Good text editor for Windows?

Question

I'm looking for a text editor, much like TextMate (www.macromates.com) on Mac, but I want it to have a built-in compiler.

For example, I do not want an IDE like Visual Studio or Eclipse. I'm looking for an editor where I can click "Run" and it will compile my code and show me the results in a terminal.

I know of a text editor, which is TextMate's sister application for Windows, but it does not have a built-in compiler. I also do not want to install Cygwin for g++/gcc.

Answer 1

JEdit?

Answer 2

Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_text_editors

Answer 3

You are asking for an editor that will allow you to compile and show the results in a terminal but is not an IDE??

Anyway...

This is the most lightweight editor that can be connected to a compiler for Windows.

http://www.codeblocks.org/

Answer 4

Notepad++

It is based on Scintilla and is available under GPL.

Additionally I recommend downloading the MinGW port of GCC.

Answer 5

PSPad

Answer 6

Have you checked out Programmer's Notepad?

When I was in school for Java, the lovely teacher forced us to use a notepad to write the code, and we were suggested to use Programmer's Notepad.

Programmer's Notepad Link here!

Answer 7

It's going to be a steep learning curve, but have you tried Emacs ? It contains all the features of text mate and an IDE, if you know where to look. You can compile code at the push of a button, but you may have a few other things to get used to (like Ctrl-s is search, not save by default - but you can configure that - you may want to look at cua mode which will set some of the keys to the windows defaults ;)

Answer 8

I use Komodo Edit. It has great support for XML, HTML, PHP, Python and other dynamic languages, and syntax highlighting for tons of other languages. The only con I can think of is the memory usage. Komodo is built in Python on the Mozilla platform, so it's not the lightest one around.

Answer 9

As much as I love to see more threads with Programmer's Notepad links, this topic has been covered loads of times on StackOverflow, here's a sampling:

Questions mentioning Notepad++

Questions mentioning Programmer's Notepad

As for getting compiling going, you can call your chosen toolchain in lots of different ways from most good text editors. If we say you want to do C++ development then at the most simple here is a set of steps you could take:

1. Get Visual C++ Express (free) or MinGW
2. Make a very simple makefile, something like the one below
3. Set up a tool in your editor to call make in your file's current directory

    test.exe: test.obj 
      link test.obj

    test.obj: test.cpp test.h
      cl -c test.cpp

Answer 10

I don't get the "built in compiler" demand - as far as I know there is no universal compiler :)

UltraEdit is not free but it has a plethora of different languages it supports.

Answer 11

VIM!!!

And now I've had my VIM rant I'm going to rant some more.

TextMate doesn't have a built in compiler. I don't think you fully grok programming at any level yet. TextMate simply has "bundles" that are configured to call the Apple XCode tools. AFIK there are bundles for pretty much everything you can think of. Some things (like perl, python, etc) are installed on the base system with Mac.

If you want a compiler on windows you'll either need the MS tools or Cygwin, MingW, Digital Mars (not free), etc. There is no such thing as an editor with a built in compiler - the compiler MAY have been bundled in a package with the editor/IDE however (Code::Blocks from memory packaged Mingw). I think you should try Cygwin since it comes with VIM and a compiler, just like you want.

Answer 12

I use e which touts itself as TextMate for Windows - I wouldn't go quite that far, but it is good (it has the notion of bundles for different file types, lifted from TextMate).

It isn't free, but it's been worth the license fee.

Answer 13

Textpad is pretty good. In fact if it finds a java JDK installs it creates shortcut keys that allow you to compile and run applets and java applications

Answer 14

I use EditPad Pro, it's nice.

Answer 15

Source Insight is probabbly the best C/C++ editor in existence. It's also a really good C# editor.

It may not meet all your requirements, but you should check it out.

It really comes in handy when working with a large codebase.

It does not, however, have a built-in compiler.

But, you can download the Windows / .NET Framework SDK and hookup their command line compilers to Source Insight.

The only real downside is that it does not have a debugger. For debugging I would use Visual Studio (it has a very good debugger).

Answer 16

Try Emacs. It's lightweight and extremely powerful with sane shortcuts. It will increase your productivity immensely. It can even cook your food!

Answer 17

I used to use UltraEdit (mentioned in another answer), but earlier this year "upgraded" to UEStudio, which is like a supercharged UltraEdit for programmers - includes built-in support for a variety of compilers and many, many other things. Details here: http://www.ultraedit.com/products/uestudio/differences.html

It's not free, but it's well worth what they ask for it. I had been using UltraEdit since 2001 and haven't felt the need to look at other editors outside of what IDM offer.

Of course, editors are like religion so... :)