Recs.
Updated
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Lots of packages
Atom has a built-in package manager and an extensive list of packages. Packages are written in CoffeeScript.
Pro Hackable
Due to its modular design almost any aspect of the editor can be changed. Even seemingly core packages like the one's taking care of search and replace functionality can be forked on GitHub, changed and replaced in the editor.
The Documentation for creating new plugins is also great and thus it's easier for developers ti jump in and create plugins for Atom.
Pro Multi-line select and edit
Multiple cursors & column selection allow versatile ways of editing.
ctrl + d
will select the current word and each time the command is repeated add the next occurence of the word to the selection.
ctrl + click
or middle-mouse click
will place another cursor in the place that's clicked. Cursors can then be controlled together. This also allows selecting vertically.
Pro Beginner Friendly
One of the goals of Atom is to be a text editor for both experienced and beginner programmers. You can add keyboard shortcuts, change themes, install plugins, and change core settings by clicking through a GUI, or by manually editing config files the old fashioned way. It has the added advantage of being built using the same engine that powers Google Chrome, so actions like opening and closing tabs feel familiar even to new or non-programmers.
Pro Command line integration out of the box
Installing Atom adds two command line commands - atom
and apm
. The first one runs the application itself and the second one is the Atom Package Manager that's used to add and remove various components from the package listing. While these features can be set up with other editors as well, Atom takes care of them out of the box.
Pro Extendable
Due to its modular design, almost any aspect of the editor can be changed. Even seemingly core packages, like those taking care of search and replace functionality, can be forked on GitHub, and changed and replaced in the editor.
The documentation for creating new plugins is also great, making it easier for developers to jump in and create plugins for Atom.
Cons
Con Missing polish
As Atom is still relatively new, it's missing nice little touches that other text editors have implemented over the years. From simple ease of use things like middle-mouse button multi-cursor select to the ways pasted information from a spreadsheet is interpreted in multi-select situations.
Con Crash and data loss
A bugreport about that was closed automatically after some time, nobody cares.
Con Doesn't have a PASCAL option
Sure PASCAL isn't the most popular language out there, but NotePad++ does it (rather well).
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Pro Allows for instant file switching
By pressing Ctrl or Command + T and using fuzzy search, you can look for a file in your project.
Pro Beginner friendly
One of the goals of Atom is to be a text editor for both experienced and beginner programmers. You can add keyboard shortcuts, change themes, install plugins, and change core settings by clicking through a GUI, or by manually editing config files the old-fashioned way. It has the added advantage of being built using the same engine that powers Google Chrome, so actions like opening and closing tabs feel familiar, even to new or non-programmers.
Pro Command Palette support
The Command Palette permits fuzzy searching all available functions, settings, snippets, etc.
Pro Free and open source
Atom is free, open source, and written in C++, LESS, and CoffeeScript.
Pro Built-in package management
Atom was built from the ground up with the community in mind. Package management is therefore a first class feature.
Pro Extensive list of packages
Atom has a built-in package manager and an extensive list of packages. Packages are written in CoffeeScript.
Con Has difficulty with large text files
Tends to crash or hang with large >(10MB) text files, making it less useful as a general text editor.
Con Missing additional touches
As Atom is still relatively new, it's missing nice little touches that other text editors have implemented over the years. From simple ease-of-use items like middle-mouse button multi-cursor select, to the ways pasted information from a spreadsheet is interpreted in multi-select situations.