Nedit: Improvements? Replacements

flamesrock · 11-04-2004, 12:04 PM

Ok, so I've downloaded and installed nedit. Its EXACTLY what I'm looking for in a programming environment; lightweight, nice syntax highlighting, and lots of customizability. But I'm wondering if there are similar apps out there that outdo nedit-- I don't mind if they eat up more resources.

Things I'd like:
-transparent (tinted) background, maybe a gtk interface, basically more bells and whistles

Also - what in your opinion, is the best font for programming?

-thanks

belorion · 11-04-2004, 12:20 PM

My personal preference is jEdit [www.jedit.org]. It's a very mature editor (just released version 4.2), with a TON of features, and a ton of plugins to add even more features. The other nice thing -- since it is java based, you know that no matter what system you are working on, you can be using jEdit (so you don't have to learn/customize 2 different editors for 2 different environments).

Here is a list of features from the website:

Quote:

# Combines the best functionality of Unix, Windows and MacOS text editors.
# Runs on any operating system with a Java 2 version 1.3 or higher virtual machine - this includes MacOS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows.
# Efficient keyboard shortcuts for everything
# Comprehensive online help
# Unlimited undo/redo
# Copy and paste with an unlimited number of clipboards (known as "registers")
# Register contents are saved across editing sessions (4.2)
# "Kill ring" automatically remembers previously deleted text (4.2)
# Rich set of keyboard commands for manipulating entire words, lines and paragraphs at a time
# "Markers" for remembering positions in files to return to later
# Marker locations are saved across editing sessions
# Any number of editor windows may be open, each window may be split into several areas, each area can view a different file. Alternatively, different locations in one file can be viewed in more than one area
# Multiple open windows and split windows are remembered between editing sessions (4.2)
# Rectangular selection
# Multiple selection (sometimes known as "discontinuous" or "additive" selection) for manipulating several chunks of text at once
# Word wrap

And that really just scratches the surface.

There is a ton of nifty plugins for Java development, but I even do my non-java programming in it.

EDIT: You can have a transparent/tinted background with the use of the "background" plugin. Another essential plugin is FTP. Open/Save files seemlessly over FTP or sFTP.

flamesrock · 11-06-2004, 11:58 AM

Looks great! But two problems....

In Solaris, I can't seem to get transparency working..Not sure why. It works with the other programs.

Also- I haven't noticed anything for pascal. Is there a next best thing?

-thanks

belorion · 11-06-2004, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by flamesrock
Looks great! But two problems....

In Solaris, I can't seem to get transparency working..Not sure why. It works with the other programs.

Also- I haven't noticed anything for pascal. Is there a next best thing?

-thanks

As for transparency ... I suppose I might have misunderstood what you meant by transparency. If you were referring to having a background image that is transparent such that you can still read your code, then jEdit supports this. If you are talking about making jEdit transparent so you can see other windows or your desktop in the background, I'm not sure about that.

If it was the first, I found that you probably have to go up to Plugins->Plugin Options and modify the Background plugin such that the blend color is the same as your background (mine is black), and modify the tranparentcy/opacity setting to your desire.

As for Pascal, I know jedit support pascal syntax highlighting. What exactly are you looking for regarding pascal?

flamesrock · 11-07-2004, 02:22 PM

Hmm,,I looked for pascal syntax highlighting. Could not find it.

Oh - and as for transparency, I was thinking of something like a transparent terminal window with emacs running, so that you could see the background, but not necessarily other windows..

-thanks

belorion · 11-10-2004, 03:09 PM

Pascal is listed as a supported mode for syntax highlighting. Typically what you have to do is save the file you are working on, and jEdit will detect the extension and syntax highlight based on that. I don't know of anyways to turn the syntax highlighting on without saving, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a way.