Best Free Coding Text Editor For Mac 2017

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A kind of environment is needed by anyone who wants to develop his websites, mainly because the functionality that they serve is pretty universal.

Sublime Text editor is one best text editor in the market. It is a proprietary software with a focus on features. Not only it is a great alternative to a powerful IDE, but it is also lightweight and does the job with great efficiency and accuracy. With tons of features to fiddle with, you will feel the power in your fingertip. The second set will cover cloud based editors that allow you to code on the go. The third set of editors will be web based code snippet editors. These editors are to be used for a single concept or small snippets of code. The fourth set of editors and my least favorite are mobile editors.

For this, there are text editors. Of course, there are umpteen Editors of soaring level present in the technological world to rescue the web developers. But the question is, to choose which diamond from the huge lot.

So, we’re here with the best options for the interest of Mac JavaScript programmers which can also be useful for the beginners.

Best Javascript Editors for Mac

In this roundup, we categorized different text editors for Mac users. Some of them are for the everyday editing and are free of cost. They are as good as the paid ones and doesn’t compromise on the quality. Have a look below at the excellent list of top text editors ideal for the ones who want to bathe in the glow of their Mac screens.

1. Brackets:


A free, modern and open source editor, maintained by Adobe. It is a lightweight yet powerful text editor. Brackets’ unique “Extract” feature basically allows the user to grab font, measurements, colors, gradients, etc., from a PSD file into a clean CSS ready for web usage. Its other main feature, i.e. “Inline Editor”, gives the independence of opening a window into the code you want the most. This consumes time as well as looks more user-friendly. It is absolutely free and can be used on other platforms like Windows and Linux.

2. Atom:


GitHub, being a worldwide choice for development sites in recent years, maintains a tool named Atom. Though it is the new one to join the army of excellent text editors, still it has managed to be in the eyes of the developers and make a strong mark. It has a massive user-submitted package library which includes a file system browser, multiple panes and snippets, fuzzy search, quick code folding and a lot more. It works on OSX 10.8 or later. It is free tool also designed for Windows 7 & 8 and Linux.

3. Sublime Text:


If it is a flexible, powerful, lightning-fast programming text editor what you are looking for, then Sublime text is the best out of the lot for you. It provides probably the best interface and has one of the search engines out there. Powerful shortcuts and tools are the key features of Sublime Text. It also has a regent plugin API, making it highly customizable to suit the needs of almost anyone. Although, the full version of the tool is paid, yet the free evaluation period is virtually unlimited, which can be enjoyed for as long as you like. It is available on all the three platforms, i.e. Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux.

4. BBEdit:

BBEdit by Bare Bones has been in the market for over 20 years. It provides numerous pro level features for creating, editing and manipulating text. Its old age doesn’t mean that it is not capable of keeping pace with the newborns in the market. It is still a fast, advanced and a popular one among the users. It allows commanding files, folders, texts and servers all within one software. Recent updates in the application have added text suggestions which come helpful in reading the document. All this comes at a price of $49.99, which is worth this kind of beauty.

5. UltraEdit:


A part of the family of IDM Computer Solutions, UltraEdit can be used to edit JavaScript, HTML, PHP, C/C++ or any other programming language. The key features of this tool include syntax highlighting, column/block editing, file/data sorting, etc. it is available at a price of $79.95/year.

6. TextMate:

This is a tool which has been pride for Apple since a long time. TextMate basically puts forward the use of UNIX command console in a neat and easy to use GUI. Features like search and replace within project, auto-indentation, column selection, word completion from current document, dynamic outlines, regular expression support, etc., are provided in this tool. XCode projects can also be built in the tool as it provides full XCode support. It is a free application.

7. MacVim:


The tool for the pros at text editing is without any doubt, MacVim. Due to its high-tech nature, the app is pretty difficult to understand for the newbies, but if you really want to cling on to text editing, this is the “chosen one” for you. The most unique thing about this software is its bringing of standard OS X keyboard shortcuts, lessening the learning curve quite a bit. There are transparent backgrounds and full-screen mode for distraction-free coding. It is available for all the platforms and comes free at hand.

We know that there are many text editing tools and applications out in the market. But the above are the ones which we’ve liked and thought that our readers would believe the same.

As a developer, there is always the need of finding the best tools for development purposes. It can be text editors, a library to manage tasks, a framework to build your next project, etc.

And, why not?

The tools simplify the work environment and improve productivity at the same time.

Among all the tools ever used by any developer, choosing the text editor is the hardest one. LiveEdu.tv broadcasters use a variety of text editors during live coding sessions and also advocate their personal choice to their viewers.

Also, read, How To Create Vim Dotfile and 10 Habits and Things Only Computer Programmers Know

Not to mention that there is a divided community for each popular text editor. It’s like defending what you use and be proud of your choice at the same time. LiveEdu.tv platform has seen quite a bit of it in the recent broadcasts. After all, everyone has their preference and likes to defend it.

You can also witness the diversity in choice by watching the premium projects on LiveEdu. Many streamers have their preference when it comes to choosing a text editor or an IDE. RedIronLabs, for example, used Unity editor for developing Flappy Bird using C#.

Text editor plays the primary role in any developer workspace. The project code is written, debugged and executed with the help of the text editor. It’s like a garage to build tools/products for the world.

Now, comes the real problem.

Choosing the perfect text editor for your work can be a challenging task. It requires skillful experimentation, personal preference, and final judgment. Before you jump into a single text editor; we want you to go through the best text editors for 2016, and learn what they have to offer regarding functionality and usability.

10+ Best Text Editors 2016

We will only discuss six text editors in detail. Other text editors will be linked at the bottom for quick access.

Without much ado, let’s get started with the list of the best text editors for 2016.

Sublime Text Editor

Sublime Text editor is one best text editor in the market. It is a proprietary software with a focus on features. Not only it is a great alternative to a powerful IDE, but it is also lightweight and does the job with great efficiency and accuracy.

With tons of features to fiddle with, you will feel the power in your fingertip. But, just like any tool, nothing is perfect. Let’s go through the pros and cons of using the Sublime text editor.

Pros

  • Sublime text is easy to use with excellent UI and UX.
  • There are tons of sublime plugins available. The functionality can be improved easily, and customization is just one plugin installation away.
  • Offers command palette for easy accessibility to snippets, settings and more.
  • Offers multi-line editing and selection.

Cons

  • Sublime text is not free. Considering that equally capable free text editors are available in the market, anyone can opt for the alternative.
  • Updates are not frequent as used to in the past.
  • Loading time is higher compared to the Notepad++.
  • The quality of plugins is questionable.

Overall, Sublime text is an excellent text editor to work with. You can opt to use Sublime text for free by using the unending trial version. If you don’t like the idea of popups, you can purchase the editor for just $70 (one-time purchase). It works on all the three major OS — Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

Vim

Vim stands for the “Vi Improved”. Vim has survived the test of time and is one of the oldest text editors in the history of computers.

Vim is extremely popular among developers and other computer enthusiasts who seek an entirely customizable text editor.

Vim is famous for two reasons. First, it supports complete keyboard operations without any need for the mouse.

Second, it is present in almost every Unix-based machines. So, portability and ubiquity is a key feature of Vim.

Pros

  • Completely keyboard based operations supported.
  • Can be used in a remote development environment using a terminal over SSH.
  • Vim is open source and free to use.
  • Vim can be customized to heart’s content using .vimrc dotfile and VimScript.
  • Tons of plugins support for Vim, extending its core functionality.
  • Enhances productivity and performs great with large files.

And much more.

Cons

  • The learning curve is steep. Takes time to get used to it.
  • Most of the modern programming features need to be incorporated using plugins.

Vim is for the advanced users. It is not easy to learn and require time for mastery. But, once discovered, it provides you with the power that no other text editor can ever do.

Also, read How to create Vim Dotfile

Atom

Atom is advertised as the hackable text editor for the 21st century. Atom was introduced a year ago with a focus on providing a hackable text editor. It resembles Sublime text and succeeds in providing similar experiences to Sublime. Just like any gem, it is also plagued with issues. The UI and UX are excellent and perfect for a great coding session. Other key features include the ability of auto-completion, file system browser, multiple panes and much more.

Pros

  • Atom is open source and free to use.
  • Tons of packages to use. Hence, highly customizable. Uses CoffeeScript to write packages.
  • Hackable to the core, thanks to the modular design used by the text editor.
  • Offers git control and package management features.
  • Can be easily picked by up a beginner.

Cons

  • Cannot handle large files and tends to crash if you load files above 10 MB in size.
  • Consumes a lot of memory.

If you are looking for a free, open source text editor, Atom is an excellent choice. But, it is advisable to ignore Atom if you plan to work on large projects. It is available for all the three major OS and is completely portable.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is an effort by Microsoft to enable developers to code without downloading the massive Visual Studio editions (3 GB+ size). Visual Studio is a lightweight, open-source text editor, aimed to provide seamless development experience on all the major platforms — Windows, OS X, and Linux. Key features of Visual Studio code include 30+ language support, code-focused editing, auto-complete, code navigation, etc. It also offers Git version control and debugging tools for easy development.

Pros

  • Supports 30+ languages and also Microsoft’s core languages such as ASP.NET, C#, etc.
  • The small size ensures that quick installation and usage.
  • Portable versions are also available.

Cons

  • Extension support needs improvement.
  • Updating on Linux can be a daunting task.

Visual Studio Code is an excellent choice for developers who are not eager to download a huge clunky IDE for their development purposes. It is small, sweet and does the job!

Notepad++

Editor

Notepad++ is yet another open source text editor in the market. It resembles the vanilla notepad and improves it in every possible way for text editor purposes. Tons of programming languages are supported out of the box. The biggest advantage of Notepad++ over any other text editor listed here is the fact that it can manage huge files without any major lags or crashes. It is very fast and lightweight. Moreover, its functionality can be extended using hundreds of available plugins.

Pros

Best Free Coding Text Editor For Mac 2017 Full

  • Supports Syntax Folding and Syntax Highlighting.
  • Auto-completion of words, functions and much more.
  • Comes with WYSIWYG and multi-view support.
  • Extensible using plugins.

Cons

  • The UI is not the best out there. Needs improvements to meet current industry standards.
  • The text editor can benefit from the addition of new language support.
  • Too simplistic. New features are always welcome.

Notepad++ is for those who want simplistic UI and feature set. It is clean, fast and an excellent way to do the new stuff!

Brackets

Our last text editor that we will discuss in detail is “Brackets.” With open source tag, Brackets can be used by anyone. Brackets is not a universal text editor, but a text editor that focuses on front-end development, i.e. web design purposes. Support for front-end language is extensive, and that’s why you should only consider Brackets for front-end development.

Pros

  • Brackets is a powerful text editor with a focus on web design.
  • It is lightweight, modern and offers great UI.
  • Offers live preview, preprocessor support, and inline editors.
  • Comes with the inbuilt extension manager for easy extension management.

Cons

  • Limited support for only web languages.
  • Not up to par with other text editor commands and functionality.

Honorable Mentions

With so many text editors out there, it is not practically possible to discuss every one of them. That’s why we list the least known, but amazing text editor of 2016. Do, check them out!

Conclusion

A text editor is an indispensable tool in any developer’s arsenal. With major text editor discussed, we hope that you can now make the final call.

Best Free Coding Text Editor For Mac 2017 Free

If you think that we have missed a text editor that should have been mentioned in the article, don’t forget to comment below and let us know. We will update the article accordingly!

Best Free Coding Text Editor For Mac 2017 Download

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