There is no shortage of options for text editors geared towards developers on the Mac, but TextMate is our top pick. It wins out thanks to its massive programming language syntax support, helpful code snippets, expandability, and integration with the OS X terminal.
TextMate
Platform: Mac OS X
Price: Free! Download Page
The goal of this group is to break down that barrier and provide a large database of free software for Mac OS to enhance your Mac experience. Ranging from comic book readers to programming editors, chess to media centers, our team has taken the time to review and recommend the best free software for Mac OS. Bottom line is that if you want to get started with iOS application development you’re going to need (or at least have access to) a Mac and at it ideally will be running latest version of OS X. If you’re a PC owner, you’re out of luck I’m afraid. ExpressVPN for Android is the best Android VPN app that we’ve tested. The service offers excellent security, with 256-bit encryption, an SSL-secured network, and unlimited bandwidth.
Features
Note: This feature list is borrowed from the TextMate site and the links will take you directly to TextMate's pages containing more info on each feature.
Advertisement
Where It Excels
TextMate is excellent. It's as simple as you need it to be, providing only a single window for editing a single document, or it can expand to handling a large file structure. It supports syntax highlighting for practically any programming language you can think of, plus it contains code snippets. These things can be expanded by downloading third-party add-ons. TextMate has great code organization features. It updates frequently enough that you feel taken care of but not so frequently you want to smack it in the face (like with Evernote). You can even use TextMate as your text editor in the terminal with the command
mate . Best free flight simulators. If you're looking for a WYSISYG editor, TextMate—and this entire category—is not for you. If you just want to write code in a great editor, you've come to the right app.
Advertisement
Where It Falls Short![]()
Organizing the files you're currently working on could be a little more user-friendly, as it can be a little bit tedious if you don't open your entire work folder immediately at launch. The undo history is so detailed that you can find yourself pressing Command+Z a lot just to get back to the place you wanted. Generally it's just faster to retype it. Overall, though, there's very little to complain about. At one point we complained about its $58 price tag, but now that TextMate is open-source and free it's got almost everything going for it.
Advertisement
The Competition
It's impossible to avoid mentioning SublimeText because it's so similar. It has almost the same support for language syntax as TextMate, and even has a Windows version as well (which is where the app originated, but that Mac version is still very Mac-like). Honestly, whether you use Sublime Text or TextMate is really going to come down to preference. They're both excellent and both, perhaps, a bit too expensive. They also both come with trials, so you can check them both out and decide for yourself.
Best thunderbolt drives for mac. The Elgato Thunderbolt Drive+ is the best for a number of reasons, but overall, it's a reliable, well-made product. Because of the Elgato's lack of moving parts, the drive is far less likely to break or get damaged like other devices in the same category. Nov 05, 2018 LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt review. The LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series is an excellent portable drive thanks to its great performance, flexible.
Advertisement
But maybe you're someone who doesn't want to pay for their programming-friendly text editor. If that's you, there are a couple of other alternatives that don't cost a thing. First, TextWrangler is a capable option with a loyal user base (if they haven't already upgraded to its big brother BBEdit), but it's a little low on capabilities and has an interface that feels pretty dated. Alternatively, there's Fraise (the successor to Smultron), which is another free, capable, but not-as-amazing-as-TextMate (and Sublime Text) text editor.
The other free option that's probably most like TextMate (and Sublime Text, for that matter) is Kod. It supports over 65 languages, is remarkably fast and lightweight, and only comes with one real disadvantage: it's in its early stages of development. When I checked it out earlier this year, however, it was pretty solid. Kod is very much worth a look, even if it hasn't been around for quite as long as the others.
Advertisement
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
Free Apps For Mac
Advertisement
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |