JEdit
Encyclopedia
jEdit is a text editor
for programmers, available under the GNU General Public License
version 2.0. It is written in Java
and runs on any operating system with Java support, including Windows
, Linux
, Mac OS X
, and BSD.
The founding author was Slava Pestov, who left the project in 2006, handing development to the free software community
.
that provides native support for over 130 file format
s. Support for additional formats can be added manually using XML
files. It supports UTF-8
and many other encodings.
It has extensive code folding
and text folding capabilities as well as text wrapping that takes indents into account.
The application is highly customizable and can be extended with macros written in BeanShell
, Jython
, JavaScript
and some other scripting language
s.
Plug-ins are used to customize the application for individual use and can make it into an advanced XML/HTML editor, or an integrated development environment
(IDE), with compiler
, code completion, context-sensitive help, debugging, visual differentiation and language-specific tools.
The plug-ins are downloaded via an integrated plug-in manager which finds and installs them and their associated updates automatically.
Some available plug-ins include:
Rob Griffiths wrote in April 2002 for MAC OS X HINTS saying he was "very impressed" and naming it "pick of the week". He cited its file memory upon reopening, its ability to notice if an open file was changed on disk by another program, syntax coloring, including that users can create their own colour schemes, split windows feature, show line number feature, convertible tabs to soft-tabs and view sidebars. He also praised its customization possibilities using the extensive preferences panel and the "on the fly" search engine, which searches while typing.
Griffiths noted that the application has a few drawbacks, such as that it is "a bit slow at scrolling a line at a time" and that because it is a Java application it doesn't have the full Aqua
interface.
Also reviewing the application in April 2002, Daniel Steinberg writing for O'Reilly Media said "The strength of jEdit for Java developers comes from the plug-ins contributed by the community...For the most part, there's nothing here that couldn't be done with BBEdit or even with Emacs or vi. jEdit packages the capabilities much more nicely and makes it easy to call often-used functionality using the plug-ins. Where I saw NetBeans as overkill, others may see jEdit as underkill for an IDE or overkill for a text editor. I find it Mac friendly and easy to use. I don't expect too much from it, so I tend to be pleased with what I get."
Scott Beatty reviewing jEdit on SitePoint
in 2005 particularly noted the application's folding feature along with its search and replace and PHP syntax highlighting capabilities. He recommended the use of the PHPParser plug-in. The PHPParser is a PHP parser that checks for PHP syntax errors whenever a PHP code file is loaded or saved. He noted that downloading jEdit is simple, but that getting and installing the plug-ins to customize it for individual use can be a complex process: "Beware that a full setup requires a series of downloads, and that this process can take time."
Text editor
A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
for programmers, available under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
version 2.0. It is written in Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and runs on any operating system with Java support, including Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, and BSD.
Development
jEdit development was started in 1998.The founding author was Slava Pestov, who left the project in 2006, handing development to the free software community
Free software community
The free-software community is an informal term that refers to the users and developers of free software as well as supporters of the free-software movement. The movement is sometimes referred to as the open-source software community or a subset thereof...
.
Features
jEdit includes syntax highlightingSyntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
that provides native support for over 130 file format
File format
A file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...
s. Support for additional formats can be added manually using XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
files. It supports UTF-8
UTF-8
UTF-8 is a multibyte character encoding for Unicode. Like UTF-16 and UTF-32, UTF-8 can represent every character in the Unicode character set. Unlike them, it is backward-compatible with ASCII and avoids the complications of endianness and byte order marks...
and many other encodings.
It has extensive code folding
Code folding
Code folding is a feature of some text editors, source code editors and IDEs that allows the user to selectively hide and display sections of a currently-edited file as a part of routine edit operations...
and text folding capabilities as well as text wrapping that takes indents into account.
The application is highly customizable and can be extended with macros written in BeanShell
BeanShell
BeanShell is a Java scripting language, invented by Patrick Niemeyer. It runs in the Java Runtime Environment and uses Java syntax, in addition to scripting commands and syntax.- Features :...
, Jython
Jython
Jython, successor of JPython, is an implementation of the Python programming language written in Java.-Overview:Jython programs can seamlessly import and use any Java class. Except for some standard modules, Jython programs use Java classes instead of Python modules...
, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and some other scripting language
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
s.
Plug-ins
There are over 150 available jEdit plug-ins for many different application areas.Plug-ins are used to customize the application for individual use and can make it into an advanced XML/HTML editor, or an integrated development environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
(IDE), with compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
, code completion, context-sensitive help, debugging, visual differentiation and language-specific tools.
The plug-ins are downloaded via an integrated plug-in manager which finds and installs them and their associated updates automatically.
Some available plug-ins include:
- Spell checker using Aspell
- Text auto-complete
- Accents plugin that converts character abbreviations for accented characters as they are typed.
- XML plugin that is used for editing XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, JavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and CSSCSS-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
files. In the case of XML, the plug-in does validation. For XML, HTML and CSS, it uses auto-completion popups for elements, attributes and entities.
Reception
In general jEdit has received positive reviews from software writers.Rob Griffiths wrote in April 2002 for MAC OS X HINTS saying he was "very impressed" and naming it "pick of the week". He cited its file memory upon reopening, its ability to notice if an open file was changed on disk by another program, syntax coloring, including that users can create their own colour schemes, split windows feature, show line number feature, convertible tabs to soft-tabs and view sidebars. He also praised its customization possibilities using the extensive preferences panel and the "on the fly" search engine, which searches while typing.
Griffiths noted that the application has a few drawbacks, such as that it is "a bit slow at scrolling a line at a time" and that because it is a Java application it doesn't have the full Aqua
Aqua (user interface)
Aqua is the GUI and primary visual theme of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. It is based around the theme of water, as its name suggests, with droplet-like elements and liberal use of translucency and reflection effects...
interface.
Also reviewing the application in April 2002, Daniel Steinberg writing for O'Reilly Media said "The strength of jEdit for Java developers comes from the plug-ins contributed by the community...For the most part, there's nothing here that couldn't be done with BBEdit or even with Emacs or vi. jEdit packages the capabilities much more nicely and makes it easy to call often-used functionality using the plug-ins. Where I saw NetBeans as overkill, others may see jEdit as underkill for an IDE or overkill for a text editor. I find it Mac friendly and easy to use. I don't expect too much from it, so I tend to be pleased with what I get."
Scott Beatty reviewing jEdit on SitePoint
SitePoint
SitePoint Pty Ltd is a Melbourne, Australia-based publisher of books and websites. It is best known for its web developer books and online magazine.-History:SitePoint was founded by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle in 1999...
in 2005 particularly noted the application's folding feature along with its search and replace and PHP syntax highlighting capabilities. He recommended the use of the PHPParser plug-in. The PHPParser is a PHP parser that checks for PHP syntax errors whenever a PHP code file is loaded or saved. He noted that downloading jEdit is simple, but that getting and installing the plug-ins to customize it for individual use can be a complex process: "Beware that a full setup requires a series of downloads, and that this process can take time."