I’m giving jEdit a try
- February 16, 2009
- 10 comments
For a long while now, I’ve been using TextMate as my main text editor. It’s a great text editor, especially when you take into account all the awesome bundles that are available for it. There are some things that bother me with it though. There’s no split-view and the undo implementation is a pain at times. Plus it seems like development has stagnated with nary a peep from the *only* developer about a release date for version 2.0.
Over the weekend I decided I’d take another look around to see what other editors are available on the Mac. I looked at BBEdit/TextWrangler, Aquamacs, Jedit X, Smultron, Coda, SubEthaEdit and Espresso. I finally settled on jEdit.
Unlike all the other editors I tried, jEdit is Java-based, not Cocoa-based so I expected it to be a little chuggy. It’s actually quite a bit snappier than Textmate at opening and editing large files. Its UI uses Java’s Swing UI components, so even though it tries to look Mac-like, it’s definitely ugly compared to most of the other editors I tried. That said, it can be massaged enough to look decent using plugins and adjusting some default settings.
The plugins I ended up downloading:
- BufferTabs - adds tabs for each open buffer/document
- ErrorList
- JDiff
- PHPParser
- ProjectViewer
- SideKick
- SuperAbbrevs - adds TextMate snippets-like functionality
- WhiteSpace
In order for jEdit to really be able to replace TextMate though, I would need to be able to edit ExpressionEngine templates. jEdit didn’t have a language mode for ExpressionEngine, so I made one. I also made a jEdit macro that will look up the selected EE tag in your browser, similar to my TextMate EE bundle. After porting over some EE snippets, I had a very capable text editor!
In fact, it has features that are better than TextMate’s equivalents, and some features TextMate doesn’t have at all! I like jEdit’s version of code-folding better. With WhiteSpace installed, there are column markers. It’s faster opening larger files. It’s search is powerful especially when using HyperSearch.
With PHPParser and ErrorList, I can quickly see errors in my code. All warnings and errors are shown in a list at the bottom of the window, and little icons are added to the corresponding line in the gutter. Click on an item in the list, and you’re taken to the line. TextMate has similar functionality, but I like jEdit’s version better.
jEdit’s split-view is awesome. The window can be split vertically or horizontally multiple times. In those views you can view different parts of the same file and/or different files, which is better than any other editor I tried.
Overall jEdit is a very powerful, feature-rich editor that can easily replace TextMate. Best of all, it’s free!
The ProjectViewer plugin gives it decent project-handling capabilities. I’m not sure what you expect from it though, so I can’t say whether it’s awesome or not. None of the editors I’ve tried rock when it comes to project management.
It has an SVN plugin too, but I’m using Cornerstone instead. It’s quite powerful, excellent UI and makes working with SVN a breeze. Plus I already paid a lot for it, so I’m going to get my money’s worth!
Hm, I find it incredibly distracting to work with subversion in a separate client instead of directly in my text editor. I haven’t tried Cornerstone but I tried working with svnx and Versions for awhile but it really slowed me down.
For project management, and this carries over to the ability to work speedily with SVN, my main thing is navigating to and selecting files instantly. TextMate’s “go to file” feature particularly with it’s instant regex matching of files in a project just hasn’t been matched by any standalone svn clients. And if I’m just going to open the file back up in the text editor, jumping between apps seems silly, but perhaps I’m missing something.
jEdit has a quick “go to file” feature that I haven’t used yet. There are also a couple plugins that build on this functionality.
No editor or even IDE that I’ve seen can match Cornerstone. The UI is intuitive and clean and clearer than other SVN clients I’ve tried. By “clearer” I mean it’s much easier to see at a glance what’s been changed and how. Setting up new repos and working copies is easy. Committing and updating are easy. It has a very nice, built-in diff. Combine that with its timeline view and it’s quite powerful. I’ve tried both svnX and Versions. Cornerstone is much better than both IMO.
I’ll definitely give it a try, but I’m pessimistic that any separate client will really perform like I need it to. If I’ve just made changes to my working copy and I want to compare it to the current or specific revision, changing apps and navigating again to a file seems redundant. I’ve already navigated and opened the file in the text editor. And then if I want to do anything other than a revert or a commit, I’ve got to switch back to text editor.
What might help me, if you have time and care to, is to write a post about how you use your text editor in conjunction with projects that have many files in many subdirectories and subversion. Like you, I have a few minor complaints with the current version of TextMate, but just haven’t personally found an alternate workflow where the tradeoffs balanced.
I’ve messed around with jEdit’s SVN capabilities vs TextMate’s and have to say TextMate’s is better. A lot better. It’s easier to use and look at. In fact, I realized I’ve never really taken advantage of TextMate’s SVN bundle. It’s quite nice! I still prefer Cornerstone’s diff/timeline view and repo overview to both TextMate/jEdit’s.
By the way, have you tried the ProjectPlus plugin for TextMate? I prefer it over the built-in project drawer.
There’s not much to write about when it comes to how I use Cornerstone. It’s usually open before my editor is. I start it up, look to see what has changed and update to the latest revision. Once I’ve done that, I switch to TextMate/jEdit. We’re using Beanstalk as our SVN host, so I receive email notifications on changes.
I’m pretty sure you make a lot more commits than I do, and can see why using a separate SVN app would become a burden rather than a boon. You’ve actually got me motivated to try using TextMate’s SVN bundle instead of Cornerstone for a while to see if I like it. If I end up not needing Cornerstone I’m going to have wasted a chunk of money. At least with jEdit everything was free.
No, I haven’t tried the ProjectPlus plugin, but I’ll give it a go. The drawer does leave a bit to be desired, though it does what it needs.
And lol, your search for right text editing workflow sounds a lot like my obsession with GTD apps. I’ve easily sunk a couple hundred dollars going through all sorts of apps.
I tried using Status in the TM SVN bundle but kept getting a Ruby error. After checking, I had an older version of the SVN bundle. I’ve updated it and see why you like using Status. Cornerstone is looking less and less needed now…
I really, really wish I could combine jEdit’s text editor and split-view with TextMate. TextMate is just so smooth compared to jEdit, but is missing some things that jEdit has.
TextMate 2.0 can’t get here soon enough!
How well does it handle working with multiple file “projects”, and does it have integrated subversion control?