Top 16 Programming Software to Edit Code

Various people love to write code but if they are not experienced, it takes months or even years for them to write a specific code. If you are also one of them and facing this issue, then you must read this below write-up!

As we all know coding is one of the most important skills to master today. For people who are interested in coding, there are various programming software available that provide a visual interface to make low code development way easier.

In addition, they offer features such as syntax highlighting, auto-indentation, and error checking that make coding convenient for them.

The demand for coders has been higher these days as all businesses are preferring to hire a reliable custom software development company which have talented coders to write clean, short, and efficient code.

Coding is a skill that gets improved through practice. There are plenty of resources out there to teach you how to code. Selecting the right code editor is as necessary as to choose right software development company.

Whether you want to become a software engineer or simply improve your existing skills, this blog will help you in understanding code editor software and provide you with details about the best programming software to write code according to your needs. Let’s get started:

What is Code Editor Programming Software?

Code editors or programming software allows programmers to write computer code that is often used to create applications or websites.

There are several types of code editors, such as text editors, integrated development environments (IDE), and source control management systems. Using a code editor can improve your speed and help you in writing effective error-free code.

A source code editor can also be used as a part of IDE (integrated development environment) or a standalone program. These make writing and studying the source code simpler & faster by distinguishing the aspects and practices so coders can easily view their code.

Coding is a crucial part of a comprehensive software development guide that highly affects the whole development procedure. Hence, it is necessary to understand how it should be done properly

What Functionalities to Look for in Any Code Editor Software?

Well, as to say there are lots of paid and free code editor software, you have to choose programming software for code writing according to your skills, target, functionalities, and software development trends acquired by you.

To help you make an informed decision, check for the following features & functionalities in a code editor software-

• Syntax Highlighting

Syntax highlighting helps coders to identify mistakes. While focusing on coding, programmers can make a mistake, when there is any error, it is in a different color will surely allow coders to understand large codes better than monochromes codes. This feature helps them in rectifying the errors with the help of their highlighted colors such as numerical in blue and text in orange.

• Quick Navigation Functions

It enables navigating the editor’s functions in various ways as well as going through code segments, folders, designated functions, files, and classes.

• Lightweight

Smaller in size and easier to install editors are called lightweight editors. If you’re just getting started, lightweight editors are excellent to go with. Developers occasionally use simple programming software like VS Code and Notepad for jobs that don’t require the capability of IDEs.

• IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

While providing software development services, editors prefer to work on integrated development environments (IDEs, which provide comprehensive facilities for running software codes.

To avoid the inconvenience of deploying the program and installing it on a mobile device, the majority of developers rely on IDE to verify how the application would look even while it is in the development phase

Top 16 Best Programming Software to Edit Code

Well, after a detailed introduction about code editors you might like to have a discussion on which are the best programming software to edit code and what are their features.

Choosing the right code editor is significant so that the overall software development cost doesn’t get affected. Let’s get started to check if they fit your requirement.

1. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VSC) is a lightweight text editor designed specifically for coding. It has become very popular since Microsoft released it in 2015. VSC is free, open-source, and proved to be one of the best coding software.

Visual Studio Code is a cross-platform IDE that runs on Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux. It supports multiple programming languages such as C, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, TypeScript, SQL, HTML, CSS, XML, JSON, Markdown, Git, Mercurial, Subversion, and Atom.

One of the great features it has is its amalgamation with Artificial Intelligence. With that, it automatically produces auto-responses on typing code as a result, depending on attribute values, function definitions, and necessary modules. Visual Studio Code is the finest coding software for programmers who wants to develop web applications.

Features of Visual Studio Code –

• Word and function completion using auto-complete
• Assistance for a multilingual environment
• Quick-starting program that is light.
• Supports editing with tabs.
• Editing in collaboration
• Auto-saving
• Syntax Highlighting
• Snippets programming
• Debugging

2. Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a cross-platform text editor developed by the company Sublime Software. The software has become very popular due to its ease of use and features. Sublime Text is a powerful and professional-grade source code editor that allows you to edit files easily. It also comes with a variety of plugins that allow you to add new functions to the program.

It also lets you create new documents, manage projects, and view logs. The program also has built-in support for Git, GitHub, Mercurial, and Bitbucket. While Sublime Text is free to download and use initially, a license costing $80 is required for continued use. Now, let’s get to know what are some of the features of Sublime Text Code Editor that make it stand out in the market.

Features of Sublime Text –

• You can alter numerous lines at once.
• Portable and quick.
• Allows you to modify numerous lines at once.
• Incredibly extensible.
• Quick editor customization to your liking
• Easy to use for beginners
• Allows for split screen

3. Atom

Atom is an open-source code editor that has GitHub and git built in. It contains features including cross-platform compatibility with Windows, iOS, and Android, as well as plugin support.

Atom is a free code editing program that has become famous because of its user-friendly interface and has an” Extract” feature that allows you to pick measurements, colors, fonts, etc. for the software just like WordPress.

Syntax highlighting is exceptional for several computer languages, including CSS, JSON, and Ruby.

Features of Atom –

• Built-in package management
• Lightweight
• Collaboration and sharing ideas with other editors
• Availability of plugins
• Quick and reliable

4. Notepad++

Notepad++ is a popular and free code editor written in C++ supporting more than 65 programming languages such as PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It is one of the best coding software for people working on different projects.

It supports 50 programming and markup languages. If you are a beginner and looking for an easy tool to learn core code editing, this is your go-to tool. You might think why?  The credit goes to its features

Features of Notepad++ –

• Good execution speed helps to code faster and error-free.
• It saves files automatically.
• If by default you might have any error you can just search and replace.
• It uses fewer computing resources for low-end users.
• Lightweight takes up only 4MB, Once is it in your hard drive.

5. Brackets

Adobe Systems developed Brackets. It is an open-source and free coding software that focuses on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Split-Screen is a helpful feature of Brackets that makes it simple to work on both CSS and real code at the same time.

As you make changes to the HTML and CSS, the live preview quickly transmits those changes to the browser to display the latest update of the web-page.

Features of Brackets –

• System for live preview
•  Allows for drag and drop
• Supports adobe PSD documents and the text editor has built-in vim-style editing.  
• Timely updated and maintained
• Code Syntax
• User-friendly interface

6. Text Mate

Text Mate is a text coding software for Mac OS X. It’s designed to be simple, fast, and powerful. It supports many programming languages including Objective-C, Ruby, Python, Perl, PHP, Java, C, JavaScript, HTML, XML, CSS, SQL, and others. You can use it to write code, create documents, manage projects, and much more.

Features of Text Mate –

• Syntax highlighting
• Code folding
• Project management
• Git integration
• Markdown preview
• Search & replace
• Find/replace
• Undo/redo
• Bookmarks
• Spell checking
• Line numbering
• Indentation guides

7. VIM (Text Editor)

Vim is an open-source programming editor for coding that supports all programming languages. This program-making software is simple to use, and lightweight. Vim is keyboard-focused, and it provides pre-configured key bindings for all activities developers wish to do inside the code editor to accelerate and streamline their work.

Outperforming other programming software in speed and effectiveness, Vim is quite famous among old-school programmers as it has been in the market for quite a long time. VIM is a simple-to-use code editor that helps you write better code since it has a variety of editing modes that make finding and replacing bugs simple.

Vim is incredibly adaptable and has a staggering more than 15,000 plugins available. Keyboard shortcuts are another noteworthy aspect. To fully utilize the programming software for code editing, it might take some time to learn all the shortcuts.

Features of Vim (Text Editor) –

• Syntax highlighting
• Search and replace functionality
• Work on Multiple files
• Support for mouse interaction
• Supports editing of compressed files
• Multiple language support

8. Net Beans

NetBeans is an open tool source-code editor that supports all programming languages PHP, CSS, and HTML. This is a free source code programming software that enables smart code editing to help you write error-free code.

It runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, and Solaris and allows you to upgrade your applications to take advantage of java 8 language constructs.

Features of NetBeans –

• Cross-platform compatibility.
• Supports multiple languages.
• Helps in building User – Interface.
• Quick to develop
• Static analysis tool
• It accommodates different encodings.
• It contains a browser for Unicode characters.
• Syntax highlighting.

9. Blue Fish

The cross-platform editor Bluefish is a quick tool that can manage many files at once. One of the top PC coding programs, it enables remote editing for developers. Programmers and web developers have a wide range of possibilities when using this code editor tool to create websites, scripts, and computer code.

Bluefish was created to help you enjoy working on several pieces of software at once without waiting around for the programming software to run your code. It provides great capacity and speed even if you can launch a website with the help of website development guide in seconds! But it doesn’t stop here. Here are some other-handy features included with this code editor.

Features of Blue Fish –

• The snippets sidebar for keyboard shortcuts.
• Let’s work on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Auto recovery of documents
• Open Multiple documents more than 400+ at a time.
• Supports many markups language.
• Customized Toolbar
• Multiple encoding
• Expandable system.

10. Coffee Cup HTML Editor

Coffee Cup HTML editor is a code editor which helps coders and programmers to write, edit and manage custom software applications. Software development companies hire dedicated developers who build custom solutions to meet with requirements of businesses and clients.

This is one of the best programming software to code with customization features as you can design from start or use existing layouts. Although it is free to use, it also has a premium version for $49.

Features of Coffee Cup HTML Editor –

• Custom templates
• Highlighting Tags
• Debugging
• Jumpstart your new screen.
• Get started speedily
• Meaningful Markup
• Split screen/Live preview.

11. Eclipse

Eclipse is an open-source JAVA Integrated Development Environment. The eclipse platform is the foundation for Eclipse IDE. JDE is used for programming the Eclipse Platform. In addition, the editor allows you to work with project previews so you can see how the app would seem in Java without having to compile and run it, even though it has numerous integrated tools to troubleshoot and analyze issues.

It has multiple plugins and is designed for using wide-ranging plugins. The Eclipse Platform is used to develop a rich application, Integrated Development Environment, and other tools for clients. Its structure is easy to understand and divided into several windows with lots of flexibility.

Features of Eclipse –

• Code template.
• Syntax validating.
• Organizing Imports.
• Diffing files.
• Formatting source code.
• Syntax highlighting.
• Debugging.
• Assistance in content.
• Coding Shortcuts.
• Code Restructuring.

12. IntelliJ Idea

The IntelliJ idea is among powerful IDE (Integrated Development Environments) for JVM (Java Virtual Machine) language by providing intelligent code, which helps to maximize developer productivity.

It does tasks for you which are repetitive by providing static code analysis, code completion, and assistance. IntelliJ IDEA helps to develop full-stack web applications as it is enriched with powerful integrated tools, and free plugins inbuilt by JetBrains.

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Full-Stack Web Development

Features of IntelliJ Idea –

• Imports Optimization
• Code formatting
• Parameter info
• Multiple carets and selection
• Fast documentation
• Navigation and search
• Refactoring
• Find and Replace

13. Ultra-Edit

Due to its performance, versatility, and security, Ultra Edit is a great code-writing software for your primary text editor. Large files on Mac are easily handled using the primary text editor, which is fairly strong. In addition to the normal Ultra Edit text editor, the premium edition enables you to have a free upgrade for all future versions.

A variety of practical features, including a file finder, an embedded FTP client, as well as a Git integration solution, are included in the all-access package that comes with Ultra Edit.

14. Espresso

Espresso is for mac code editors. Espresso’s ability to aid in designing, coding, and developing with the additional capability of numerous edits or changes simultaneously is one of its strongest characteristics.

Espresso enables you to create incredible projects, have fun with an incredible navigator, and integrate live previews and overrides. Other features include rapid filtering, multiple editing, find-and-replace, substantial plugin power, and indentation aids.

15. BBEdit

For macOS, BBEdit is a text and HTML editor. Since the editor allows users to generate, modify, and format any sort of text, it provides them with complete control over their content.

It was designed to meet the demands of writers, web authors, and software engineers. This multiple-award-winning program offers a lot of functionality for editing, searching, and manipulating writing, source code, and textual data.

It is also simple to learn because it is compatible with all Mac keyboard shortcuts and the most recent Mac innovations, such as Bonjour. However, using AppleScript, the default behavior may be changed.

Additionally, you may build functions for any programming language and modify the keyboard shortcuts. Additionally, there are various built-in tools for text sorting, conversion, searching, and replacement.

16. Web Storm

An integrated development environment (IDE) for JavaScript and associated technologies is called WebStorm. It has built-in support for web development frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js as well as stylesheet languages like JavaScript and TypeScript. 

It improves your development experience by automating repetitive processes and assisting you in mastering challenging ones.

To help users code more quickly, WebStorm has intelligent coding assistance. It has capabilities like static analysis, formatting, and restructuring as well as auto-completion.

Conclusion

This is all! We have shown you the list of the best programming software to help you in coding and programming. We understand coding is very time-consuming and hectic, but with this list, you can choose the suitable code editor software as it holds the same significance as the role of software development company.

Every year multiple programming software are launched to write code; Developers find it difficult to select one of the many new code editors that are introduced each year you can have some classic well-updated code editors as your go-to helping editor to enhance your coding productivity.

Vice versa, experts are also joining top-notch development firms to achieve business proficiency while carrying out various tasks. Whether you want to level up your skills or take freelancing work, SemiDot InfoTech is such a top-class custom software development company that can help you in all of this. Also, we are a well-known name to provide result-oriented & scalable solutions. You can contact us anytime for more information.

FAQs-

Go through these FAQs for more detail about the code editors, have a look-