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Source-code editor

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A source-code editor is a <a href="Text_editor" title="Text editor">text editor</a> program designed specifically for editing <a href="Source_code" title="Source code">source code</a> of <a href="Computer_program" title="Computer program">computer programs</a>. It may be a standalone application or it may be built into an <a href="Integrated_development_environment" title="Integrated development environment">integrated development environment</a> (IDE).

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Features">Features</h2></div>

Source-code editors have features specifically designed to simplify and speed up typing of source code, such as <a href="Syntax_highlighting" title="Syntax highlighting">syntax highlighting</a>, <a href="Indentation_style" title="Indentation style">indentation</a>, <a href="Autocomplete" title="Autocomplete">autocomplete</a> and <a href="Brace_matching" class="mw-redirect" title="Brace matching">brace matching</a> functionality. These editors may also provide a convenient way to run a <a href="Compiler" title="Compiler">compiler</a>, <a href="Interpreter_(computing)" title="Interpreter (computing)">interpreter</a>, <a href="Debugger" title="Debugger">debugger</a>, or other program relevant for the <a href="Software-development_process" class="mw-redirect" title="Software-development process">software-development process</a>. So, while many text editors like <a href="Microsoft_Notepad" class="mw-redirect" title="Microsoft Notepad">Notepad</a> can be used to edit source code, if they do not enhance, automate or ease the editing of code, they are not source-code editors.

<a href="Structure_editor" title="Structure editor">Structure editors</a> are a different form of source-code editor, where instead of editing raw text, one manipulates the code's structure, generally the <a href="Abstract_syntax_tree" title="Abstract syntax tree">abstract syntax tree</a>. In this case features such as syntax highlighting, validation, and code formatting are easily and efficiently implemented from the <a href="Concrete_syntax_tree" class="mw-redirect" title="Concrete syntax tree">concrete syntax tree</a> or abstract syntax tree, but editing is often more rigid than free-form text. Structure editors also require extensive support for each language, and thus are harder to extend to new languages than text editors, where basic support only requires supporting syntax highlighting or indentation. For this reason, strict structure editors are not popular for source code editing, though some IDEs provide similar functionality.

A source-code editor can check syntax while code is being entered and immediately warn of syntax problems. A few source-code editors compress source code, typically converting common keywords into <a href="BASIC_interpreter#Tokenizing_and_encoding_lines" title="BASIC interpreter"> single-byte tokens</a>, removing unnecessary whitespace, and converting numbers to a binary form. Such tokenizing editors later uncompress the source code when viewing it, possibly <a href="Prettyprint" class="mw-redirect" title="Prettyprint">prettyprinting</a> it with consistent capitalization and spacing. A few source-code editors do both.

The <a href="Language_Server_Protocol" title="Language Server Protocol">Language Server Protocol</a>, first used in Microsoft's <a href="Visual_Studio_Code" title="Visual Studio Code">Visual Studio Code</a>, allows for source code editors to implement an LSP client that can read syntax information about any language with a LSP server. This allows for source code editors to easily support more languages with syntax highlighting, refactoring, and reference finding.<a href="#cite_note-Krill_2016-1">[1]</a> Many source code editors such as Neovim<a href="#cite_note-neovim_LSP-2">[2]</a> and Brackets<a href="#cite_note-Shubham_2019-3">[3]</a> have added a built-in LSP client while other editors such as Emacs,<a href="#cite_note-Emacs_LSP-4">[4]</a> vim,<a href="#cite_note-Devlieghere_2018-5">[5]</a> and Sublime Text<a href="#cite_note-LSP_Sublime-6">[6]</a> have support for an LSP Client via a separate plug-in.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>

In 1985, <a href="Mike_Cowlishaw" title="Mike Cowlishaw">Mike Cowlishaw</a> of <a href="IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a> created <a href="LEXX_(text_editor)" title="LEXX (text editor)">LEXX</a> while <a href="Secondment" title="Secondment">seconded</a> to the <a href="Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>. LEXX used live parsing and used color and fonts for syntax highlighting. IBM's LPEX (Live Parsing Extensible Editor)<a href="#cite_note-LPEX_User_Guide-7">[7]</a> was based on LEXX and ran on <a href="VM_(operating_system)" title="VM (operating system)">VM/CMS</a>, <a href="OS/2" title="OS/2">OS/2</a>, <a href="IBM_i" title="IBM i">OS/400</a>, <a href="Microsoft_Windows" title="Microsoft Windows">Windows</a>, and <a href="Java_virtual_machine" title="Java virtual machine">Java</a><a href="#cite_note-Cowlishaw_Bio-8">[8]</a>

Although the initial public release of <a href="Vim_(text_editor)" title="Vim (text editor)">vim</a> was in 1991, the syntax highlighting feature was not introduced until version 5.0 in 1998.<a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a> On November 1, 2015, the first version of <a href="Neovim" class="mw-redirect" title="Neovim">NeoVim</a> was released.<a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

In 2003, <a href="Notepad%2B%2B" title="Notepad++">Notepad++</a>, a source code editor for Windows, was released by Don Ho. The intention was to create an alternative to the java-based source code editor, JEXT<a href="#cite_note-Orin_2015-11">[11]</a>

In 2015, <a href="Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> released Visual Studio Code as a lightweight and cross-platform alternative to their <a href="Visual_Studio" title="Visual Studio">Visual Studio</a> IDE.<a href="#cite_note-Somesegar_2015-12">[12]</a> The following year, Visual Studio Code became the Microsoft product using the Language Server Protocol.<a href="#cite_note-Krill_2016-1">[1]</a> This code editor quickly gained popularity and emerged as the most widely used source code editor.<a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Comparison_with_IDEs">Comparison with IDEs</h2></div>

A source-code editor is one component of a Integrated Development Environment. In contrast to a standalone source-code editor, an IDE typically also includes debugger and build tools.

Standalone source code editors are preferred over IDEs by some developers when they believe the IDEs are bloated with features they do not need.<a href="#cite_note-Petreley_2003-14">[14]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notable_examples">Notable examples</h2></div>

<li><a href="Brackets_(text_editor)" title="Brackets (text editor)">Brackets</a></li>

<li><a href="Eclipse_(software)" title="Eclipse (software)">Eclipse</a></li>

<li><a href="Emacs" title="Emacs">Emacs</a></li>

<li><a href="Gedit" title="Gedit">Gedit</a></li>

<li><a href="NetBeans" title="NetBeans">NetBeans</a></li>

<li><a href="Notepad%2B%2B" title="Notepad++">Notepad++</a> (Windows only)</li>

<li><a href="SlickEdit" title="SlickEdit">SlickEdit</a></li>

<li><a href="Sublime_Text" title="Sublime Text">Sublime Text</a></li>

<li><a href="TextMate" title="TextMate">TextMate</a> (macOS only)</li>

<li><a href="UltraEdit" title="UltraEdit">UltraEdit</a></li>

<li><a href="Visual_Studio_Code" title="Visual Studio Code">Visual Studio Code</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Controversy">Controversy</h2></div>

Many source-code editors and IDEs have been involved in ongoing user arguments, sometimes referred to jovially as "holy wars" by the programming community.<a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a> Notable examples include <a href="Editor_war" title="Editor war">vi vs. Emacs</a> and <a href="Eclipse_(software)" title="Eclipse (software)">Eclipse</a> vs. <a href="NetBeans" title="NetBeans">NetBeans</a>. These arguments have formed a significant part of <a href="Internet_culture" title="Internet culture">internet culture</a> and they often start whenever either editor is mentioned anywhere.

<ul><li><a href="Integrated_development_environment" title="Integrated development environment">Integrated development environment</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_integrated_development_environments" title="Comparison of integrated development environments">Comparison of integrated development environments</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_online_source_code_playgrounds" title="Comparison of online source code playgrounds">Comparison of online source code playgrounds</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_text_editors#Programming_features" title="Comparison of text editors">Comparison of text editors § Programming features</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_JavaScript-based_source_code_editors" title="Comparison of JavaScript-based source code editors">Comparison of JavaScript-based source code editors</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_hex_editors" title="Comparison of hex editors">Comparison of hex editors</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_of_HTML_editors" title="Comparison of HTML editors">Comparison of HTML editors</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_text_editors" title="List of text editors">List of text editors</a></li>

<li><a href="Editor_war" title="Editor war">Editor war</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFKrill2016" class="citation web cs1">Krill, Paul (27 June 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.infoworld.com/article/3088698/microsoft-backed-langauge-server-protocol-strives-for-language-tools-interoperability.html">"Microsoft-backed Language Server Protocol strives for language, tools interoperability"</a>. InfoWorld. Retrieved 19 June 2022.</cite>

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