TextPad is No 9 in the list of Best Text Editors

General questions about using TextPad

Moderators: AmigoJack, bbadmin, helios, Bob Hansen, MudGuard

Post Reply
User avatar
SteveH
Posts: 327
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 11:37 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Contact:

TextPad is No 9 in the list of Best Text Editors

Post by SteveH »

Just spotted that TetPad is currently at number 9 in the UnSpun list of best text editors. Not bad for an old un :wink:

Only seven votes needed to topple Notepad2 from no. 8!

TextMate is no. 1 by quite a margin which doesn't surprise me as Mac geeks seem to love it. I never quite got it. I'm off to vote for BBEdit.
derek325

Post by derek325 »

It even overtook Microsoft Word.
Leif

Post by Leif »

derek325 wrote:It even overtook Microsoft Word.
Surprised? :wink:
derek325

Post by derek325 »

MS Word is not a text editor.
TextPad is not a word processor.
mp
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:21 pm
Location: Here

Post by mp »

derek325 wrote:It even overtook Microsoft Word.
What do you mean "even"?

:shock:
derek325

Post by derek325 »

How do you compare a text editor with a word processor? The UnSpun list is seriously flawed. I explained this in more details, but my response was deleted within minutes by the moderator. Which of course shows that some people from Helios are still around, it is just that they do not know how to react to requests to publish the roadmap or to open source the code.

By for now, will be back mid-2007, Derek.
User avatar
kengrubb
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 5:23 pm
Location: Olympia, WA, USA

Post by kengrubb »

Perusing the list, it's apparent to me that a bunch of lunatics escaped the asylum to vote VI, the Virtually Impossible editor, into the #6 position ahead of TextPad. The Unix/Linux Nazis here at work have tried to push VI with weak Jedi mind tricks. Hasn't worked thus far. Samba drive mapped to the Unix files, and it's just another Network Drive to me. TextPad does a superb job recognizing and editing Unix format files. Just open, edit and save. Learn VI? Yeah, right, I've got 6 months of my life to waste learning the world's most philistine editor.

UltraEdit is in the #5 slot. I have a licensed copy, it's a good editor for all things, a great editor for certain specific things, but I still use TextPad (even though it's the "antiquated" version 4.7.3) for about 90+ percent of my work involving an editor. I live in TextPad everyday for much of the day. TextPad is a great editor for all things.

I've had some dealings with Eclipse down at #14. Certain Eclipse aficionados tried to get management to ram it down the developers throats two years ago. I took a few hours, installed it, tried a few things, found a pant load of problems using it to edit COBOL sources, raised up the issues I found, and the collective shrug pretty well ended those efforts.

CodeWright is noticeable absent. Coworker of mine tried to sell me on CodeWright shortly after I started using TextPad. Had a lot of cool features, but twenty some dollars for TextPad and $300 for CodeWright, and I ain't seeing the cost benefit to CodeWright.

Word processors like Word & WordPerfect don't belong in an editor list. Anyone who adds them obviously doesn't understand the difference.

Helios WildEdit appears on the list at #43, but it really does not belong. I have a licensed copy, and I use it on occasion. It's a powerful tool, but I would not characterize it as a text editor. Text editor is to developer as circular saw is to carpenter. IMHO, WildEdit is more like a router.
(2[Bb]|[^2].|.[^Bb])

That is the question.
User avatar
Drxenos
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2003 8:38 pm

Post by Drxenos »

kengrubb wrote:Perusing the list, it's apparent to me that a bunch of lunatics escaped the asylum to vote VI, the Virtually Impossible editor, into the #6 position ahead of TextPad. The Unix/Linux Nazis here at work have tried to push VI with weak Jedi mind tricks. Hasn't worked thus far. Samba drive mapped to the Unix files, and it's just another Network Drive to me. TextPad does a superb job recognizing and editing Unix format files. Just open, edit and save. Learn VI? Yeah, right, I've got 6 months of my life to waste learning the world's most philistine editor.
Vi is great for what is was meant for: It provides a full-screen, full-featured editor when all you have is an ASCII terminal and/or a slow connection. Yes, these things still exists. I write embedded systems. Sometimes the only communication I have is a serial connection at 9600 baud and a TTY.

We all do not have the luxury of a hosted system like Windows, Mac, or Linux. I use TextPad when I can, but in the real world, that is not always an option.

"Unix/Linux Nazis." Well, its nice (well, sad really) to know that Godwin's Law is still relevant after all these years.

DrX
Last edited by Drxenos on Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
talleyrand
Posts: 624
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2003 6:56 pm
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Contact:

Post by talleyrand »

I concur with Drexnos. In fact, one of the reasons I intially enjoyed TextPad was the default keyboard navigation was similar to vi.
I choose to fight with a sack of angry cats.
User avatar
SteveH
Posts: 327
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 11:37 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Contact:

Post by SteveH »

Now at #4 in the list.
Roy Kirby
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2004 4:54 pm

TextPad is stil a great editor

Post by Roy Kirby »

It may be some time since TextPad was last updated but I think it is still the best pure text editor. I've tried quite a few of the current rivals, UltaEdit, Scite, EditpadPro etc. but I have yet to find one that I find as useful as TextPad. I spend 2 to 3 hours a day editing or reformating various text bases data file and TextPad is very good for this.

I can't see myself using anything else in the near future. That's not to say that there aren't one or two improvements that I would like to see. Editable Macros, and possibly text folding, But in general I'm still very happy with TextPad as it is.
Post Reply