XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-10, alt.comp.software.firefox   
   From: newyana@invalid.nospam   
      
   On 1/18/2025 1:47 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:   
   > On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 13:49:44 -0500, Newyana2 wrote:   
   >   
   >> I've never used regexp for anything. I don't know why I might   
   >> use them editing HTML.   
   >   
   > Doing a word count, for example.   
   >   
      
       I have a very simple VBScript on my desktop if I need a word   
   count. I very rarely use it. What I do use with HTML are HTML-   
   specific editor functions. Though I recently made my own simple   
   Notepad replacement and added word count/character count to   
   that.   
      
   >> For HTML, or anything, I want an editor designed   
   >> for that specifically.   
   >   
   > Do you really want a different editor for each type of text file you have   
   > to deal with?!?   
   >   
      
      Yes. Because there are not many. I have the VB6 IDE for VB6.   
   It provides "intellisense" popup menus for objects, code coloring,   
   debugging features, a COM object browser, etc. All of that is   
   specific support for VB6.   
      
      I have my own editor for HTML and VBScript. For HTML I have   
   color coding, quick insertion of tags, quick lists of possible   
   tag attributes, color coding for script, CSS and HTML separately,   
   a color picker to get hex codes, a toggle to view the page, which   
   also provides CSS values for any page element hovered over,   
   and so on. That's because I actually write HTML. So all of these   
   features are big time savers and hassle removers.   
      
      If you have something like Sublime, Atom, Notepad++, etc, you   
   get an adjustable UI and you get generic colorcoding that has   
   little value. And you get line numbers. Those are both useful, but   
   in a limited way. For example, variables can't be colorcoded in any   
   language because they don't follow a simple rule. Any other language-   
   specific features are missing because these editors don't actually   
   "support" multiple languages. They just offer rudimentary colorcoding   
   and call that support.   
      
       Aside from programming code and plain text, what else is there   
   for a text editor to handle? Plain text is plain text. For actual plain   
   text I use Notepad. Once you get beyond code features, it's no   
   longer plain text. Then you're getting into fonts, pictures, formatting,   
   and so on, which is a different thing.   
      
       Colorcoding colors plain text in a window. The plain text is not   
   changed. More complex formats, like RTF or DOC, are not plain text.   
   So plain text just means text, typically ANSI or possibly UTF-8,   
   which means you're either writing plain text or you're writing some   
   kind of code.   
      
       What these editors   
   advertise is endless code language support. If I remember correctly,   
   Notepad++ claims to support 50+ languages, and more can be added.   
   So they're being billed as code editors. No one serious about coding   
   a particular language would use such a generic tool.   
      
      That kind of support is like a $5 jackknife with 35 blades. Of course   
   it has a bottle opener, but the bottle opener will probably break the   
   first time you try to use it.   
      
        N++ is really just a thin wrapper around the Scintilla OSS editor   
   component, which is similar to a RichEdit window. The one good thing   
   about N++ is that it's very fast with very big files. But anyone who   
   actually writes any kind of code on any kind of regular basis will   
   greatly benefit from some kind of IDE -- a tool designed for the job --   
   not just a text editor with color-coded text to identify keywords   
   and strings.   
      
       It's like anything. If you want to cook you need more than a   
   saucepan. If you want to do carpenty you need more than a jigsaw.   
   If you want to repair your car you need more than vicegrip pliers.   
   You can, of course, get by with a saucepan if all you eat is snack   
   ramen. But that's not really cooking. That's MIT student dinner.   
      
        There seems to be a kind of macho sensibility with a lot of   
   geeks. "Sure, I can't throw a football or change a tire, but my   
   editor is black with white characters and it looks really primitive.   
   It's like heating my hot water over a campfire. Roughing it, man."   
        I'm not interested in roughing it. I like having a water heater   
   connected to plumbing so that I can get hot water in my kitchen   
   sink. There's nothing heroic about heating hot water over a campfile   
   in a suburban backyard. It's just dumb.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)