Author Topic: The Best Of: text editors (Read 193,428 times)

urlwolf · « **Reply #100 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:29 AM »

One note on emeditor...
The dev is pumping out features really fast.
He really pays attention to users.
Subscribe to the beta versions forum thread and you will see.

I love this kind of synergy between dev and users...

jeromg · « **Reply #101 on:** May 27, 2009, 05:02 PM »

Hey DCers,

I really like emeditor too, the only issue for me is when working on huge files (100Mb+) it tends to be a bit slow (even though it works fine), then I prefer TextPad. And when in need for more advanced tools (and just for the fun), I use Vim (if someone asks why... I started working a looong time ago as a C developer on Sun workstations where the only decent editor was Vi).

Cheers /jerome

tide · « **Reply #102 on:** May 28, 2009, 07:08 AM »

Very often, I see text editors advertised as being able to handle huge files (100+ Mb) and people commenting that they work on those incredibly large files. It boggles my mind and I wonder what kind of files are you working on that are so hefty? That's equivalent to 50,000 pages or more of text. Is the capability of editing 100's of megabytes all that common as a requirement for a text editor?

superboyac · « **Reply #103 on:** May 28, 2009, 07:12 AM »

Quote from: tide on May 28, 2009, 07:08 AM

Very often, I see text editors advertised as being able to handle huge files (100+ Mb) and people commenting that they work on those incredibly large files. It boggles my mind and I wonder what kind of files are you working on that are so hefty? That's equivalent to 50,000 pages or more of text. Is the capability of editing 100's of megabytes all that common as a requirement for a text editor?

Yeah, I also wonder the same thing. (No offense to anyone, i swear!) but sometimes I think it's one of those things where people pick one really minor issue about a program and just get totally hung up on it. I know I catch myself doing that sometimes.

urlwolf · « **Reply #104 on:** May 28, 2009, 11:51 AM »

Well, a text file of around 60-100mb (which I have to deal with often) does take a few seconds on any editor that puts it in memory. EmEditor is the only one that streams it.

I wish excel would do that too.

In fact, data analysis with large datasets is becoming more and more common. Just look at how big anything online is (databases). Even if one subsets the whole table that is to be analyzed, something in the order of megs can come out...

wraith808 · « **Reply #105 on:** May 28, 2009, 11:55 AM »

Quote from: superboyac on May 28, 2009, 07:12 AM

Quote from: tide on May 28, 2009, 07:08 AM
Very often, I see text editors advertised as being able to handle huge files (100+ Mb) and people commenting that they work on those incredibly large files. It boggles my mind and I wonder what kind of files are you working on that are so hefty? That's equivalent to 50,000 pages or more of text. Is the capability of editing 100's of megabytes all that common as a requirement for a text editor?
Yeah, I also wonder the same thing. (No offense to anyone, i swear!) but sometimes I think it's one of those things where people pick one really minor issue about a program and just get totally hung up on it. I know I catch myself doing that sometimes.

Actually, this is a real requirement for some people. I get extracts from mainframe reports that are easily this large every month. When I have to go check to see whether I received wrong info from the mainframe, V is a lifesaver. Then if I have to actually edit something to get end of month going, Notepad++ is a real lifesaver!

Quote from: urlwolf on May 28, 2009, 11:51 AM

Well, a text file of around 60-100mb (which I have to deal with often) does take a few seconds on any editor that puts it in memory. EmEditor is the only one that streams it.

V seems to open it up instantly, even if I use a layout on top of it for columns. Notepad++ doesn't seem to take too much longer...

f0dder · « **Reply #106 on:** May 28, 2009, 02:19 PM »

wraith808: huh? Notepad++ on large files? Because of scintilla, it's one of the editors that tend to barf once you try opening something not even remotely huge... unless there's been made some extremely severe fixes in the last month or so.

I do wonder why people have to edit text files that large. Viewing and searching is understandable wrt. logs, but editing? O_o

wraith808 · « **Reply #107 on:** May 28, 2009, 02:27 PM »

I haven't had a problem with it on huge files- again, they aren't major changes I'm making... so I'm not sure if that's why it works for me.

EDIT - Just tried it on a 60.9MB file and made a change to one figure (my usual change) to see if I was crazy or not. Total elapsed time <30 sec, and most of that was finding the number I could safely edit. I'm using Notepad++ 4.2...

f0dder · « **Reply #108 on:** May 28, 2009, 02:30 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on May 28, 2009, 02:27 PM

I haven't had a problem with it on huge files- again, they aren't major changes I'm making... so I'm not sure if that's why it works for me.

Interesting - there's quite a lot of posts on the forums about problems opening large files, and I've had it crash on me as well when testing. Perhaps it's mostly related to files that have syntax highlight activated? *shrug*

wraith808 · « **Reply #109 on:** May 28, 2009, 02:31 PM »

Ah.. these are plain text files. Just masses of numbers and stuff slammed together in a fixed format, or delimited with a ~. There's no highlighting involved- I wonder if that's what makes the difference.

EDIT - NM. I just tried to make a significant edit (rather than just massaging a number or two) and it locked the machine down for a minute or so when I tried to c&p, then again when I saved it. I guess it's all in the way you use it.

rjbull · « **Reply #110 on:** May 28, 2009, 03:33 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on May 28, 2009, 02:27 PM

I'm using Notepad++ 4.2...

FWIW, they've updated it to 5.4 in the last day or two.

Eóin · « **Reply #111 on:** May 28, 2009, 04:19 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on May 28, 2009, 02:19 PM

wraith808: huh? Notepad++ on large files? Because of scintilla, it's one of the editors that tend to barf once you try opening something not even remotely huge.

I have had Notepad++ grind to a halt on a largish XML file which Programmer's Notepad, also based on Scintilla, handled perfectly. Both had syntax highlighting enabled but perhaps Notepad++ was doing more in the background too. Whatever the reason it did turn me off Notepad++

tide · « **Reply #112 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:22 PM »

Thanks, all,for the feedback. I would still think that the need for a text editor to handle humongous files would be rare but I'm sure it's a lifesaver when you do need it. I probably haven't even read 100,000+ pages of text in my entire lifetime let alone having read that much in a single text file.

f0dder · « **Reply #113 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:24 PM »

Quote from: tide on May 28, 2009, 06:22 PM

Thanks, all,for the feedback. I would still think that the need for a text editor to handle humongous files would be rare but I'm sure it's a lifesaver when you do need it. I probably haven't even read 100,000+ pages of text in my entire lifetime let alone having read that much in a single text file.

Yeah, there's a few situations where it might come in handy. I don't mind my day-to-day editor not handling huge files very well, if it does everything else I need nicely... I can always bring out a heavy-duty (but probably simpler) editor from the arsenal for special jobs

Jussi Jumppanen · « **Reply #114 on:** May 29, 2009, 12:37 AM »

Quote from: wraith808 on May 28, 2009, 02:27 PM

Just tried it on a 60.9MB

But in the context of this thread, 60.9MB is not a large file. Even Zeus will handle 100MB files with out any problems.

The original request for an editor that could handle 1 or 2 Giga byte sized files.

wraith808 · « **Reply #115 on:** May 29, 2009, 03:34 AM »

Quote from: Jussi Jumppanen on May 29, 2009, 12:37 AM

Quote from: wraith808 on May 28, 2009, 02:27 PM
Just tried it on a 60.9MB
But in the context of this thread, 60.9MB is not a large file. Even Zeus will handle 100MB files with out any problems.

The original request for an editor that could handle 1 or 2 Giga byte sized files.

In the context of the question, it's large enough for a reply, I think. The person that I was replying to said something about 100MB files- thats just the largest I had readily on hand.

cecilyen · « **Reply #116 on:** October 06, 2009, 08:35 PM »

In the recent EmEditor 9 beta, the author introduced the CSV mode which is very handy.
Most of my scientific data are saved in csv and EmEditor 9 is the only text editor can display it nicely. (except those sluggish spreadsheet program)

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #117 on:** October 06, 2009, 10:01 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on May 28, 2009, 02:19 PM

I do wonder why people have to edit text files that large. Viewing and searching is understandable wrt. logs, but editing? O_o

Well, the last time I did it was for a plumbing company that aws transitioning frome one inventory db app to another. The "Export Module" didn't include the field names/column headers ... so I had to add them manually for the other softwares rep.

4gb .txt file ... thank you to emeditor.

f0dder · « **Reply #118 on:** October 06, 2009, 11:13 PM »

Stoic Joker: ugh! - if it was a single line at the top of the file that needed to be added (.csv style), I'd probably have created that single line in another text editor, and copied the two files together from a command line. Might be faster, might not - but definitely faster than finding and installing a proper editor

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #119 on:** October 07, 2009, 03:11 AM »

There were other factors like removing some extra comas and converting it from .csv to .tsv

If you've ever done anything with an older copy of Navision ... It was one of those type messes.

rjbull · « **Reply #120 on:** October 08, 2009, 03:44 PM »

Quote from: cecilyen on October 06, 2009, 08:35 PM

In the recent EmEditor 9 beta, the author introduced the CSV mode which is very handy.
Most of my scientific data are saved in csv and EmEditor 9 is the only text editor can display it nicely. (except those sluggish spreadsheet program)

I think UltraEdit can instantly convert CSV into neatly-spaced columns. For quick looks at small CSV files intended for import into Excel, I used to use List² (ListSquared) which is great for that job. Warning - the ListSquared Web site is up and down like a yoyo.

AbteriX · « **Reply #121 on:** October 15, 2009, 09:48 AM »

Great review, tranglos (i have miss that at that time

)

If someone has tested HippoEDIT and can't sell the price:

Quote

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Bits du Jour will be offering HippoEDIT on Thursday 22 October, 2009 at the dramatically reduced price of $15.00 (63% off).

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/hippoedit/

TucknDar · « **Reply #122 on:** October 18, 2009, 02:21 PM »

I'm getting a license for HippoEdit. Already own a license for EditPadPro, but I really like some of HippoEdit's features and $15 is definitely affordable

Tuxman · « **Reply #123 on:** October 18, 2009, 08:58 PM »

Phew ... I wonder if there is one thing that EmEditor or UltraEdit can but Vim can't ...

Srsly, I can't understand people paying for text editors. If they really need a bloated programming IDE instead of a text editor, they should learn about Eclipse...

f0dder · « **Reply #124 on:** October 18, 2009, 10:35 PM »

Quote from: Tuxman on October 18, 2009, 08:58 PM

Phew ... I wonder if there is one thing that EmEditor or UltraEdit can but Vim can't ...

Handle huge files efficiently?

Quote from: Tuxman on October 18, 2009, 08:58 PM

Srsly, I can't understand people paying for text editors. If they really need a bloated programming IDE instead of a text editor, they should learn about Eclipse...

For what it does, Eclipse isn't bloated, especially considering how much of it's functionality is provided through (optional) modules. Somewhat CPU-heavy and slow-loading, but imho it's not too bad when you need an IDE.