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NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

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Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s just yet another thing Apple gets right: why would the default be to NOT keep what you just put into the computer?

> why would the default be to NOT keep what you just put into the computer? Because you didn't ask it to save and closed the app?

And if you misclick? Or there's a power outage? Or crash? Guardrails are nice and since I usually want to save what I've entered I appreciate it being the default behavior. Or in other words, I asked.

To address another commenter's point about word overwriting: auto saves should only go into a temp/separate file so as to never supersede manual saves.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be the modern way, and normal on mobile apps, and I can't stand it. Why would I want the computer to save what I wrote without asking? I like being asked. I dislike computers trying to be clever.

This happened to me yesterday: I had to complete a resiliency test on our infrastructure and submit it to auditors for compliance reasons. I ran the tests, got the results, and I have to put it into a report. The report is like 30 pages long or more, but very little changes between each test (we do them quarterly). So I only usually change a few tables with the new report results, and freeflow some commentary in the…

I'm inclined to agree with Microsoft Word's autosave, here. If you are making edits to a file, the implication (which could be wrong) is you're intending to overwrite at the end. And indeed, autosave came around because way too many people were losing document modifications to freak power outages and computer crashes.

If the intent is to not overwrite an existing file, I personally learned to make a copy first either via Save As in the program or by copying in whatever file manager I'm using. That way I make my intention clear to both myself and the computer.

I've actually burned myself numerous times because occasionally I would forget to copy first, instinctively hit CTRL+S frequently because I hail from before autosaving became widespread, and then realize I just overwrote something I wanted to keep as-is.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#213
post #197

Cool! Notepad++ was one of the apps that I missed the most when I switched to Linux. Besides games, it was the number one reason that I kept rebooting into another OS. After a while, I learned emacs, then vim, and the rest is history. Today, I would probably have switched to Codium. As long as we agree not to use Sublime Text anymore.

Notepad++ works well for me in wine.

I couldn't get it to work perfectly, it had text and UI rendering bugs that made it unusable. Geany works well as an alternative for me on GNU/Linux.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#216
post #174

Just to provide a diversity of opinion: I've heard basically nothing but positive feedback about Notepad++ over the years. However, I tried it out for about 10 seconds before closing it and never looked back. The, what I call "millions of tiny buttons" interface is ugly and distracting. I've never liked IDEs or other apps with this UI style. I use a JetBrains IDE now that has just as many features but the UI is not c…

Notepad++ originated at a time when there weren't many code editors for most of the new, growing languages (perl, python, js), or for editing xml and json, especially on windows. Many of the "good" code editors were expensive and enterprisey, or they were limited to linux, or they had an extremely steep learning curve (vim, emacs). Notepad++ worked on everything, was free, installed quickly, and it was fast. I've use…

It's been the "standard" editor at my place of employment, but no one objects to other editors or IDEs being used instead. Our workstations are all Windows, so it's a decent default to install for everyone.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#217
post #145

The startup speed for this app is really good. From my quick testing it seems like it is as fast or slightly faster than npp. I am surprised that QT can be that fast. I recall this line from the Sumatra PDF developer on why he chose win32 only: >The only way for one person to even attempt cross-platform app is to use a UI abstraction layer like Qt, WxWidgets or Gtk. >The problem is that Gtk is ugly, Qt is extremely b…

Performance is not an issue with Qt. He probably means the framework is too large and complicated from a developer perspective. The compiled code is fast.

I think Krzysztof's objection was mainly about size (memory/disk). He set pretty high standards for SumatraPDF in that regard. The full statically linked executable is only 8MB, while the Qt Core and UI libraries by themselves are larger than that, and that is before you start talking about dependencies like the 20MB ICU data.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#218

I very much miss Notepad++ for making quick notes, and then being able to close the window without being asked whether I'd like to save the document. This, and auto-save (so not losing documents if you forget to save) is one of the main reasons I replaced Notepad with ++. Rather quickly, I found that I had to completely remove Notepad so muscle memory would stop guiding me to it. Good times (and sad ones; I lost a lo…

Occasionally, someone will submit their new text editor to Hacker News and the first thing I do is check if it quietly saves sessions upon closure. It's amazing how many people don't bother implementing this indispensable feature.

Vim had this feature for years. But it took until I tested lazyvim (neovim distribution of plugins) that makes session restore so easily accessible, that I now rely on it.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#219
post #204

I hope this is better than other offerings on Linux. I've tried a few and none of them come close. Fingers crossed. I hope this will be compatible with np++ plugins which makes np++ even better.

:*( > Plugin compatibility between NN and N++ is not possible. https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext/issues/422 Shame, since N++'s plugin ecosystem holds quite the treasure trove of functionality. https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/nppPluginList/blob/mast...

That is a shame. I use a small set daily.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably already know this. VSCode has both autosave and hot exit features. If you quit the application when hot exit is enabled, it will restore all windows the next time you start it. I don't see any way to close individual windows without prompting but you can do command+w and then command+d to "Don't Save".

Oh yeah, VSCode's autosave has saved me hours in otherwise-lost code. I do make frequent use of its hot-exit functionality, too. While that's great, I wish the same thing existed for a lightweight Notepad-esque app, too: I used ++ a lot for quickly jotting down information while it was being read to me (so, on the phone); having to start a full-blown IDE for this seems wasteful, and not the right tool for the job. Pe…

Not just the auto save, but that it is using GIT on the backend for the timeline. Such a helpful feature!
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