As a developer, working mainly in JS, unwilling to fork out cash, my preferred IDE is Brackets.
Most people would say Atom is better. I object for the following reasons:
- Can’t exclude node_modules in many use cases. I shouldn’t have to restructure my application to fit my IDE.
- No right-click association in windows explorer, and vice versa: Open in windows explorer by right clicking a file in the IDE.
- I prefer the look and feel of Brackets
Notepad++ is OK for super noobs, but code completion and the variety of plugins for Brackets and Atom will make you convert soon enough.
If I wasn’t cheap I would go for JetBrains probably.
For Java I like Eclipse or JetBrains products.
Here are a few cool Brackets extensions:
- In the package manager
- Beautify
- Todo
- Emmet
- Super Right Click
- Node.js bindings
- Markdown Toolbar
- Install by URL (it’s worth the extra minute)
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