A perfect code editor is the only thing a developer needs for joy. When it comes to code editors, developers mainly care about usability and functionality of the tool they’re working with, but the era of plain, old, ugly code editors is gone.

With years of updates the creators of various code editors have nearly reached perfection.

What are Code Editors?

Code editors are applications that are specifically designed for editing source code of various computer programs. They have specific features built-in which increase the speed of writing the code, some of them being: syntax highlighting and autocompleting.

Why Using Code Editors?

The Usage of code editors is as simple as it can be. The main and only purpose of code editors is to edit, change and write code that would eventually turn into working applications, programs, websites, code pieces etc.

Who Uses Code Editors?

Code editors are used by anyone who has the aim to write, as supposed – code. Most of the current editors are that intuitive and easy to use that no one will ever have a hard time using any of them or encounter any troubles, but if that if that is the matter of case – detailed documentation and dedicated forums can come in handy.

Code Editor’s Top Choices

Following are top choices for code editors among developers.

Sublime Text 2

Sublime Text is one of the most sophisticated text editors that has a slick user interface with amazing features and an extraordinary performance. It is being used and loved by many because of its advanced options. This code editor is that simple and advanced at the same time, some of the features it is packed with are: Multiple Selections that let you do multiple changes at the same time, the Command Palette that holds infrequently used functionality, the Distraction Free Mode which will make you focus only on the things you need and Cross-Platform availability (for OS X, Windows and Linux).

Another good thing about ST2 is that it is available free of use for an unlimited time, but a license is required for proper use, even if the trial period is not limited.

Price: $70 with available trial

Text Mate

TextMate is a code editor that brings Apple’s approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. TextMate puts you back in control, reduces the mental overhead and turns manual work into something that computers to with ease. It brings a very sleek, beautiful and bright user interface and packs that with amazing features and settings that can be customized with ease.

TextMate comes with features like: Ability to Search and Replace in a Project, Column Selections, Clipboard History, Dynamic Outline and many others.

TextMate is really easy to use and its creators made it even easier with all the documentation and preview videos available on the site. There is also an eBook about this code editor. It comes with a free 30-day-trial, the price for one copy being $54.

Price: $54 with available trial

Espresso

Espresso is a code editor that turbo-charges your workflow with the perfect blend of features. It has appealing UI elements, powerful smart snippets that work very well with the Zen Coding actions. Developers advertise their code editor as a super-fast application that makes powerful and efficient coding super easy. Espresso has received high ratings from many designers, it being a very nice alternative to Sublime Text 2.

It offers a free trial of the code editor but a full version of the application can be purchased for a mere $75.

Price: $75 (including free trial)

Notepad++

Notepad++ is a free code editor that runs on Windows, being one of the rare code editors that run exclusively on Windows. Notepad++ has been around for many years and a few years ago was the only solution for developers who are working on the Windows OS, other stylish or feature-full code editors being available for Mac exclusively. It is also available in several languages which makes it even better for those who are not familiar with English.

Its main advantage compared to other famous code editors is that Notepad++ is available for free, while other editors are only available for free for a very short period, usually 30 days.

Price: Free

Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver is another code editor which was available to the public for a long time, it being a part of the Adobe Creative Suite. It is a web design software that provides an intuitive visual interface which makes editing HTML websites and mobile apps really easy. Use new Fluid Grid Layout designed for cross-platform compatibility to create adaptive layouts and responsive designs right in your code editor. Adobe advertises it as an absolutely revamped code editor which brings new features with a reorganized tabs panel.

One of the biggest downside of Adobe Dreamweaver is its very high price, starting only at $20 per month or $399 as a one-time payment, which is a price 7-10 times higher compared to other code editors.

Price: $399 or $19/mo

Apple xCode

xCode is a powerful code editor which creates an amazing environment for creating amazing applications for the iPhone, iPad and the Mac. It includes instruments like the iOS Simulator and the latest iOS and Mac OS X SDKs.

It has a sleek and beautiful interface that seamlessly integrates code editing, testing and debugging in a single window. It is constantly updated and has a lot of support help files and documents which you can rely on so that building applications for iOS/OS X devices was never simpler than this.

It is available for free in the Mac App Store and is only available for Intel Powered, Mac-machines.

Price: Free

Coda 2

Coda 2 is a popular code editor by the talented guys at Panic, who have developed a sleek & nice code editor. Coda 2 comes to fulfill all the bugs and inconsistencies the first version of the application had, and in my opinion they have successfully accomplished that. Coda is also available on the iPad (for dedicated preview) via AirPreview in Diet Coda.

Coda wants to help you write much better and organized code that will be super easy to write that comes with more than one hundred of new files. Coda 2 has also been named as the best Mac Store App by the Macworld editors and by the Mac AppStore editors.

Price: $75

Text Wrangler

TextWrangler is a richy featured and powerful tool for composing and transforming text that is stored plain-text files. While this code editor is not focused on a specific coding language, it is only available for Mac OS and is probably an alternative for Xcode. It integrates really well with the OS Platform offering comprehensive support for various scripts and features the native OS X offers.

Price: Free

Dabblet

Dabblet is a free online code editor that lets you write code (css/html/js) right in your browser tab. It has a very intuitive and ease-of-use user interface that is really intuitive. Dabblet also lets you save code so that you can return to it later. Probably the main advantage of Dabblet and web editors in general, is that they can store your code on the cloud and can be accessed from any computer without installing a single application.

Price: Free

JsFiddle

JSFiddle is probably the most advanced web code editor that can be used not only for writing code but sharing it with others, allowing people to apply various changes to your chunk of code and share it with ease. Even if its main purpose is to write code and build sites/applications/scripts, I’ve seen it being used on coding-related forums a lot of times, because of its ability to store code snippets on cloud, and share them with ease.

Price: Free