidelines to beginners. It is available in various versions with regular version releases to keep it up-to-date.
Key features
- Content-aware editing modes
- Complete built-in documentation – tutorials for new users
- Full Unicode support
- Highly customizable
- Packaging systems for extension download and install
- Project planner, debugger interface functionalities
- Syntax coloring for a variety of file types
Platforms
- GNU/Linux
- Windows
- macOS
9. Ultraedit
Like PHPstorm, UltraEdit is more of an IDE than a real text editor. Only a 30-day trial is available for free. After 30-days, you have to purchase the product. It’s among the world’s best text editors with a variety of features that surpass other editors. Ultraedit is a powerful text editor supporting quite many languages such as PHP, Python, HTML, and other languages. Its existence in the market is evident from its 25 years of usage by commercial companies and known developers. It’s a tool that developers or corporations wouldn’t hate using.
Key features
- Multi-selection and multi-caret editing capabilities
- HTML/Markdown real-time preview
- Search functionality – find and replace
- Highly customizable UI
- Integrated SSH, Telnet, and FTP
- Powerful themes
- Automatic code completion
- File compare
- Column mode editing
- Code syntax highlighting
- File and data sorting
- Robust bookmarking
- And many more features…
Platforms
- Linux
- Windows
- macOS
10. Komodo IDE
Komodo is more of an IDE than a text editor. It is free registered under the ActiveState Platform and supports nearly are languages. It also supports web languages such as PHP, Perl, Golang, and many more.
Key features
- Code intelligence with robust syntax highlighting
- Debugging and unit testing
- Version control functionality
- Customizable extensions and add-ons
- Fast workflow management
- Activestate platform integration
- Devdocs.io integration
- Live previewing
Platforms
- Windows
- Mac
- Linux
best code editor for mac
When you’re coding, you’re writing various text that can be executed by different language compilers. And what makes this text fun and easy to write are the editors that we use.
Different editors have different features. But they have a common goal: making writing code easier – easier to compose, debug, and read.
In this article, we’ll look at five code editors that can improve development on your Mac device.
- Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a lightweight editor with many features for improving your code-writing experience. Here are some of its features:
Multiple view panes
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Multiple view panes
Sublime Text offers multiple view panes for writing code. This way, you can view multiple files at once.
What’s more fun is you can open the same file in two panes. This feature can be helpful when you’re writing code in a file with long lines of code, as you’ll be able to scroll to the top in one pane and then write in the bottom of the other.
Side-by-side view for Type Definitions
Instead of just viewing type definitions in a small popup or opening the definition file that overrides the current view, Sublime Text provides a side-by-side view of a definition file for the types in the current file.
Multiple Selections
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Multi-Line Selection Text Entry with Sublime Text
There are two forms of multi-selections: multi-selecting the same characters or different characters.
Same character selection
Say you want to rename a literal (variable, function, and so on) in multiple places. Sublime Text allows you to highlight the literal, and using Ctrl/Cmd D you can select other occurrences of that literal and edit, replace, or do what you want.
Different characters selection
Maybe some literals are spelled differently, but you want to highlight them together. Sublime allows you to use your mouse to highlight many things at once and operate on them as you choose.
- VSCode
The VSCode editor offers syntax light, IntelliSense features (autocompletes, code hinting, and more), custom configurations, and room for different plugins. VSCode also allows multiple selections and multiple view panes.
Here are more features of VSCode:
Code Debugging
With VSCode, you do not need to debug on your browser or other tools.
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Debugging in Visual Studio Code
VSCode allows you to debug right from your editor using breakpoints, the call stack, and even an interactive console.
Many extensions for different things
VSCode has a large marketplace for different languages, frameworks, and even your editor. You have extensions that beautify your editor’s appearance and experience and tools that help with autocompletion when writing code.
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Managing Extensions in Visual Studio Code
Built-in Terminal
With VSCode, you have a a built-in shell terminal where you can execute commands without leaving your editor to go to a different terminal app.
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The terminal view of VSCode
A small screen may make your editing view small and a bit inconvenient, but with a large monitor, for example, the view is just okay.
VSCode also has multiple view panes, character selection, and multiple character replacements.
- Atom
Atom is a highly customizable code editor. This is why the team calls it a “hackable text editor”. From the appearance and colors on the editor to the key combinations for commands and many other things, you can customize Atom as much as you wish and make it very personalized.
Here are some features:
Real-time Code Collaboration
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Teletype for Atom
Atom has a Teletyping feature that allows multiple people to work on a codebase in real-time. This feature improves collaboration in a team workspace on projects. For VSCode, you’ll usually need an extension for this.
Git Integration
With Atom, you never have to go to your terminal for your Git operations.
image-99
GitHub for Atom
Git actions are integrated into Atom using the GitHub package, and this creates a smooth version control experience while you write code.
Smart Autocompletion
With many languages and syntaxes integrated into Atom, you also get a nice auto-completion feature while writing code.
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Autocomplete (atom.io)
You don’t have to type out those long method and variable names anymore. Atom’s smart enough to help you avoid that 😉.
In Atom, you also have search and replace features, view panes, and more.
- WebStorm
WebStorm calls itself “The Smartest JavaScript IDE”. It takes a lot of confidence to call itself that, and WebStorm actually delivers. WebStorm makes writing JavaScript and its related technologies not just convenient but more enjoyable.
Some features include:
Built-in developer tools
WebStorm takes the name “development editor” quite literally. From running scripts to breakpoints and general debugging, WebStorm provides developer tools that allow you to write, execute and debug your code.
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WebStorm: Integrated Developer Tools
Smart features
This editor allows you to move files between folders seamlessly. It also helps you refactor your code and suggest fixes for errors.
And the most brilliant feature I love about it is that you can easily rename a specific variable across your application. Say you have a variable you’ve imported in many files – you can easily rename that variable from one of the files.
Fast search and navigation
Another fantastic feature of WebStorm, which people generally praise it for, is the fast file or folder search and navigation.
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WebStorm: Navigation and Search
From searching file names, class names, function names within files, and special selectors, you can easily find a file you’re looking for.
There’s also collaboration, view panes, search and replace in WebStorm.
- Vim
And there’s Vim. It’s worth noting that Vim is not for everyone, as it arguably has a steep learning curve – but Vim has many features that make it worth trying out. I have a friend who’s never letting go of Vim and keeps advocating that people are missing out.
Here are some features:
High Customizability
I mentioned earlier that Atom is highly customizable, but I don’t think it’s as flexible as Vim.
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Vim customized to be like SublimeText
Down to the low-level commands and feel of the editor, you can configure many things that makes using another editor very strange for you. You can also create scripts that automate things for you.
Support for Many Languages and File Formats
Vim has support for many languages and files of different kinds. It also integrates with many tools.
Powerful search feature
With powerful selectors and regex, you can do multi-level file searches and replacements. With Vim’s scripts, you can also get plugins that take the search features to another level.
Agreed, it’s not very easy to learn. But it’s pretty powerful and consumes less memory, surprisingly. It also has an extensive script system that gives you much power while writing code.
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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