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Add to SafariWhen comparing Notepad++ vs Jupyter, the Slant community recommends Jupyter for most people. In the question“What are the best Python IDEs or editors?” Jupyter is ranked 8th while Notepad++ is ranked 29th. The most important reason people chose Jupyter is:
Because the editor is a web app (the Jupyter Notebook program is a web server that you run on the host machine), it is possible to use this on quite literally any machine. Morever, you can have Jupyter Notebook run on one machine (like a VM that you have provisioned in the cloud) and access the web page / do your editing from a different machine (like a Chromebook).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Syntax highlighting for a wide variety of languages
Notepad++ has built-in support for syntax highlighting for a wide selection of programming languages.
Pro Light and fast
Notepad++ is a very light program that starts almost instantly. This makes it a great text editor for users that want something that will start the second they open it.
Pro Extendable via plugins
A list of hundreds of plugins is maintained.
Pro Portable
You can get a portable version of N++ and put it on a flash drive or your dropbox account and have your editor, configured the way you like, at any computer that you are on.
Pro Free under GPL
Notepad++ is licensed under GPL, which means it is free/open source software that you can use freely.
Pro Regex replace in selection, active tab, or all tabs
In Notepad++, the user can utilise regular expressions to quickly modify text across multiple files.
Pro Persistent documents, even after exiting the application
If you close Notepad++ (npp), your documents remain even if you haven't saved.
Pro User defined language syntax support
You can define your own custom syntax highlighting rules (or add support for others) .
Pro Easy to use and admin
Very easy to use and personalize.
Pro Multi-line editing
While it is disabled by default, when enabled, it is possible to edit more than one line at a time. This is helpful in many situations.
Pro Split screen
The user can open and edit files in multiple screens within the editor window.
Pro Supports Markdown
If you have the Plugin Manager installed you can search for MarkdownViewer++ and install it via that plugin.
Pro Web-based development allows for usage literally anywhere
Because the editor is a web app (the Jupyter Notebook program is a web server that you run on the host machine), it is possible to use this on quite literally any machine. Morever, you can have Jupyter Notebook run on one machine (like a VM that you have provisioned in the cloud) and access the web page / do your editing from a different machine (like a Chromebook).
Pro Interactive
Most IDEs require you to separately run Python to see the output of a particular piece of code. By contrast, Jupyter Notebook can evaluate Python statements inline, giving you the immediate feedback of interactive use of the interpreter while keeping your changes saved.
Pro Graphing , charting, and other math/numeric capabilities
The interactive editor is able to display complex equations, charts, graphs, etc. making this particular editor very well-regarded among data scientists.
Pro Open source
Because it is open source, you can review the source code and also propose extensions and fixes to it. It is also possible to fork the repository and make changes to it to customize it for your specific use case.
Pro Supports multiple different programming languages
Jupyter Notebook, formerly known as ipython, used to be specific to Python; however, in recent iterations, it has become capable of general purpose usage for any programming language. Thus it is possible to use this and have a consistent developer workflow, regardless of language.
Cons
Con Windows-only
While it can run in Wine, it is native only to Windows. Linux users will have to use Notepadqq instead.
Con Settings confusingly scattered
Examples: try to change the tab size or used font.
Con Annoying update notifications upon start-up
Annoying update notifications tend to pop up upon start-up after not having used the app or machine for a few days. At the same time, they can be easily turned off.
Con Outdated UI
Only the text area can be themed, and it doesn't have as many features as browser-based text areas.
Con Limited new syntax support for new languages
It may be hard to find good plugins for relatively new languages.
Con Session backups not enabled by default
Unsaved tabs will be lost when Npp crashes, unless you first enable the session backup option.
Con User defined language doesn't support triple quote strings
It also doesn't support triple hashed comments. Both styles are overridden by their single character single line version.
Con Notebook-style makes reusing functions annoying
Con Interactive usage takes some getting used to
While the interactiveness is extremely, extremely powerful and useful, it does take a little bit of work getting to a point where it is "normal".
Con First time setup is more difficult than for other IDEs
Since Jupyter Notebook really requires two programs (the server and your browser) getting things setup in a way that works for you is a little more complex than for an ordinary IDE. For example, if you run the server and edit on the same machine, creating a little wrapper script that starts the server and then launches the browser pointing to it and gives an icon to this script is a small amount of setup but is more involved than a simple installer for other IDEs. Likewise, if you do remote development, creating a URL that will lazily spawn the Jupyter Notebook server and then turn it down when it is no longer in use is also a little bit of work to setup.
Con Non-trivial security configuration for remote access
By default, the editor is only accessible from localhost; however, if you want to run Jupyter on a VM in the cloud and do your editing through a web browser on a different computer (e.g. a Chromebook), there is some non-trivial security work to ensure that it is set up in a secure manner.
