Are there any special features about this code editor?
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Madelyn Bingham
Nov 27, 2017, 11:52:32 AM11/27/17
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Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
Bucky Junior
Nov 27, 2017, 1:09:12 PM11/27/17
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Whew! This is bound to bring out the evangelists.
First, BBEdit is Mac OS only. Notepad++is Windows only and Brackets appears to be platform agnostic. I’ve not tried either of those.
BBEdit is, to say the least, powerful. I’m not a heavy weight user and only use a fraction of what the program is capable of doing. Without making lists here, you can view the seven chapter product tour starting at <http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/benefitsexercise.html>. I see a link to Testimonials on that page too.
I only write and maintain a few web sites and _might_ be able to do my work with a lesser product but having all the options are worth it to me. My daughter uses a much more expensive Adobe product (more of a WYSIWYG interface) but I prefer cleaner coding that I get with BBEdit.
Tips and tricks? Read the manual and try things out. Read the product tour and pick out things that appeal to your method of working. Pick out things that will solve problems for you. Read the manual and try things out. Continue monitoring this group because there are some wonderful helpful people here.
On Nov 27, 2017, at 9:51 AM, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
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Kerri Hicks
Nov 27, 2017, 1:22:06 PM11/27/17
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It's hard to be too specific without more information about what you use a code editor for, but here are a few things that stand out for me (I do primarily back-end web programming and CSS, manage large data sets, and work with huge log files):
1) Fast and helpful support directly from Bare Bones (when you email sup...@barebones.com). This may seem like a throwaway feature. Many people here can explain better than I can the importance of getting a question answered (or a feature added, or whatever) when your livelihood depends on your editor. It's almost ridiculous how good their support is.
2) Everything under the Text menu -- especially the things that have "Process" in their names.
3) Live preview (with an inspector) for HTML, and for Markdown.
4) Built-in S/FTP support, when I need to code like a cowgirl (live on the production server -- living on the edge...rarely a good idea, but sometimes necessary).
5) Not having to add third-party modules to do fundamental editing tasks.
6) Opening and grep-search-and-replacing 700MB documents in seconds.
7) Auto-restore state (including open files, even the ones on remote servers) if your Mac crashes or you need to update BBEdit or something.
That's my list, at least.
--Kerri
On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 11:51 AM, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
--
This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a
feature request or would like to report a problem, please email
"sup...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group.
Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/bbedit>
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Kyle DeMilo
Nov 27, 2017, 1:31:16 PM11/27/17
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If I could throw my hat in the ring, I don't code — and I'm probably using BBEdit all wrong, but I use it with the Project view to store text files with all kinds of notes on my job, as well as notes for each ticket I have to deal with at my 9-to-5.
Could I do it with a cheaper solution? Probably, but BBEdit allows me to do it all with a minimum of chrome, fuss, and formatting. For me, that's worth every penny.
François Schiettecatte
Nov 27, 2017, 1:34:35 PM11/27/17
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Hi
I code for a living and have been using BBEdit pretty much since it was ‘a thing’, it runs on Macs only but all the work I do is on Linux. Everyone once in a while I take a look around to see what else there is, mostly as an insurance policy (the 90’s were a dark time for Macintosh), but for what I do there is nothing that comes even close, and I use probably 60%-70% of the features it offers. If I was going to put my finger on one feature it would be Projects, they allow me to manage multiple code bases very easily (combined line count is closing in on 7 digits).
Ultimately it comes down to what you are looking for. If you want to edit a few files there are a myriad of choices out there. If you make your living coding then BBEdit is great and time put into learning it is well rewarded in the long run.
François
> On Nov 27, 2017, at 8:51 AM, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
>
I code for a living and have been using BBEdit pretty much since it was ‘a thing’, it runs on Macs only but all the work I do is on Linux. Everyone once in a while I take a look around to see what else there is, mostly as an insurance policy (the 90’s were a dark time for Macintosh), but for what I do there is nothing that comes even close, and I use probably 60%-70% of the features it offers. If I was going to put my finger on one feature it would be Projects, they allow me to manage multiple code bases very easily (combined line count is closing in on 7 digits).
Ultimately it comes down to what you are looking for. If you want to edit a few files there are a myriad of choices out there. If you make your living coding then BBEdit is great and time put into learning it is well rewarded in the long run.
François
> On Nov 27, 2017, at 8:51 AM, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
>
> --
> This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a
> feature request or would like to report a problem, please email
> "sup...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group.
> Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/bbedit>
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BBEdit Talk" group.
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> This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a
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> Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/bbedit>
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Steve deRosier
Nov 27, 2017, 2:01:04 PM11/27/17
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Throwing my thoughts in the ring, I use BBEdit extensively for nearly
everything I do. My primary activities are in the embedded programming
domain, and I use it heavily in Linux kernel driver programming. I
regard the Mac and BBEdit as a superior platform (for me) for Linux
kernel development than Linux itself; I know that would be considered
blasphemy by some of the community, but I care about effectiveness and
it works for me. Also, I do a fair amount of pure bare-metal coding
with it. I do Python test frameworks for my work. And some standard
LAMP stack coding. And then there's documentation in Markdown and
reStructuredText.
In short, BBEdit is my swiss-army-knife for getting things done. It's
language and style agnostic. It's got a thin footprint. I can open
100s of files in dozens of document windows. It has a project
management structure that just works but doesn't give my computer fits
(I don't know if it is still an issue, but 10 years ago, trying to
open the Linux kernel as a project in Eclipse ment my computer would
grind for 40 minutes before I could touch a line of code). And it
works the way I do - centralized on my Mac but attached and working
with multiple computers and VMs.
Features I use most:
* Powerful searching - multiple files, projects, single file. Very
flexible to tell it what to search and in what files. And it remembers
your history.
* Command-line starting - I can ssh into my Linux development machine,
type "bbedit filename.c" and though some shell script magic it can ssh
back to my Mac and open the file remotely in BBEdit. Same deal with
using it as my CSCOPE_EDITOR.
* Projects
* Network - Editing works the same no matter if it's a local file, a
file over NFS or SFTP.
* Languages - A typical project for me includes C, C++, Python,
Makefiles, CMake, Bash or Ash scripts, ASM, Markdown, HTML, CSS, and
PHP. BBEdit lets me work seamlessly with all of it.
* And it's good at the small stuff - I use it often for processing log
files, or even silly things like reformatting emails with inserting
quote marks '> ' using the "Prefix/Suffix Lines..." feature in the
Text menu. It's easier than using awk/sed.
Use it or don't use it, doesn't matter to me. I will use it because
it's the best tool for the job.
everything I do. My primary activities are in the embedded programming
domain, and I use it heavily in Linux kernel driver programming. I
regard the Mac and BBEdit as a superior platform (for me) for Linux
kernel development than Linux itself; I know that would be considered
blasphemy by some of the community, but I care about effectiveness and
it works for me. Also, I do a fair amount of pure bare-metal coding
with it. I do Python test frameworks for my work. And some standard
LAMP stack coding. And then there's documentation in Markdown and
reStructuredText.
In short, BBEdit is my swiss-army-knife for getting things done. It's
language and style agnostic. It's got a thin footprint. I can open
100s of files in dozens of document windows. It has a project
management structure that just works but doesn't give my computer fits
(I don't know if it is still an issue, but 10 years ago, trying to
open the Linux kernel as a project in Eclipse ment my computer would
grind for 40 minutes before I could touch a line of code). And it
works the way I do - centralized on my Mac but attached and working
with multiple computers and VMs.
Features I use most:
* Powerful searching - multiple files, projects, single file. Very
flexible to tell it what to search and in what files. And it remembers
your history.
* Command-line starting - I can ssh into my Linux development machine,
type "bbedit filename.c" and though some shell script magic it can ssh
back to my Mac and open the file remotely in BBEdit. Same deal with
using it as my CSCOPE_EDITOR.
* Projects
* Network - Editing works the same no matter if it's a local file, a
file over NFS or SFTP.
* Languages - A typical project for me includes C, C++, Python,
Makefiles, CMake, Bash or Ash scripts, ASM, Markdown, HTML, CSS, and
PHP. BBEdit lets me work seamlessly with all of it.
* And it's good at the small stuff - I use it often for processing log
files, or even silly things like reformatting emails with inserting
quote marks '> ' using the "Prefix/Suffix Lines..." feature in the
Text menu. It's easier than using awk/sed.
Use it or don't use it, doesn't matter to me. I will use it because
it's the best tool for the job.
Christopher Stone
Nov 27, 2017, 2:51:42 PM11/27/17
to BBEdit-Talk
On 11/27/2017, at 10:51, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors?
Hey Madelyn,
There are a number of good text editors available for the Mac, and some have various features or eye candy that BBEdit doesn't.
But...
No other text editor on the Mac has the amount of focussed power BBEdit does.
All of the built-in text processing and development tools are extremely powerful and relatively easy to use.
Text Factories allow laymen to do sophisticated text processing.
Text Filters allow any language runnable from the shell to interact with documents.
Shell worksheets facilitate shell script development and various shell-related tasks.
BBEdit is one of the most AppleScriptable apps on the planet, so users can automate and systematize and customize and get work done in various ways other editors can't match.
I've used it since somewhere around 1992.
I try out anything that looks interesting - Brackets, Atom, MacVim, Sublime Text, Textastic, TextMate, UltraEdit...
But so far I've always come back to BBEdit.
It runs 24/7 on my system.
--
Best Regards,
Chris
Jean-Christophe Helary
Nov 27, 2017, 8:52:21 PM11/27/17
to bbe...@googlegroups.com
On Nov 28, 2017, at 1:51, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart?
Applescript support, integration with the system, as Christopher described.
As far as "text editing" proper is concerned, even TextEdit covers most of the basic needs of a writer.
BBEdit's core functions cover *anything* a coder in any language needs.
BBEdit also has a lot of HTML editing related functions.
What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
1) Check the (excellent) manual for complex tasks that you'd like to accomplish.
2) Ask here.
Jean-Christophe Helary
-----------------------------------------------
@brandelune http://mac4translators.blogspot.com
-----------------------------------------------
@brandelune http://mac4translators.blogspot.com
Charlie Garrison
Nov 27, 2017, 9:07:16 PM11/27/17
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On 28 Nov 2017, at 6:00, Steve deRosier wrote:
* Command-line starting - I can ssh into my Linux development machine,
type "bbedit filename.c" and though some shell script magic it can ssh
back to my Mac and open the file remotely in BBEdit. Same deal with
using it as my CSCOPE_EDITOR.
Have you tried rbbedit?
It’s a formalised version of “through some shell script magic it can ssh back to my Mac”, but has additional ‘copy methods’ such as scp and rsync.
* Network - Editing works the same no matter if it's a local file, a
file over NFS or SFTP.
Or a remote volume mounted using ExpanDrive, which rbbedit also supports. ;-)
-cng
--
Charlie Garrison garr...@zeta.org.au
github.com/cngarrison metacpan.org/author/CNG
Mark Damon Hughes
Nov 28, 2017, 6:30:15 AM11/28/17
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On Nov 27, 2017, at 08:51, Madelyn Bingham <madelyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
Plenty of others have echoed my thoughts, especially as Kerri mentions opening gigantic files and doing search & replace, which kills most other editors.
>
> Can someone tell me what makes BBEdit different or better than other code editors? I understand it is mostly geared towards Apple Products, but I could just as easily download Notepad++ or Brackets on my Macintosh, which seem to be more popular. Are there any special features about BBEdit that make it special or set it apart? What are some tips and tricks to using this code editor?
I use the text filters (writing shell scripts/Python to process my text) constantly.
But the biggest ones are speed and stability. I type fast, and expect to be able to jump around in a document tree, and see a live preview when writing Markdown. Atom with a bunch of plugins is about as good as BBEdit for complex code and regex work, but it's unusable on big files, can slow down to a dead crawl, the syntax coloring can die and need a reload, and it's generally flaky, whereas BBEdit keeps up and keeps working. It's the Terminator of text editors.
--
Mark Damon Hughes
<kamika...@gmail.com>
Greg Raven
Nov 28, 2017, 7:55:17 AM11/28/17
to BBEdit Talk
Anything man-made is a compromise, but with BBEdit, you give up the least for what you get, and you’ll be working in an environment that needs no external helpers for you to accomplish your tasks, unless you have external files such as images, PDFs, audio/video files, etc., and those almost always require an external program of some sort no matter what. If an external program or utility would make your life easier, you are not locked into any specific one … you can choose whichever one you want. You will even have the ability to create your own utilities, both through setting up work flows and through programming using a number of different languages.
jgill
Nov 30, 2017, 4:16:49 AM11/30/17
to BBEdit Talk
Madelyn, you don't work for Barebone's PR agency by any chance? If so, you are doing a great job ;?)
Roland Küffner
Nov 30, 2017, 8:45:00 AM11/30/17
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for a really comprehensible comparison, see:
BBEdit’s stand-out characteristics - from my point of view (mostly echoing previous posts):
- fast (I tried opening a 900 MB file in Atom once and have no intention to ever trying it again)
- stable (I’m pretty sure I did not loose a single word in the last 15 years)
- versatile (impressive built-in feature set = reduced time messing around with plugins, extensions, modules, packages …)
- highly customizable (e.g. you can hide unused menu items, everything can get it’s own keyboard shortcut)
- straightforward (vim is cool but feels like forbidden arcane knowledge that has to be recited daily to prevent it’s powers from floating into oblivion)
- text filters (super-extra-bonus: you can use those in Keyboard Maestro - so you can use BBEdit’s power everywhere on your mac)
- a very fine manual (not kidding, this is a first class asset in the feature row)
- an always friendly and helpful support crew
To sum it up: it does not suck (TM)
Roland
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Jean-Christophe Helary
Nov 30, 2017, 9:05:22 AM11/30/17
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On Nov 30, 2017, at 22:44, Roland Küffner <medien...@gmail.com> wrote:for a really comprehensible comparison, see:
Although arguably a better essay by Healy is:
where he makes a parallel between having Marx in your mouth vs having him in your bones and Brad Delong's critique of David Harvey.
And I'm sure he wrote that in BBEdit.
So I guess another feature of the beast is:
• You can write powerful critiques of false marxists with it.
(or other really cool and/or earth shattering things)
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