If platform independence is something you care about, go for either a decent vi clone like vim (with gvim attached), or emacs/xemacs.

I use Emacs with the viper mode (vi emulator mode), so I get the best of both worlds - vi keybindings for compatibility with even the oldest environments around, and guaranteed availability of a decent editor that I know by heart everywhere (vi is a POSIX standard), and Emacs for the IDE features and general integration with versioning systems like CVS, and all the other stuff.

BTW, Emacs works very well on Win32 systems, too.

For me, the biggest point in choosing an editor is making a decision that will make my "editing reflexes" work everywhere. So, in reality we are not talking software here, but ergonomy or usability, and availability on different platforms. Currently, only the vi user interface will be able to meet this requirement, as it is installed by default nearly everywhere, and it is a supported standard, so there are "official" versions of it for all the different platforms. This can mean a lot in the real world, where you simply won't be allowed to install your stuff - but the work needs to be done anyhow, in a lonely server room with a lot of stone-age boxen with tight security.

Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com

In reply to RE: Code Editor by clemburg
in thread Code Editor by FiReWaLL

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