http://markelikalderon.com/2006/11/05/textmat-and-bright-patient-design/ Philosophy and Text Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:56:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://markelikalderon.com/2006/11/05/textmat-and-bright-patient-design/comment-page-1/#comment-7 From Editor Wars to Kantian Ethics at Excursus Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:32:36 +0000 http://markelikalderon.com/blog/2006/11/05/textmat-and-bright-patient-design/#comment-7 <p>[...] However, Erik’s complaint about TextMate’s lack of chunk undo was perhaps only a pretext to invite his readers to share what they take to be the comparative advantages and disadvantages of BBEdit and TextMate. I have licenses for both, but now only use TextMate. There were many reasons for the switch. Let me mention a few, not necessarily the most important reasons. I find TextMate’s snippets, a method for “smart” text insertion, superior in functionality and implementation to BBEdit’s Glossary function. While it is possible to extend BBEdit’s functionality, I found this much easier to do with TextMate’s bundle system—indeed it has allowed a nonprogrammer like myself to immediately implement things that I lacked the skills to implement in BBEdit. Lastly, TextMate just feels right. (In no small part because of what Rands describes as bright, patient design) Subjective, to be sure, but not, thereby, irrelevant. Text editing is a craft. It is important to hone this craft with a tool that you are comfortable using. If for you that is BBEdit, or Emacs, or vi, or SubEthaEdit, that, in the end, is the most important thing. [...]</p> […] However, Erik’s complaint about TextMate’s lack of chunk undo was perhaps only a pretext to invite his readers to share what they take to be the comparative advantages and disadvantages of BBEdit and TextMate. I have licenses for both, but now only use TextMate. There were many reasons for the switch. Let me mention a few, not necessarily the most important reasons. I find TextMate’s snippets, a method for “smart” text insertion, superior in functionality and implementation to BBEdit’s Glossary function. While it is possible to extend BBEdit’s functionality, I found this much easier to do with TextMate’s bundle system—indeed it has allowed a nonprogrammer like myself to immediately implement things that I lacked the skills to implement in BBEdit. Lastly, TextMate just feels right. (In no small part because of what Rands describes as bright, patient design) Subjective, to be sure, but not, thereby, irrelevant. Text editing is a craft. It is important to hone this craft with a tool that you are comfortable using. If for you that is BBEdit, or Emacs, or vi, or SubEthaEdit, that, in the end, is the most important thing. […]

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