When comparing Textpad vs Textadept, the Slant community recommends Textadept for most people. In the question“What are the best programming text editors?” Textadept is ranked 16th while Textpad is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose Textadept is:
Both text and GUI versions behave mostly the same, just the way notepad users would expect it to. Like shift+arrows - select, Ctrl+c - copy, Ctrl+o - open a file.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Highly efficient
Textpad can handle large text files very quickly.
Pro Fast and features macros
Text Pad is fast and supports macros for easy handling of repetitive tasks.
Pro Large number of syntax highlighting add-ons
It's easy to add a new syntax highlighted language to TextPad.
Pro Search and Replace
Excellent regex functions to manipulate data in large text based (csv, php, etc) files.
Pro Easy to get started, especially for Java
When you require a minimal learning curve and a quick start to writing code, TextPad is one of the best choices. Especially for small Java projects, TextPad is the go-to editor.
Pro Has both GUI and TUI
Both text and GUI versions behave mostly the same, just the way notepad users would expect it to.
Like shift+arrows - select, Ctrl+c - copy, Ctrl+o - open a file.
Pro Cross-platform
It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Pro Small and portable
Has very few dependencies, and very small footprint. Can be copied to a new system in a moment, unpacked and be at your service.
Pro Scriptable
Has a built-in lua engine.
Cons
Con Macros are not editable
Con No bold/italics
Con Disappointing keyboard shortcuts
The keyboard shortcuts in Textpad are a little dated.
Con Community
Does not have an IRC channel or some kind of forum where a community of developers/plugin writers could evolve around. Has a mailing list which is said to be active but that does not feel that attractive.