[HN Gopher] NotepadNext - a cross-platform reimplementation of N...
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       NotepadNext - a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++
        
       Author : Brajeshwar
       Score  : 339 points
       Date   : 2024-03-28 16:50 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | thehias wrote:
       | Notepad++ for Linux & MacOS?? Very awesome!! :)
        
       | emestifs wrote:
       | Missed opportunity to write it in a Memory-Safe, White House
       | approved language and call it Rustpad or something...I joke of
       | course.
       | 
       | After reading the title I was 99% sure it would've been an
       | Electron app, nice to see it's actually native. Good work.
        
         | collegeburner wrote:
         | an electron implementation would sorta kill the point of npp :)
        
           | sharken wrote:
           | Absolutely, the startup speed of npp is addictive. If only VS
           | Code could be half as fast.
        
             | denimnerd42 wrote:
             | that's the main reason I stuck with sublimetext for soooo
             | long. It's so fast and it can handle insanely huge files
             | plus it can do column operations on text on insanely huge
             | files. VS Code does seem to have been optimized since the
             | first few years though and its not hardware related.
        
         | j1elo wrote:
         | The GUI is made with Qt, for which the preferred programming
         | language is C++. So that could be one reason already. There are
         | a lot of bindings listed for Rust in the Qt docs [1] though,
         | but they will always be a subpar experience compared to the
         | first-class support for C++ in Qt.
         | 
         | [1]: https://wiki.qt.io/Language_Bindings
        
           | arsome wrote:
           | Yeah and the main editing component is Scintilla, also C++.
        
         | DonnyV wrote:
         | I was thinking the same thing. Why didn't they do it in Rust?
         | But probably because the GUI story with Rust is still evolving.
         | Only recently have I started to see UI frameworks popping up
         | for Rust.
        
       | gen3 wrote:
       | Awesome. When I moved to linux a few years ago notepad++ was one
       | of the harder apps to find a replacement for. I ended up sticking
       | with Kate
       | 
       | Edit: Kate is great, give it a shot!
        
         | Piraty wrote:
         | there is https://notepadqq.com
        
           | summermusic wrote:
           | Sadly this project is not actively maintained anymore
        
         | ramon156 wrote:
         | I never needed a replacement but I tried Kate for quick edits
         | and honestly it's a very lovely implementation
        
         | techmindmaster wrote:
         | There is https://www.geany.org
        
           | nsteel wrote:
           | Exactly this. It's already cross platform (windows and Linux,
           | at least), extendable, looks very similar and has many of the
           | same features. I'm not sure what killer feature is missing
           | that would make someone reimplement the whole thing. The
           | readme weirdly doesn't mention it.
        
           | mxuribe wrote:
           | Like @fngjdflmdflg noted, years ago when i moved to linux
           | (for personal use), I also had trouble finding a
           | decent/similar replacement to Notepad++. I started down the
           | Geany route, and liked it alot. It is cross-platform, not
           | slow, has lots of themes, customization options, etc. But
           | eventually I stopped using it, and landed on Kate. For the
           | life of me can't recall why i moved away from Geany? I have
           | been a user of KDE Plasma for many years, but that's not the
           | reason why i moved to Kate, because i actually was still a
           | user of Geany for quite a while during my use of KDE Plasma.
           | In any case, Geany is a really solid option. Not sure that
           | Geany is a feature-for-feature, perfect alternative for
           | Notepad++ (but neither is my favorite Kate editor
           | either!)...nevertheless, the rare times when people ask me
           | for recommendation of text editors on linux (or cross-
           | platform with the intent of using the same editor on all
           | their OSes), I often stick to suggesting Geany or Kate. And,
           | then of course, if they're exclusively Windows users i then
           | suggest either Notepad++ or Geany Kate - not necessarily in
           | any order.
           | 
           | (For the Windows machines that my dayjobs issue me, I still
           | use Notepad++ since funny enough that is easier to allow then
           | requesting to install Kate! Corporate world be getting all
           | strict on software installations nowadays - yikes!)
        
           | AlienRobot wrote:
           | Yeah, but Notepad++ is a Windows app, that is a GTK app.
           | 
           | As someone coming from Windows, it's crazy how bad GTK apps
           | look for desktop. Crazy. Like I can't comprehend how did it
           | get to this point.
           | 
           | Just compare the screenshots
           | 
           | https://www.geany.org/media/uploads/screenshots/geany_light_.
           | ..
           | 
           | https://notepad.plus/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/screen.gif
           | 
           | Notepad has 16 toolbar buttons in the same amount of width
           | that GTK can only fit 10 toolbar buttons. The height of the
           | tabs and status bars are also MUCH shorter. It's completely
           | ridiculous and makes every GTK app look bad to me. Not just
           | Geany, but Xed, Pluma, Gedit, the image viewers, the file
           | managers, the system settings dialogs, etc. I have a mouse. I
           | can point at things. I'm not using my thumbs or toes to
           | operate a desktop app.
           | 
           | Qt's licensing sounded a bit weird. At first I thought your
           | app HAD to be open source to use it. But once it was clear to
           | me that you can sell apps made with Qt so long as you
           | dynamically link without having to pay royalties or anything,
           | the choice was clear. If I have to program an app for Linux,
           | I'm using Qt.
           | 
           | And so far the only problem I found in Qt is that it uses the
           | system's "native" GUI by default (i.e. it uses Gtk on Linux).
           | This means that the Ok-Cancel buttons are Cancel-Ok instead
           | of the correct order. Who puts Ok buttons at the right side?
           | Now if I want to quickly close something, I'm clicking at the
           | corner of the window which is the easiest point to click at,
           | and on the top right I have close (which cancels) and at the
           | bottom right I don't have cancel but Ok which COMMITS which
           | is the opposite of what a thoughtless rash speedy click is
           | supposed to do. Ok should be at the left so you can't commit
           | things by accident. The only reason to put it on the right is
           | if you're designing for tablets so the ok button is closer
           | for right-handed users. This isn't how a decision for a
           | desktop-oriented design.
        
         | nurettin wrote:
         | There is vs code if you like browsers.
        
         | wildzzz wrote:
         | I used Sublime as my npp replacement on Linux. It's a little
         | more coding focused so it lacks some of the nice editing
         | features but was good enough. Luckily npp is pre installed on
         | my work PC so I don't use anything else now.
        
         | ww520 wrote:
         | I have run Notepad++ with Wine on Linux before and it works
         | well.
         | 
         | Kate is awesome. It's cross platform as well.
        
           | circusfly wrote:
           | I use Notepad++ every day, that WINE runs it is implicit,
           | it's like running any other app. I love KDE but I'm not a fan
           | of the Kate editor. Notepad++ even automatically checks for
           | updates like it did on Windows, downloads it, installs it,
           | etc. Works exactly the same. It's great.
        
         | sixthDot wrote:
         | Have you ever heard of https://cudatext.github.io/. It's
         | certainly faster than Kate.
        
           | jraph wrote:
           | Faster than Kate is a feat. Speed is one aspect, I have been
           | using Kate for more than 10 years. What, in your opinion,
           | should make me check out this editor?
        
       | RDaneel0livaw wrote:
       | HOLY CRAP!!! This is wonderful news. This is probably my most
       | missed app on Linux/Macos. Installing immediately!
       | 
       | edit: flatpak support is just chefs kiss.
        
         | VHRanger wrote:
         | Why do you prefer it to sublime text in particular?
         | 
         | I also like Micro a lot - it uses the command line as a GUI
        
           | RDaneel0livaw wrote:
           | Sublime text for me takes too long to load. It's also too
           | heavy for what my use case is. I just want a simple text
           | editor, not an entire development app.
        
             | wewtyflakes wrote:
             | I've always known Sublime text to load and run
             | instantaneously unless working with enormous files that do
             | not have newline characters.
        
           | margalabargala wrote:
           | Sublime is not FOSS, for one.
           | 
           | I use Geany on Linux, it is the closest replacement I have
           | found. Until now.
        
           | wildzzz wrote:
           | Npp is great for editing text, no matter what kind of text
           | file it is. It has a bunch of crazy plugins that are just
           | mean for editing and converting text in files. For example,
           | you can edit a column of text (rather than just a row). It's
           | great for working on log files or anything computer generated
           | that needs reformatting. Works ok as a code editor too but
           | it's not an IDE (although it does come in handy when an IDE
           | is not available). It's just another tool to have in your
           | quiver.
        
       | user3939382 wrote:
       | Just to provide a diversity of opinion: I've heard basically
       | nothing but positive feedback about Notepad++ over the years.
       | However, I tried it out for about 10 seconds before closing it
       | and never looked back. The, what I call "millions of tiny
       | buttons" interface is ugly and distracting. I've never liked IDEs
       | or other apps with this UI style. I use a JetBrains IDE now that
       | has just as many features but the UI is not cluttered with
       | millions of tiny buttons and tool ribbons.
        
         | AdamH12113 wrote:
         | My advice is to just turn the toolbar off (Settings ->
         | Preferences -> General -> Toolbar -> Hide). I find it easier to
         | skim through menus. You can turn off almost all of the extra UI
         | elements if you want, which makes the interface very clean.
        
           | j1elo wrote:
           | Funny that something as simple as hiding a toolbar requires
           | diving through 5 steps. Doesn't it just offer that option
           | upon right-click? It sounds natural and expected to me for a
           | toolbar to do so.
        
             | AdamH12113 wrote:
             | It's really two or three steps -- select menu item,
             | dialogue box page is already selected by default, click on
             | checkbox. I was giving the full navigation.
             | 
             | Personally, I find that making every part of the UI an
             | active control makes it easy to do things by mistake,
             | especially hiding elements, which often doesn't have an
             | obvious way to reverse the process. For one-time UI setup,
             | I don't mind going through a dialogue box.
        
             | wolpoli wrote:
             | I just tried it and was surprised that it doesn't offer
             | Right-Click option to customize/turn off the toolbar. There
             | was a period in Windows software when that level of
             | customizability was expected.
        
         | Topgamer7 wrote:
         | notepad++ was really great for simple syntax highlighting on
         | windows, when good clients were either slow or costed money.
         | 
         | It supported a lot of languages.
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | Also, the original Notepad++ is unabashedly native to
           | Windows, with none of the limitations or expense of cross-
           | platform toolkits like Qt. So it's lightweight and responsive
           | even on lowest-specced boxes.
        
             | circusfly wrote:
             | I use Notepad++ on Linux, ran the installer, works, it auto
             | updates just like it did on Windows, WINE enables it to run
             | just fine. I use it every day for small files like my TODO,
             | Notes and Scrap files.
        
               | lukan wrote:
               | But that is a recent developement? Some years ago the
               | experience under WINE with npp was not great.
               | 
               | (might be also 10 years, since I tried it the last time)
        
         | gamepsys wrote:
         | I greatly miss those tool bars. I think it's ironic that modern
         | UI strives to be less cluttered than ever before while computer
         | monitors are larger than ever before.
         | 
         | * They encourage curiosity about previously undiscovered
         | functionality. It improves feature discoverability.
         | 
         | * It's way easier to find the correct tool bar icon than trying
         | to hunt for a feature inside the menus.
         | 
         | * If some toolbars are highlighted or disabled can tell you
         | information about the state of the document you are editing.
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | There is no "One size fits all" UI, sadly.
           | 
           | Absolute beginners should be shown a basic interface front
           | and center, with a clear way to access more advanced
           | features. More advanced users may benefit from a plethora of
           | rich controls, all shown together. Experts may want to remove
           | the visual clutter because they access features from keyboard
           | without looking.
           | 
           | Good software offers a way to achieve all of these, and often
           | more customization.
        
             | giancarlostoro wrote:
             | Visual Studio (not Code) lets you move it all around,
             | remove pieces, and add things. It's one of the reasons I
             | love Visual Studio. I otherwise use JetBrains for other
             | languages, or when on other OS' it was a shame VS for Mac
             | went away, but I assume adoption was not very high.
        
             | jvanderbot wrote:
             | Just give me a view->toolbars-> checklist and I'll sort it
             | out.
             | 
             | FreeCAD does this well.
        
           | darby_eight wrote:
           | > It's way easier to find the correct tool bar icon than
           | trying to hunt for a feature inside the menus.
           | 
           | What? I am just completely confused by this--menu items are
           | labeled in clear textual language, sorted roughly by
           | functionality. icons greatly depend on cultural context.
           | Looking at a screenshot of notepad++ I could would understand
           | maybe a third of the icons and could guess at another third
           | at best.
           | 
           | That said, it's not that big of a deal--I'd probably just
           | disable the toolbar rather than figure it out. I don't really
           | use the mouse outside of selecting regions of text anyway.
        
             | Dalewyn wrote:
             | Once you learn a toolbar, it just becomes visual and muscle
             | memory. Not unlike using hotkeys to access something hidden
             | under a couple layers of menus.
        
               | darby_eight wrote:
               | Sure, but that's very different from "feature discovery".
               | I totally get this with the floppy-disk icon (which is,
               | ironically enough, now a terrible visual metaphor for
               | persisting to local storage outside of cultural context),
               | but I have no clue what "up arrow on top of down arrow"
               | means, nor what the P icon would do--start a new
               | paragraph? Select the current paragraph? Open some kind
               | of paragraph outline?
               | 
               | Granted, I don't use windows so it's entirely possible
               | I'm just showing my ass here.
        
               | Dalewyn wrote:
               | The toolbar buttons all have hover text to ease the
               | learning, P is "Show All Characters" where "characters"
               | mean stuff like Carriage Return and whitespace. Microsoft
               | Word users are probably familiar with this meaning.
               | 
               | I have no idea what "up arrow on top of down arrow" is
               | though, because I don't have that button.
        
             | jwells89 wrote:
             | I find it depends on how many things are in the toolbar,
             | and if the icons are actually icons or monochromatic
             | glyphs.
             | 
             | A toolbar that's populated only with the most frequently
             | used functions and employs full color, uniquely shaped
             | icons can be visually grokked in an instant, whereas a
             | densely packed toolbar full of glyphs is inscrutable at a
             | glance.
        
           | jwells89 wrote:
           | I think an argument can be made for toolbars _if_ they're
           | customizable with no holes barred on customizability (looking
           | at you, Firefox, with your non-optional hamburger menu) and
           | can be hidden entirely, should the user choose to do so. For
           | me, toolbars as they were commonly implemented in Cocoa apps
           | for the first half of OS X's history are the model example
           | here, which offer all the above.
           | 
           | It's when they're not fully customizable and aren't optional
           | when they grate on me.
        
           | funnybeam wrote:
           | "less cluttered than ever before while computer monitors are
           | larger than ever before."
           | 
           | Less cluttered but with more white space, especially in the
           | vertical direction which is particularly cramped since the
           | change in monitor aspect ratios so the toolbars have less
           | functionality but take up more of the usable screen space.
           | 
           | Progress is great...
        
           | codedokode wrote:
           | The problem with tool bars is that usually you cannot guess
           | what 80% of the icons mean.
        
             | jprd wrote:
             | If you hover over the icon, a tooltip pops up to help
             | remind/train you on what the icons represent.
        
         | simion314 wrote:
         | Maybe you can customize it. I am not a user but you will avoid
         | good programs because of this instant reaction. IMO, I would
         | check if the toolbar and key shortcuts can be customized.
        
         | CraigJPerry wrote:
         | The new Jetbrains ui is hard to like. It's form over function.
         | The old ui (thankfully still available). Having to hover over a
         | hamburger button just to cause it to draw the menu bar options
         | then slide the mouse across to what you want is annoying.
         | 
         | The new commit window alt+0 is better, the old modal always
         | felt tacked on when everything else is a docked panel.
        
           | indymike wrote:
           | > The new Jetbrains ui is hard to like. It's form over
           | function.
           | 
           | I'd like my JetBrains IDEs better with a 10x speedup. The new
           | redesign isn't bad if you memorize keyboard shortcuts :-)
        
             | bboygravity wrote:
             | > The new redesign isn't bad if you memorize keyboard
             | shortcuts :-)
             | 
             | Contradictio in terminis
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | With time, you start using the menu very rarely, because
           | keyboard shortcuts are so much faster. No menu bar means more
           | screen space when working on a laptop.
           | 
           | I usually switch off the menu bar in Emacs, and I don't even
           | know if it can be turned on in Vim.
        
           | hyperman1 wrote:
           | I tried it. The first week I shared your opinion. But then
           | something flipped. I configured and learned hotkeys to hide
           | the file/services/... pane and ended up with something I can
           | only describe as 'calm'. Only 1 or 2 panes of code visible,
           | and all functions hidden but available.
           | 
           | The main detractor is indeed the hamburger menu. Vscode had
           | ctrl-p, emacs has alt-x, and both provide a way to search for
           | some function to execude. I hope Jetbrains is hiding
           | something similar in its innnards, but haven't found it yet.
           | Ctrl ctrl isn't it, at least for me.
           | 
           | I went all-in on Jetbrains Ultimate last year without
           | regrets. The thing is great and powerfull, but it is hard to
           | find what you need in there, and hard to find out what is the
           | purpose of some functionality. I've actually lost usefull
           | functionality: Something usefull but I don't remember the
           | name and can't find it in the menus. I should spend some time
           | spellunking in there. Even so, I hope they find something
           | better than the hamburger or the zillion hotkeys.
        
             | abhinavk wrote:
             | Jetbrains has _Double Shift_ and _Ctrl+Shift+A_.
        
               | hyperman1 wrote:
               | Thanks, all of you.
        
             | ydant wrote:
             | I like the new UI as well. There's always a learning curve,
             | but after using it for months I haven't found any reason to
             | switch back.
             | 
             | ctrl+ctrl is "run anything" (I tend to use ctrl+alt+r for
             | the different but similar run menu instead).
             | 
             | I think what you want is "Actions" - which is default to
             | "shift shift" and then click on a tab, or
             | (ctrl/cmd)+shift+a to jump directly to that tab.
        
             | michaelcampbell wrote:
             | Interestingly in the JetBrains emacs keybindings set, alt-x
             | does exactly what you want. So, it's bindable, and you can
             | use it in ANY keybinding, emacs or not.
        
             | Tutitk wrote:
             | Ctrl-Shift-A, or something. There is a dialog with
             | universal search for actions, files, classes....
        
           | SlackingOff123 wrote:
           | FYI, it's possible to make the menu bar always visible in
           | settings.
        
         | Dalewyn wrote:
         | >The, what I call "millions of tiny buttons" interface is ugly
         | and distracting.
         | 
         | That's a feature. It's a GUI harkening back to Windows Explorer
         | Classic, aka the interface style used from Windows 95 through
         | Windows XP.
        
         | Grazester wrote:
         | I have used Notepad++ for more than 10 years and I don't think
         | I have ever tried replacing my IDE with it. I don't think it
         | should be use as an IDE replacement but a file editor.
        
           | AdrianB1 wrote:
           | It is the other way around: 10 yeas ago I was using Notepad++
           | for writing small apps and I replaced it with IDE (VS Code).
           | It makes no sense to replace a decent IDE with Notepad++.
        
         | mysterydip wrote:
         | What you find ugly and distracting I find essential to
         | functioning in the app. I can't stand it when I'm trying to
         | find some feature that was hidden so the UI would look cleaner.
        
         | yndoendo wrote:
         | To me it is a tool for select jobs. Mainly use it for parsing
         | log files. Handles gigabyte files ease unlike Windows notepad.
         | It also is great with regex searching to filter useful log
         | content with cascading results. Temporary scratch pad, for
         | constructing SQL statements, that retains unsaved files upon OS
         | or user closing. Not my go-to for coding and project
         | maintenance. Still a great tool.
        
           | roland35 wrote:
           | Notepad++ is what I have for any random file format I need to
           | right click and open quickly!
        
           | delfinom wrote:
           | There's Emedit as a commercial notepad like tool. It's even
           | better than notepad++ for large files because it'll stream in
           | the data as you scroll rather than trying to load all of it
           | at once.
        
         | porphyra wrote:
         | Tiny buttons toolbars were the norm for decades in, say,
         | Windows Explorer and Microsoft Word, before Microsoft
         | transitioned to the "Ribbon" style in 2007. Personally I think
         | that people who enjoy those buttons do so for nostalgia
         | reasons, but they are not the worst to use once you remember
         | where each tool is and what each tool's icon looks like.
        
           | j1elo wrote:
           | > _Tiny buttons toolbars were the norm for decades (...)
           | before Microsoft transitioned to the "Ribbon" style in 2007._
           | 
           | The Ribbon still feels to me like that "new thing" Microsoft
           | did since some version of Office... and you're telling me it
           | was 2007?!! Oh my...
           | 
           | A bit before that time I already moved to Open/LibreOffice,
           | and never really used any Windows past 7, so I've missed a
           | whole UI paradigm transition that now makes Windows feel like
           | a complete stranger to me.
        
             | porphyra wrote:
             | There's now a whole generation of 20 year old programmers
             | who have never used the toolbars of the 1990s and early
             | 2000s.
        
             | StuffMaster wrote:
             | Pull-down menus are so obtrusive! You SHOULD prefer to hunt
             | and hunt and hunt for the button you want. The future is
             | now and it sucks.
        
         | jccalhoun wrote:
         | It depends on what you use it for, I guess. I'm not a
         | programmer so I use it as a replacement for windows notepad. I
         | don't know what most of the buttons do and I just ignore them.
        
         | circusfly wrote:
         | Re-training propaganda: [only the JetBrains products should be
         | used, repeat after me...].
        
         | aveao wrote:
         | Npp is a code editor, and you're comparing it to an IDE. Apples
         | and oranges.
        
           | jraph wrote:
           | Both are fruits. The comparison applies here I think :-)
        
         | soupbowl wrote:
         | Takes one second to disable all that. I've used notepad++
         | forever and not once have I used those buttons, indeed they are
         | useless. Your opinion is valid but I never understand using a
         | tool with options and acting like the defaults are the only
         | option.
        
           | lukan wrote:
           | That is true, but it takes more than 1 second to find out
           | about it.
        
         | publius_0xf3 wrote:
         | As a longtime Notepad++ user, I hate those buttons as well.
         | Fortunately, the settings contain the option to hide the menu,
         | the icons, the buttons on the tabs, the status bar, etc.
         | resulting in a very minimalistic experience, which is how I use
         | it.
         | 
         | I recommend giving it another look.
        
         | HumblyTossed wrote:
         | I hate cluttered flat surfaces as much as the next guy, but I
         | don't put my toaster away when I'm not using it. It's stays
         | right on the counter because it's convenient for it to be
         | there.
        
           | user3939382 wrote:
           | > I don't put my toaster away when I'm not using it
           | 
           | I actually do lol
        
         | codexb wrote:
         | Notepad++ originated at a time when there weren't many code
         | editors for most of the new, growing languages (perl, python,
         | js), or for editing xml and json, especially on windows. Many
         | of the "good" code editors were expensive and enterprisey, or
         | they were limited to linux, or they had an extremely steep
         | learning curve (vim, emacs). Notepad++ worked on everything,
         | was free, installed quickly, and it was fast. I've used it to
         | replace hardcoded values in binary files before. I think most
         | of the people who are praising it are remembering how valuable
         | it was 20 years ago. I don't know anyone that still uses
         | Notepad++.
        
           | AdrianB1 wrote:
           | I have it on a few thousand servers in my department, mostly
           | as a Notepad that can do more, like comment color or editing
           | small config files of all sorts. It is far from the days I
           | used to write entire small apps in Notepad ++, but we still
           | use it and there is no plan to replace it unless they do
           | something that puts us in danger (ex: stop fixing
           | bugs/security issues).
        
         | EMM_386 wrote:
         | > The, what I call "millions of tiny buttons" interface is ugly
         | and distracting.
         | 
         | I agree. I used to use N++ when that sort of interface was
         | common everywhere. It didn't look as out of place.
         | 
         | These days I find it too jarring and either use Sublime Text 3
         | or just regular Windows Notepad for scratch notes (now that it
         | doesn't prompt to save on close anymore). No buttons.
        
       | shnkr wrote:
       | honest question - why was there a need to start a new repo? Would
       | you be ok to merge yours with notepad++'s official repo[0] (both
       | are in c++). Did this cross your mind before and what happened?
       | 
       | Not saying that they would allow but it'd help the community as a
       | whole with less duplication of work and deliver more features.
       | 
       | https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus
        
         | tredre3 wrote:
         | I can't answer for the author, but keep in mind that Notepad++
         | is good _because_ it uses the win32 API directly. I don 't see
         | any future where they'd just accept to replace everything with
         | Qt.
        
           | circusfly wrote:
           | There's no need to. It installs, updates and runs exactly as
           | it did on Windows, I use it every day.
        
         | nicolas_17 wrote:
         | It's a complete re-implementation from scratch, they don't
         | share code, using the same programming language is not
         | particularly relevant.
        
       | bregma wrote:
       | Why would I choose notepad++ over something like vim or emacs? Is
       | there a compelling differentiator?
        
         | orthoxerox wrote:
         | Standard Windows hotkeys, fast, buttons.
        
         | ivanjermakov wrote:
         | Notepad++ is literally a better version of notepad.exe. I would
         | not consider using it for anything serious though.
        
           | sgc wrote:
           | It depends what your "serious" work is. I have used it to
           | edit well over 300 million words of text, reformatting
           | scripts to add tagging etc, large scripts of complex regex to
           | data clean (although nothing I know of beats TextCrawler for
           | that task), even writing code in several languages - though
           | of course a proper ide is more useful for many coding tasks.
           | VS Code for example absolutely chokes on large files. Sublime
           | does an ok job - but not one I can rely on for larger batch
           | jobs. NPP excels, and I can quickly do thousands of changes
           | on thousands of large files quickly. NPP also has many
           | plugins (like Sublime etc), and its utility depends on them
           | as much as the other text editors do.
        
         | nurettin wrote:
         | Does emacs work as well as notepad++ on windows?
        
           | rbancroft wrote:
           | emacs works great on windows. I'm not sure if there are
           | things notepad++ does that emacs can't but I've never had any
           | windows-specific issues with emacs.
        
         | tredre3 wrote:
         | The compelling differentiator is that all the features are
         | easily discoverable, you don't need to read a manual before you
         | know how to save/quit/search/replace/use
         | tabs/undo/redo/macros/etc.
        
         | aveao wrote:
         | Is there a point in comparing CLI-based, primarily-*nix-
         | userbase editors with a GUI-based primarily-windows-userbase
         | editor?
        
           | bongodongobob wrote:
           | Of course, to signal your leetness.
        
         | mardifoufs wrote:
         | From what I've seen it's mostly baby duck syndrome and that's
         | totally ok. I am also fully "baby ducked" into vscode, so I get
         | it
        
           | kstrauser wrote:
           | > baby duck syndrome
           | 
           | Today I learned something new.
        
         | Brian_K_White wrote:
         | I use vim and geany and code::blocks and np++ for different
         | things at different times.
         | 
         | geany, codeblocks, and np++ are all scintilla, so what I am
         | really saying is I use both "something like vim or emacs" AND
         | scintilla, and there is no dichotomy.
         | 
         | And what is "something like vim or emacs"? The two are nothing
         | like each other.
         | 
         | Anyone who used either vim or emacs already knows why they do
         | so, and already knows that none of the reasons anyone will say
         | they like any normal editor will apply. Everything anyone says
         | will either be something vim or emacs already has their own
         | answer for, or will be things they actively don't want.
         | 
         | Question seems somewhere between disingenuous to inexplicable.
         | I would say rather than an actual request for information, it
         | was just to say "I like vim or emacs", except "I like vim or
         | emacs" makes no sense because they are not substitutions for
         | each other.
        
           | bregma wrote:
           | Unless you're looking for a compelling reason to switch. For
           | example, I use VS Code sometimes because of its markdown
           | preview pane. That's not available in emacs or vim (to my
           | knowledge).
        
         | michaelcampbell wrote:
         | Not really, if you already know vim or emacs well enough.
         | 
         | You don't need to worry about modes or plugins for language
         | syntax highlighting for most file types as it's built in.
        
       | dumdumdum_tada wrote:
       | Is there a way to disable the save prompt?
        
         | detinho wrote:
         | Settings -> Preferences.
         | 
         | [x] Restore previous sessions [x] Unsaved changes [x] Temporary
         | files
        
       | ulrischa wrote:
       | I always wanted this. Notepad++ is an excellent editor but was
       | always Windows only
        
       | slig wrote:
       | I really loved TextMate for quick, simple and ultra-fast note
       | taking / quick pasting stuff on macOS. Is there anything like
       | that for Windows (except Notepad++)?
        
         | ahdsr wrote:
         | NotepadNext
        
           | slig wrote:
           | Will try, thanks!
        
       | tentacleuno wrote:
       | I very much miss Notepad++ for making quick notes, and then being
       | able to close the window without being asked whether I'd like to
       | save the document. This, and auto-save (so not losing documents
       | if you forget to save) is one of the main reasons I replaced
       | Notepad with ++.
       | 
       | Rather quickly, I found that I had to completely _remove_ Notepad
       | so muscle memory would stop guiding me to it. Good times (and sad
       | ones; I lost a _lot_ of lecture notes) -- nevertheless, Notepad++
       | is an excellent piece of software.
       | 
       | I'm curious if the same "write and close the window" workflow is
       | achievable with Kate, as I haven't been able to find the option;
       | and, of course, the obvious question: what about this one?
        
         | thrdbndndn wrote:
         | it's achievable with default notepad.exe in Win11.
        
         | nullindividual wrote:
         | Notepad will now restore open files, like Notepad++ does.
         | TextEdit on macOS does the same.
        
           | MBCook wrote:
           | It has been a suggested/encouraged default behavior on the
           | Mac for many years at this point.
        
             | adamomada wrote:
             | It's just yet another thing Apple gets right: why would the
             | default be to NOT keep what you just put into the computer?
        
               | card_zero wrote:
               | It seems to be the modern way, and normal on mobile apps,
               | and I can't stand it. Why would I want the computer to
               | save what I wrote without asking? I like being asked. I
               | dislike computers trying to be clever.
        
               | jacurtis wrote:
               | This happened to me yesterday:
               | 
               | I had to complete a resiliency test on our infrastructure
               | and submit it to auditors for compliance reasons. I ran
               | the tests, got the results, and I have to put it into a
               | report. The report is like 30 pages long or more, but
               | very little changes between each test (we do them
               | quarterly). So I only usually change a few tables with
               | the new report results, and freeflow some commentary in
               | the discussion section that is unique for that run, so
               | that the auditor feels special.
               | 
               | Anyway, I open up the previous quarter's report. I edit a
               | bunch of data, write a bunch of useless commentary and go
               | to "Save As" with the Q1-2024 suffix, and I realize the
               | Word document had been autosaving my work the whole time
               | on top of the Q4-2023 report. Urgh, very annoying. I
               | didn't save intentionally because I knew I would save a
               | copy later.
               | 
               | I was able to restore the old version through revision
               | history, but still annoying nonetheless.
        
               | Dalewyn wrote:
               | I'm inclined to agree with Microsoft Word's autosave,
               | here. If you are making edits to a file, the implication
               | (which could be wrong) is you're intending to overwrite
               | at the end. And indeed, autosave came around because way
               | too many people were losing document modifications to
               | freak power outages and computer crashes.
               | 
               | If the intent is to not overwrite an existing file, I
               | personally learned to make a copy first either via Save
               | As in the program or by copying in whatever file manager
               | I'm using. That way I make my intention clear to both
               | myself and the computer.
               | 
               | I've actually burned myself numerous times because
               | occasionally I would forget to copy first, instinctively
               | hit CTRL+S frequently because I hail from before
               | autosaving became widespread, and then realize I just
               | overwrote something I wanted to keep as-is.
        
               | NekkoDroid wrote:
               | > why would the default be to NOT keep what you just put
               | into the computer?
               | 
               | Because you didn't ask it to save and closed the app?
        
               | thereisnospork wrote:
               | And if you misclick? Or there's a power outage? Or crash?
               | Guardrails are nice and since I usually want to save what
               | I've entered I appreciate it being the default behavior.
               | Or in other words, I asked.
               | 
               | To address another commenter's point about word
               | overwriting: auto saves should only go into a
               | temp/separate file so as to never supersede manual saves.
        
         | publius_0xf3 wrote:
         | Occasionally, someone will submit their new text editor to
         | Hacker News and the first thing I do is check if it quietly
         | saves sessions upon closure.
         | 
         | It's amazing how many people don't bother implementing this
         | indispensable feature.
        
           | tentacleuno wrote:
           | I'm very glad others have come to expect this feature, too; I
           | assumed it was another of my weird, niche workflows :-)
        
           | jraph wrote:
           | Kate can restore sessions, not sure it can auto save on
           | close. Ctrl+L saves all but Kate will ask for still unnamed
           | files.
        
             | tentacleuno wrote:
             | I haven't been able to get it to act like Notepad++,
             | wherein it doesn't ask you to save on quit. Perhaps there's
             | a configuration option I've missed?
        
               | jraph wrote:
               | I'll look for it but I'm not sure I've ever seen it
               | despite having seen the settings countless times. If it
               | doesn't exist it could be an easy and useful contribution
               | :-)
        
         | mxuribe wrote:
         | I don't think the core/default Kate editor does the same "write
         | and close the window" like Notepad++. Kate does have pretty
         | cool options for session handling - which helps keep files open
         | that you had been working on, etc...which i understand is not
         | the same thing. But, now that you asked, i wonder if there is a
         | plugin or extenson for Kate that might provide such a feature?
         | I myself am a fan of Notepad++, and install it on any
         | corporate-issued Windows machine that i am given by
         | dayjobs...but at home, its all linux all the time, so Kate
         | comes closest for me. I did see someone else mentioned that
         | there is something named NotepadQQ or something which is like
         | Notepad++ but works cross-platform...so that sounds interesting
         | if true. And, i wonder if NotepaddQQ has that auto "write and
         | close the window" workflow?
        
         | teekert wrote:
         | Fwiw, I do this in Obsidian (it just saves every keystroke),
         | really enjoying it.
        
         | kayodelycaon wrote:
         | You probably already know this. VSCode has both autosave and
         | hot exit features.
         | 
         | If you quit the application when hot exit is enabled, it will
         | restore all windows the next time you start it.
         | 
         | I don't see any way to close individual windows without
         | prompting but you can do command+w and then command+d to "Don't
         | Save".
        
           | tentacleuno wrote:
           | Oh yeah, VSCode's autosave has saved me _hours_ in otherwise-
           | lost code. I do make frequent use of its hot-exit
           | functionality, too.
           | 
           | While that's great, I wish the same thing existed for a
           | lightweight Notepad-esque app, too: I used ++ _a lot_ for
           | quickly jotting down information while it was being read to
           | me (so, on the phone); having to start a full-blown IDE for
           | this seems wasteful, and not the right tool for the job.
           | 
           | Perhaps the solution is just to leave VSCode open all the
           | time, but that wouldn't work either: whenever I switch
           | workspaces, I'm asked whether I'd like to save the unsaved
           | files (so, just like Kate), and it can be quite resource
           | intensive. Grr.
        
         | dailykoder wrote:
         | Have you tried neovim? It just works and is blazing fast
         | (respectively plain vim, if you don't need plugins)
        
         | abgiva wrote:
         | Try CudaText.
        
         | EMM_386 wrote:
         | > being able to close the window without being asked whether
         | I'd like to save the document
         | 
         | Notepad on Windows now has this behavior. Finally.
         | 
         | After having used it for more than three decades, it now has
         | the one feature that prevented me from using it to take scratch
         | notes. It will autosave without prompting on close.
         | 
         | And it has a dark mode, so now I use it daily.
        
         | aftbit wrote:
         | I never noticed this. I just hit Ctrl-S obsessively in every
         | application. I heard that once upon a time, vanilla Notepad
         | ignored Ctrl-S. Horror!
        
         | izoow wrote:
         | I've been using Sublime Text to do this. I use VS Code/Neovim
         | for my programming, but Sublime Text is still way too
         | convenient as a notepad to keep around, one of the main reasons
         | being this feature.
        
       | Sweepi wrote:
       | sometimes I am still sad that I switched to VS Code 6 years ago.
       | The multi-language-spell check feature (plugin) is still better
       | implemented than in any other editor or smartphone I have seen.
       | Same for multi-line editing (native to npp).
        
       | ed_elliott_asc wrote:
       | I used to love notepad++'s macros but that is pretty much been
       | replaced with vscode multi caret and copilot.
       | 
       | I'd still use it for more complicated things but very rarely..
        
       | mig39 wrote:
       | Is there a homebrew package for macOS ?
        
         | indigodaddy wrote:
         | a brew search for notepad only returns "notedup" so I don't
         | think so currently
        
         | Tagbert wrote:
         | It looks like they are supplying a DMG so you would just drag
         | the executable to Applications
        
       | qwertox wrote:
       | Notepad++ (and this one here) are based on Scintilla [0]. It's
       | worth pointing it out because it is a high-quality open source
       | code editor component.
       | 
       | SciTE [1] is the "official" demo-editor for Scintilla and was
       | last updated on March 9th 2024. The history reaches back to 1999.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.scintilla.org/
       | 
       | [1] https://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html
        
         | speps wrote:
         | I wrote a custom mod more than 15 years ago for SciTE that
         | exposed its plugin API to Ruby and wrote some of my own
         | plugins. It didn't support multiple cursors and I instantly
         | switched to Sublime as soon as I discovered that feature, never
         | looked back.
        
           | jmole wrote:
           | What are multiple cursors used for?
        
             | jdc0589 wrote:
             | been a while since I used it, but it was handy for
             | templates where you need to enter a name once and have it
             | typed in multiple places in the template (quicker than a
             | find/replace). It was a also handy sometimes to just be
             | able to put your cursor on the name of a variable or bigger
             | text selection, smash cmd+d a handful of times to add
             | another cursor at every other occurrences of it in the
             | file, and then just start typing to modify each of those
             | occurrences.
        
             | input_sh wrote:
             | If you're using the same variable name across the file, but
             | want to change only a couple of references to something
             | else, it fills that "I need to do this more than once, but
             | in a bit of an easier to reach, fancier way than with find
             | and replace" niche.
        
               | AeroNotix wrote:
               | Most editors these days should have "rename"
               | functionality which is very aware of how that symbol is
               | used across a codebase.
               | 
               | M-x lsp-rename in emacs, for example works great, if
               | you're using lsp.
        
               | rezonant wrote:
               | Yes but this is more general, allowing you to use it in
               | more cases. For instance, I use it heavily when
               | converting old JavaScript to modern ES/TS. Using "var"
               | everywhere? Replace them all with let. Using anonymous
               | functions instead of lambdas, easy to change those all
               | over (provided there's no "this" dependencies)
               | 
               | Have two thousand strings which all need the same edits?
               | No need to do a find/replace operation, you can do it
               | directly in the editor.
        
               | layer8 wrote:
               | How do you select those two thousand strings?
        
               | neoromantique wrote:
               | It helps when it is a bit more interactive, i.e when I
               | only need to replace some of the occurrences versus
               | everything.
               | 
               | Also when working with lists it is useful, you spawn
               | cursors on , or < or whatever symbol you've got at a
               | fixed location between lines, and then you can manipulate
               | text in any number of otherwise different lines.
        
             | twodave wrote:
             | I use it to:
             | 
             | * transform a list of field names into different formats
             | (class properties, sql select list, etc.)
             | 
             | * quick and dirty convert delimited text into insert
             | statements or graphql queries or json objects
             | 
             | * really anything I need to change in column mode but with
             | better tracking of words via mod+arrow keys
        
             | blacksmith_tb wrote:
             | I use it all the time to mangle small amounts of data, like
             | selecting all the newlines in a file with cntrl-d and
             | making them into "," to make it into values for an array or
             | something (obv. search+replace could do that, still it's
             | quicker for a small number this way, or feels like it). It
             | was pretty slick in the early TextMate / Sublime days to
             | see people editing html and making a big bunch of tags all
             | write themselves out simultaneously.
        
             | nolongerthere wrote:
             | I use it daily in vscode to clean up small data sets where
             | wrangling regex will take more time, and the data set isn't
             | something that I'm gonna see again so it's not worth
             | generalizing a solution.
        
             | rezonant wrote:
             | Any time you need to make the same edits in multiple
             | places. I use it to mass edit array items for example by
             | using the highlight / add cursor to identical text feature
             | in VS Code (Ctrl+D). I even use it to copy data out of the
             | browser and mass edit it into data structures-- often there
             | will be some pattern to the pasted data even if it's
             | garbage, so being able to quickly set up multicursors
             | around the patterns in the text makes this sort of task
             | much easier, if you are luckily on how the data pastes out.
             | 
             | Multicursors are the number one editor innovation of the
             | last ten years that developers should get comfortable
             | with-- once you start to use them you won't want to use an
             | editor without them.
        
         | kiney wrote:
         | I really like geany, which is also based on scintilla
        
         | DEADMINCE wrote:
         | As much as I love npp, really all I need is sessions, tabs and
         | spellcheck. Maybe a few other minor features.
         | 
         | I've been wanting/meaning to make a new text editor using SciTE
         | as a base, just adding in that core functionality that I need,
         | but I haven't got around to it.
         | 
         | If this NPN uses flatpacks I'm not really interested though. I
         | want something super lightweight and fast that can be run as
         | close to standalone as possible.
         | 
         | Might be time to move the text editor project to the top of my
         | list, since it seems other people would probably also
         | appreciate it.
        
           | soco wrote:
           | And formatting! Don't forget language-aware formatting and
           | maybe even syntax coloring.
        
           | mananaysiempre wrote:
           | > I want something super lightweight and fast that can be run
           | as close to standalone as possible.
           | 
           | Unfortunately, I don't really see how you could make a
           | standalone GUI app of meaningful scope on Linux, given the
           | platform that "standalone" is usually defined with respect to
           | doesn't include a widget toolkit or even a font handling
           | library (it does on Windows). I guess going it alone with an
           | OpenGL viewport would work, but that's also just setting
           | yourself up for pain the minute accessibility, font shaping,
           | or input methods come into the picture.
           | 
           | I won't begrudge anyone writing their own toolkit or shaper,
           | it's just, that's far too much work to do for the sake of
           | being "standalone". For the ideal of doing everything
           | yourself, yes, I can definitely sympathize, but just getting
           | rid of DT_NEEDED records isn't much of an ideal.
        
         | someone7x wrote:
         | I fondly remember SciTE from when I first cut my teeth on
         | desktop automation. I'm glad to see it alive and kicking.
         | 
         | https://www.autoitscript.com/wiki/SciTE4AutoIt3
        
         | zozbot234 wrote:
         | Yes, unfortunately it seems that the Scintilla codebase is far
         | from async-ready which will make it a challenge to support new
         | stuff like LSP. We might get tree-sitter parsing support,
         | though.
        
         | anonnon wrote:
         | wxWidget's wxStyledTextCtrl is based on Scintilla, too:
         | https://wiki.wxwidgets.org/WxStyledTextCtrl
        
       | jhwhite wrote:
       | Notepad++ has a place in my heart. When I was learning HTML back
       | in the late 90s early 00s I was using MS Frontpage or Adobe
       | Dreamweaver GUI.
       | 
       | I read that those would spit out sub-optimal HTML and you should
       | use a text editor. So I downloaded Notepad++ and I learned real
       | HTML using it.
        
       | constantcrying wrote:
       | A colleague of mine, who certainly was an extremely experienced
       | and knowledgeable programmer, used Notepad++ for _everything_.
       | Certainly was interesting to see how good you can be even with
       | relatively simple tools.
        
         | AdrianB1 wrote:
         | I did the same 10 years ago, but now VS Code is a much more
         | productive tool for me; for example, extensions, Git
         | integration and markdown preview.
        
       | account-5 wrote:
       | I hope this is better than other offerings on Linux. I've tried a
       | few and none of them come close. Fingers crossed.
       | 
       | I hope this will be compatible with np++ plugins which makes np++
       | even better.
        
         | account-5 wrote:
         | Certainly the windows release fails on my laptop.
        
         | RunSet wrote:
         | :*(
         | 
         | > Plugin compatibility between NN and N++ is not possible.
         | 
         | https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext/issues/422
         | 
         | Shame, since N++'s plugin ecosystem holds quite the treasure
         | trove of functionality.
         | 
         | https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/nppPluginList/blob/mast...
        
       | NetOpWibby wrote:
       | Man, what a throwback. I absolutely LOVED Notepad++. Then I
       | transitioned to macOS and Brackets, then Atom, then Sublime Text.
       | 
       | Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane.
        
       | rembicilious wrote:
       | Npp (Notepad++) is my go to text editor for windows. It has been
       | actively maintained for 20 years. It's lightweight with a super
       | responsive UI. I love the text search/replace interface. I keep a
       | copy of the portable version on my keychain thumb drive because I
       | never know when a friend or family member will have me muck
       | around with their pc. Npp Version 7 runs splendidly on wine. I
       | prefer it over the linux desktop text editors like Kate (which is
       | a great editor in its own right).
       | 
       | I don't think NotepadNext appimage or flatpak will be able to
       | match Npp in regards to memory footprint and ui responsiveness.
       | 
       | But, I am excited to use it and it may find it's way onto my
       | thumbdrive because it runs natively on Linux so it doesn't depend
       | on wine.
        
         | StuffMaster wrote:
         | I also love Notepad2. Both are awesome.
        
           | g8oz wrote:
           | I thought the project was dead
        
             | FreeWorld wrote:
             | I believe it's been replaced by notepad3.
        
         | butz wrote:
         | I was not expecting much, but AppImage startup time and
         | responsiveness looks promising. Memory usage in GNOME System
         | Monitor looks decent (AppRun.wrapped - 13.9MB, NotepadNext -
         | 876.5 kB). Typing feels much faster than Linux version of
         | VSCode, maybe even reaching levels of SublimeText? Need to test
         | with much bigger documents with complicated syntax highlighting
         | to make sure. Overall, the major Notepad++ selling point -
         | autosave on exit - is not implemented here, so until then I'll
         | be going back to Geany, but will keep my eye on this. And
         | forgot to mention that it decently integrates into GNOME
         | desktop as well, no issues with decorations and missing app in
         | Alt+Tab list.
        
         | jtriangle wrote:
         | Notepadqq on linux is basically 1:1 with notepad++
        
           | gverrilla wrote:
           | I'm not a specialist, but having used both I can say Nqq
           | presents a lot of bugs Npp doesn't.
        
       | israrkhan wrote:
       | I am primarily a nevim users. Occasionally I use vs code and
       | dislike it for its slowness. Recently discovered `Zed`[1] on Mac.
       | it is quite fast and really good GUI editor (vs code replacement
       | in some ways).
       | 
       | I think NotePadNext will still remain primarily a choice for
       | windows users.
       | 
       | [1] https://zed.dev/
        
       | wigster wrote:
       | happy days. at last
        
       | bluenose69 wrote:
       | For the macOS version, the docs suggest turning off font
       | smoothing. This might not be something users want to do.
        
       | knighthack wrote:
       | While I love the plethora of text editors, I'm sticking to
       | Sublime Text for pure text editing work, and Vim / Vim-mode with
       | Jetbrains' IDE for code-related work.
       | 
       | Power and love be to all the alternative text editors out there
       | though.
        
       | tombert wrote:
       | Notepad++, as the name suggests for me, was actually the next
       | editor I learned how to use after Windows Notepad. I saw all this
       | pretty syntax highlighting, and the ability to use tabs, and I
       | decided to use it.
       | 
       | I got pretty good with it, even making custom macros and the
       | like, and as I was learning C and C++ on Windows it was still the
       | text editor I used.
       | 
       | The reason I stopped using it really did just come down to the
       | fact that it didn't work on Linux. I had already been dual-
       | booting Windows by 2011, and when Windows 8 got announced I
       | utterly hated it so much that I decided to just do Linux full-
       | time. While I was aware that Notepad++ worked on Wine, I didn't
       | really want to muck with anything emulator or emulator-adjacent,
       | so I just picked up Emacs and Vim (went back and forth for
       | multiple years until finally settling on Vim).
       | 
       | I will need to look at NotepadNext. NeoVim is great, but
       | sometimes I want a simple, non-IDE, GUI text editor as a place to
       | just dump notes down.
        
       | walteweiss wrote:
       | Not really willing to explore after this.
       | 
       | >By default, MacOS enables font smoothing which causes text to
       | appear quite differently from the Windows version. This can be
       | disabled system-wide using the following command:
       | 
       | Does any sane person on a Mac want to have a Windows look,
       | especially when it comes to fonts? Looks crazy to me.
        
         | skeaker wrote:
         | > Does any sane person on a Mac want to have a Windows look,
         | especially when it comes to fonts?
         | 
         | Probably? There are a lot of Mac users.
        
       | jeroen79 wrote:
       | never really been a fan of Npp, i used to use geany, and now
       | vscode as most people do these days.
        
       | fngjdflmdflg wrote:
       | The startup speed for this app is really good. From my quick
       | testing it seems like it is as fast or slightly faster than npp.
       | I am surprised that QT can be that fast. I recall this line from
       | the Sumatra PDF developer on why he chose win32 only:
       | 
       | >The only way for one person to even attempt cross-platform app
       | is to use a UI abstraction layer like Qt, WxWidgets or Gtk.
       | 
       | >The problem is that Gtk is ugly, Qt is extremely bloated and
       | WxWidgets barely works.[0]
       | 
       | To be fair, a PDF reader and a notepad editor are two different
       | things, and startup speed is only one metric which is the only
       | one I tested. But I always assumed npp was also using win32 APIs
       | only for similar reasons. (I don't actualy know what GUI toolkit
       | npp uses.) And "bloated" could perhaps mean a lot of things.
       | Perhaps QT takes more memory or something. But I always assumed
       | npp's unbeatable speed was due to native APIs.
       | 
       | [0]
       | https://blog.kowalczyk.info/article/2f72237a4230410a888acbfc...
        
         | xcv123 wrote:
         | Performance is not an issue with Qt. He probably means the
         | framework is too large and complicated from a developer
         | perspective. The compiled code is fast.
        
           | umpalumpaaa wrote:
           | Came here to say the same thing. Qt is a C++ library and is
           | widely used (for example in KDE) and is also used in embedded
           | environments a lot. And its pretty mature.
        
         | chrystalkey wrote:
         | Sumatra is such an awesome piece of software, small, fast,
         | almost entirely bug-free, incredible load speeds for large
         | pdfs... my Linux alternative is Evince, which does about the
         | same
        
         | zozbot234 wrote:
         | GTK+ 3 and 4 are quite visually ugly, but you can get Windows
         | classic-styled themes for both (from Chicago95 and B00merang
         | project respectively) that will make them far more usable.
        
           | criddell wrote:
           | Do those themes mimic the Windows look or do they ask Win32
           | to draw butons, windows, menus, etc...?
        
       | indigodaddy wrote:
       | I like this a LOT. Any plugins eg diff type things or vim mode
       | etc on the roadmap?
        
       | pyrophane wrote:
       | I love that this is a made with C++/Qt and isn't an electron app.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       |  _NotepadNext: A cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30959025 - April 2022 (273
       | comments)
        
       | rubymamis wrote:
       | Damn this app is so fast. It handles 24x War and Peace without
       | sweating a bit. Much faster than Sublime as well. The only thing
       | with equivalent performance (on macOS) is BBEdit. Does anyone
       | know how they are able to load such large files so fast? I guess
       | they lazy load from disk as well?
       | 
       | I'm writing a block editor in Qt C++ (Npp is also written in Qt)
       | and QML[1], so I'm very curious. I load the entire text and then
       | render it using a virtualized list (ListView). My app is
       | currently the fastest block editor that I've tested. But I always
       | want to take it up a notch and even compete in performance with
       | Sublime and BBEdit, and now NotepadNext.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.get-plume.com/
       | 
       | EDIT: It's REALLY fast and very efficient (consumes low amount of
       | memory). Seems to be faster than BBEdit (unscientific). If anyone
       | has a clue about the architecture or can share a link, it will be
       | appreciated.
        
         | binary132 wrote:
         | mmap?
        
         | extragood wrote:
         | Thanks for the comparison to Sublime.
         | 
         | That's been my preferred editor for a decade, but massive files
         | have always been a pain point.
        
       | SpartanJ wrote:
       | Shameless plug: I'm working on a multi-platform code editor
       | similar to NP++ and some new editors like Zed called ecode, that
       | tries to be a fresh take on code editors using some modern tools
       | and technologies like LSPs. I started working on it after using
       | Geany for many years but finding Geany lacking some essential
       | features for my needs. ecode is developed with speed in mind and
       | has a very fast startup time.
       | 
       | [1] https://github.com/SpartanJ/ecode/
        
         | hoyd wrote:
         | Nice work. Does it have auto-save, like npp?
        
           | SpartanJ wrote:
           | Thanks! Currently it does not but it's not something
           | particularly complex to implement so I can add it if there's
           | interest! I haven't used NP++ in some time so I don't
           | remember exactly how it behaves but I'll take a look.
        
       | rightbyte wrote:
       | Nice I'll try it. About the only app I miss on Linux is
       | Notepad++.
        
       | throwaway918274 wrote:
       | I worked with a guy who used Ubuntu and his main editor was
       | Notepad++ running in Wine.
        
       | binary132 wrote:
       | I think I missed what was wrong with npp that needed superseding.
       | Is it just that it's not portable? Perhaps a portability layer
       | could be contributed?
        
         | SuperNinKenDo wrote:
         | Based off looks and speed, I've always assumed Npp was pure
         | win32. So the only portability layer is Wine.
         | 
         | That said, from memory, it actually works well in Wine, but
         | plugins can be iffy.
        
       | mixmastamyk wrote:
       | Geany already exists and could use some help.
        
       | aftbit wrote:
       | Cool! Notepad++ was one of the apps that I missed the most when I
       | switched to Linux. Besides games, it was the number one reason
       | that I kept rebooting into another OS. After a while, I learned
       | emacs, then vim, and the rest is history. Today, I would probably
       | have switched to Codium. As long as we agree not to use Sublime
       | Text anymore.
        
         | fsloth wrote:
         | I transitioned recently to Mac on new job and I was surprised
         | to find the most _painful_ thing was not havig Notepad++ and
         | was super amazed I did not find comparable software on Mac.
        
         | paulnpace wrote:
         | Notepad++ works well for me in wine.
        
           | notRobot wrote:
           | I couldn't get it to work perfectly, it had text and UI
           | rendering bugs that made it unusable. Geany works well as an
           | alternative for me on GNU/Linux.
        
       | yuz wrote:
       | Finally! Every you are so I go online and look up if someone did
       | it, and finally I won't have use vscode
        
       | g8oz wrote:
       | Does this reimplementation allow for defining projects consisting
       | of files from all over the file system? Rather than just all the
       | files in a directory? That is a killer feature of Notepad++ for
       | me.
        
       | osigurdson wrote:
       | Do they mention why they are re-writing it? It seems neither bad
       | nor very popular.
        
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