Best Application for storing code snippets

Question

Hi all,

Just wondering if you can point me in the direction of a simple, fast program which stores code snippets. I have been using a local wiki up to now, but I find it a little annoying at times. Ideally I would like this application to be portable - i.e. it could run off of a USB stick on multiple machines with no installation.

What do you guys use?

EDIT: I would prefer a solution that was decoupled from the IDE and stored locally, not in the cloud.

EDIT 2: Thanks for all the replies thus far, but I am still awaiting a non cloud / web based portable solution. Anyone else care to weigh in? :)

Answer 1

I use Snipplr.

Answer 2

Since I use the Visual Studio IDE for development, I tend to use the built-in code snippet editor which is very similar to the downloads http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms789085.aspx and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/bb973770.aspx.

These 2 links here can operate separate from the IDE. It's a standalone app.

Answer 3

I believe subversion can be made portable, so all you'd have to do is "pull" the snippet down and use it. If you update it, then back up it goes.

Answer 4

Eclipse supports code snippets off the shelf. Just in case you wondered... ;-)

Answer 5

I use a generic desktop product (I have no association with that company) that's a lot like writing each snippet on a 3x5 index card, and then being able to search the text. I include comments and troubleshooting tips for myself. Been doing it for 15 years now, and I have quite a dogpile of code snippets.

One of the challenges is being able to find the darn snippet when you need it. Being able to do a text search is good, but being able to add tags would be even better.

Answer 6

I keep it in a Google Notebook, with a section for each programming language. It's tagged, searchable, and browsable. And I can get at it from any computer. If you don't mind waiting and keeping it both local and in the cloud, I hear Google is going to be adding Gears support to Notebook.

If I'm going to be out of the cloud, I usually export that notebook to a document file. Not the neatest solution, but better than nothing.

Answer 7

I use Pastie ( http://pastie.org/ ) It´s the best online for code. Other than code I tag articles and code on delicious. For private stuff I use Evernote (Mac /Win /Online)

Answer 8

I use Ditto for this. It is a clipboard extender for Windows.
One of the extended features is that you can create groups and also mark items as "Never Auto Delete". This enables you to build up a tree of categories in which to store your code snippets.

Finding items is pretty easy: I've set a keyboard shortcut for "Activate Ditto" to CTRL+SHIFT+V. This will open a Ditto window, in which you can type text to filter the displayed snippets.

I have not tried it but there is also a portable version.

Answer 9

I have found that I don't can trust me snippets without proper TDD or BDD test, and sometimes I even need the compile argument or some other thing (like which version of .net as a manifest this c# code does what is supposed to do or ruby/gem or in which erlang release can I do this, or on what machine can this c code be good or bad)

So I treat not snippets but small sandboxes of environments that is contained in there own directory given the context. I try to give good names on the file/directory (so I don't really have to index but can use grep). I put everything in a hg repos (Mercurial) . That way I can use hg to take care of much of the rest, log, revision and sync with different computers, and if I need to take only a usb with med I clone my master to the usb and do a hg update, then I can see the plain files regardless on any computer that can mount the usb.

This is battle-proven, because on some customers site I have not been allowed to connect to internet at all, not ben allowed to use my own computer, not been allowed to use anything that needs to be installed on their computers. But I have been allowed to look (read-only) to a usb if they have done their thing with it first (virus scan, sandboxed it and what not).

Answer 10

Another option is Evernote, which can synchronize on multiple machines, run on the iPhone, is accessible from the web, and has a ton of ways to get stuff into it (active bookmark, client app, screenshot grabber, email, etc).

Answer 11

EDIT 2: Thanks for all the replies thus far, but I am still awaiting a non cloud / web based portable solution. Anyone else care to weigh in? :)

I use live mesh for the synchronization of my code snippets. It is integrated with VS and supports online and offline scenarios. I can also add code gems when I am not in any of my computers using the online access to my mesh.

Answer 12

Check out Evernote

Answer 13

I'm looking for the same thing, and ran across a little app called CodeBank - while I'm blocked from downloading it from my current PC, I will be trying it at home. As a result, I'm not sure if it is portable... still, it looks like a good little app.

On further investigation, I came across the DevProject Manager, which is definitely portable, has syntax highlighting, search, and a number of other features that have made it my number 1 choice.

Answer 14

I use TiddlyWiki. It's simple and flexible. It's simple to install. Doesn't require a DB. You can just drop it into a HTTP Server's document root and it's accessible from the web.

Answer 15

You could use a wiki-based solution on your own machine, that's probably the easiest way if you really need it outside of the cloud.

Answer 16

For the Mac I would recommend Code Collector Pro. Everything is stored locally and it can use TextMate syntax coloring bundles. Code Collector Pro also has a quite nice sharing feature - upload to http://www.codecollector.net/

There is also a Adobe Air alternative: Snippely

Answer 17

Try Snippet - http://snippetapp.com/

Answer 18

It's cloudy' but I use snipplr.

It has support for many different apps and plugins like Snip-It Pro, wordpress-plugin, gedit, firefox, etc.

It is also a community sp you can find other peoples snippets and get comments on your own.

Answer 19

I store all the snippets in Emacs yasnippet folder, which is in Dropbox + version controlled by Bazaar.

Answer 20

You may be interested in the Snippets application for Mac OS X.

Answer 21

On Linux I use NoteCase and Zim.