I've been a fan of TextPad since the version 1.x days. I use TextPad for everything.
But it's not available for the Mac, which I've been on more recently. So I got TextMate on the Mac... and I've been really happy with its code-aware features, like automatic indenting, brace matching, etc. I still love TextPad, but I can't shake these adulterous thoughts, longing thoughts of a code aware text editor...
So, does anyone have any suggestions of what editor I should take as my coding mistress? Something that is vaguely similar to TextPad or TextMate would be nice. I don't want to leave TextPad... I just want a pretty little thing to code in on the side. ;-)
Alternatives
Moderators: AmigoJack, bbadmin, helios, Bob Hansen, MudGuard
If I understand your question I think you are probably on thin ice with regard to whether this thread gets locked-down as Helios are (understandably) pretty sensitive to threads promoting alternatives to TextPad. I reckon the exception is discussion of required features that TextPad does not currently support so let's talk about those 
If you require a Windows text editor that behaves like TextMate I think the only option is the e text Editor. This apparently supports TextMate bundles on the Windows platform. I can't really comment on this as I've only played around with it. I do have a registered copy of TextMate but I have just completely failed to get this application. I don't find the search and replace nearly powerful enough and the sub-atomic undo sets my teeth on edge. I also find it over-hyped and disliked the way the roadmap was abandoned to push out a 1.5 release. By comparison I absolutely love working in BBEdit where each new release brings significant new features on top of a mature application.
If you are looking for a TextPad-like application for OS X it might be worth giving Smultron a try.
As an aside, one of the reasons I like TextPad is that it is such a clean, elegant application where so many Windows text editors manage to make themselves plug-ugly. OS X text editors are generally a pretty attractive bunch.
If you require a Windows text editor that behaves like TextMate I think the only option is the e text Editor. This apparently supports TextMate bundles on the Windows platform. I can't really comment on this as I've only played around with it. I do have a registered copy of TextMate but I have just completely failed to get this application. I don't find the search and replace nearly powerful enough and the sub-atomic undo sets my teeth on edge. I also find it over-hyped and disliked the way the roadmap was abandoned to push out a 1.5 release. By comparison I absolutely love working in BBEdit where each new release brings significant new features on top of a mature application.
If you are looking for a TextPad-like application for OS X it might be worth giving Smultron a try.
As an aside, one of the reasons I like TextPad is that it is such a clean, elegant application where so many Windows text editors manage to make themselves plug-ugly. OS X text editors are generally a pretty attractive bunch.
Running TextPad 5.4 on Windows XP SP3 and on OS X 10.7 under VMWare or Crossover.
Mmm... I'm sorry if this post is against the rules. If so, my apologies.
If not...
TextMate does have several annoyances. I bought it because it came highly recommended, and because I was limited, at the time, to the really horrible editor that comes built-in. Bleah. TextMate was a huge step up from that!
TextMate is the first editor I've ever used that automatically does things like auto-close braces and quotes (when you type the opening character, it adds the closing character), and auto-set the cursor to the appropriate indentation when you press return to the next line (Textpad maintains indentation, but is not code-aware, so it can't increase or reduce indentation depending on whether you just opened or closed a context.) TextMate also lets me re-indent other people's code, a nice feature when I'm stea... er, borro... hmm, taking inspiration from code found online.
But it has flaws... the search and replace is laughable compared to TextPad, and I'm not a fan of its massively complexity with creating document types... a side effect of being code ware sadly.
I'm not looking for something to imitate TextMate really. I'm looking for a code editor... it doesn't have to be like TextMate, it's just that TextMate was the first one I used that wasn't tied to a gigantic IDE (which I don't want).
If not...
TextMate does have several annoyances. I bought it because it came highly recommended, and because I was limited, at the time, to the really horrible editor that comes built-in. Bleah. TextMate was a huge step up from that!
TextMate is the first editor I've ever used that automatically does things like auto-close braces and quotes (when you type the opening character, it adds the closing character), and auto-set the cursor to the appropriate indentation when you press return to the next line (Textpad maintains indentation, but is not code-aware, so it can't increase or reduce indentation depending on whether you just opened or closed a context.) TextMate also lets me re-indent other people's code, a nice feature when I'm stea... er, borro... hmm, taking inspiration from code found online.
But it has flaws... the search and replace is laughable compared to TextPad, and I'm not a fan of its massively complexity with creating document types... a side effect of being code ware sadly.
I'm not looking for something to imitate TextMate really. I'm looking for a code editor... it doesn't have to be like TextMate, it's just that TextMate was the first one I used that wasn't tied to a gigantic IDE (which I don't want).