Long-Delayed TextMate 2 Arrives as Public Alpha

[blipmusic]

TM2 alpha = Portal cake. Only not. Minds are blown.

Probably the only editor that sets the internet on fire (considering a lot of twitter feeds are abundant with TM2 news from people I think would never shout out about text editors of all things).

Also, cool that people need to be looked down upon in this forum just because they're not using the "hardcore" stuff (whatever that means), e.g. full IDEs and vi...

Wait, it's not cool at all. 'Stupid' is what I meant to write.

A text editor is a fantastic tool for alot of people. It could be for simple "text crunching" if your terminal-fu is a bit rusty or non-existent (like in my case). Even if it's just a companion to a fullblown IDE (I guess?).

I even feel it's a tool my university (read: all universities) should promote to researchers (linguistics in my case), whether it's for controlling 'R', writing papers in latex, notes (in markdown perhaps) or word crunching (it's nice to have grep etc inside of the app to me). Or what ever language they use for coding experiments.

As for Textmate, the snippet editor in particular was something even an almost non-coder like myself got my head around and used to great effect (but I honestly don't know what other text editors offer in that area). Then there were all the little things which I could sort out without digging in config files.

In the alpha I notice some coding font choices mess up line height when mixed with Japanese in-line. Don't know if that goes for other non-latin langugages as well.

I'm currently using Sublime Text 2 (learning it, rather). But no doubt I'll make a foolish TM2 purchase, whenever it's golden.

I feel more comfortable, having a more fully developed GUI next to the text editor area, combined with good keyboard bindings/macros. Mostly html/latex in my case but so what?

Next up: why *you* should like the color green better than blue (hint: for no other reason that I don't agree with your color choice - which of course does not affect me. But this being the internet and all...).

The christmas turkey seems to come stuffed with vitriol on MR. Luckily, we have non-stuffed christmas ham where I live.

 

[KnightWRX]

Also, cool that people need to be looked down upon in this forum just because they're not using the "hardcore" stuff (whatever that means), e.g. full IDEs and vi...

No one is looking down on anybody. In fact, I think all this flaming started when someone mentionned the following tidbit :

You are obvious, not a developer...

The reason that this is such news is because TextMate was the only real editor a developer could use on a mac.

So I guess the Textmate side of the debate started the "looking down". Might want to be careful of posting such incendiary remarks if you didn't quite follow the thread.

I started out with an honest question about what Textmate offered over MacVim that was so great because I honestly don't know about Textmate. However, when our friend sperry here spewed his non-sense, I couldn't help but rebute him on the fact that Textmate is hardly "the only real editor a developer could use on a mac".

 

[blipmusic]

[...] So I guess the Textmate side of the debate started the "looking down". Might want to be careful of posting such incendiary remarks if you didn't quite follow the thread.

I started out with an honest question about what Textmate offered over MacVim that was so great because I honestly don't know about Textmate. However, when our friend sperry here spewed his non-sense, [...]

I thought I did follow the thread, but I guess my cynical half took over due to some of the stuff I read here lately. Sorry about that. Guess I'm over sensitive when it comes to criticism over subjective stuff (to the extent that I misinterpret posters' intentions it seems - ironic, since I'm a linguist in to pragmatics... "physician heal thyself"?).

[...] I couldn't help but rebute him on the fact that Textmate is hardly "the only real editor a developer could use on a mac".

Absolutely true, of course.

 

[xper]

Any screenshots just for giggles?

 

[cristiana]

Gave up on TM, Went Sublime

I was an ardent supporter of TextMate for years, it was an amazing editor. But, one day I got annoyed at the lack of split window editing, at that time, it would have saved me a ton of time with that particular problem.
So, I went looking for alternatives, and as I had done many times, and unlike those times, I actually found something. Sublime Text 2, it supports many of the Textmate bundles and themes. The best thing about it though, it is in very active development, with dev releases every two weeks or so. From the time I started using it, it has improved greatly.
Now that there is an alpha of TM2, I don't see much point, as Sublime does most everything TM does, and it is stable, and in very active development.

 

[sigamy]

Taco HTML handles my basic PHP and HTML needs just fine. Really liked Coda, but couldn't justify the cost.

I'm not at all a "all-software-should-be-free" type of person, but dev's really need to look at the value equation when the price apps. I'm sure this adds great deal of productivity for coders but it's a hard sale in my mind when Mac OS X is $30 and this text editor is $50.

 

[savar]

Does it now undo more than 1 character at a time? That's the one thing that's driven me nuts about TextMate and I cannot use it like that.

Yes. Undo is fixed in TM2.

 

[blipmusic]

[...] I actually found something. Sublime Text 2, it supports many of the Textmate bundles and themes. [...]

Yup, it's really nice. Got a license back in alpha. Stable and worked extremly well for what I'm doing (and fast too, even on my 4 year old MBP with only 2GB ram).

First thing to do after ST2 install: change that abomination of an icon (very important, no?)! (TM2's icon is beautiful IMO, thanks to the awesome David Lanham). Love the dark Soda theme a bit down on the same page. And non-latin characters work great, which is a must for me (in all fairness, they do in BBEdit and probably alot of/most other editors as well). TM1 wasn't so hot in that area.

Need to resort to editing config-files for setting ST2 up (at least I did?). Though, I have to confess it wasn't that troublesome, so a feather in the hat for the vi/m (etc) people in that regard, I guess.

However, if we ever see a 1.0 release of TM2, I'll end up getting it anyway (for the sake of nostalgia?).

 

[savar]

Next up: why *you* should like the color green better than blue (hint: for no other reason that I don't agree with your color choice - which of course does not affect me. But this being the internet and all...).

Hey buddy, REAL artists use red, not that new-fangled blue and green crap. Give me one reason how blue is better than red???

(snark)

 

[blipmusic]

Hey buddy, REAL artists use red, not that new-fangled blue and green crap. Give me one reason how blue is better than red???
(snark)

Hello? The sky, man! Oceans of water! I mean, even your body is practically *all* water!

*looks around for some special tobacco, realizes he is probably the least likely to be in possession of any - at least in this building - then tries to put the Textmate 2 flower in his hair, only to find it being mysteriously and permanently attached to the screen, sulks a bit, opts for coffee*

 

[uwbadger]

Right no serious developers build websites or web applications. Javascript is barely used these days. HTML5 is a myth

Those just fall from the sky from some very serious C++-developer up in the clouds using Text Mate. Right?

As a 'very serious C++-developer', I honestly wouldn't know where to begin developing a web application. The point I was trying to make is that someone who mainly develops websites and web applications probably shouldn't generalize about what most 'serious developers' do. There's a lot of different types of development out there, and while an IDE might be the best tool for your work, it's not the best tool for me. It depends on the problem, the language(s), and personal experience.

 

[Surreal]

TextMate 2 is real. Maybe Arn likes TextMate. Maybe it is just that simple. It IS newsworthy if you care, less so if you don't.

I use TextMate and Xcode. I have tried and will try vi but TextMate still wins as my text editor of choice.

 

[kps]

If you are a serious developer, you are probably not using a text editor, but a proper IDE.

Unix is an IDE.

 

[dolphin842]

I'm not at all a "all-software-should-be-free" type of person, but dev's really need to look at the value equation when the price apps. I'm sure this adds great deal of productivity for coders but it's a hard sale in my mind when Mac OS X is $30 and this text editor is $50.

Keep in mind that Apple can keep software prices low because a) the market they are serving is much larger and b) their primary revenue comes from hardware sales. Independent developers who aren't making mass-market apps like games often don't have those luxuries. A general rule of thumb: The more niche your software product is, the higher the price needs to be to make ends meet. Practicing software developers are a pretty small percentage of the overall Mac ecosystem.

Also, for someone who more-or-less earns their living in a text editor, spending $50 once every 5 or so years for a tool that makes one's life easier is an afterthought. Think about design folks who have to shell out orders of magnitude more for CS5, Final Cut, Avid, BlackMagic hardware, cameras, etc. (Or for that matter, a home remodeler, who has to own and maintain a work truck, plus a literal garage full of saws, drills, ladders, tools, and other equipment)

 

[Llywelyn]

Also, for someone who more-or-less earns their living in a text editor, spending $50 once every 5 or so years for a tool that makes one's life easier is an afterthought. Think about design folks who have to shell out orders of magnitude more for CS5, Final Cut, Avid, BlackMagic hardware, cameras, etc. (Or for that matter, a home remodeler, who has to own and maintain a work truck, plus a literal garage full of saws, drills, ladders, tools, and other equipment)

This. Exactly.

$50 is trivial for a software product I will use every day if it makes my life–especially my professional life–significantly easier.

 

[memco]

I've been playing with the alpha a bit, and it seems decent. It is mostly the same. The new bundle manager is a nice addition. I noticed it didn't include the Zen bundle though, so it will only help for those bundles TM is aware of.

One of my primary dislikes is the way TM now handles themes. They aren't as easy to access and edit. I didn't see a way to set a default font, but I haven't looked that hard.

I use Jasonevers' mod with v. 1, so I already had the one window experience. One thing I noticed is that the sidebar's control bar is at the top, whereas I'm used to it being at the bottom. Not a big thing, but I personally think it makes sense on the bottom. Another change from v. 1 for me is that the tab bar now runs the full width of the window when it used to only span the top of the editing area (side effect of the mod, but a nice one for me).

I expect the SCM integration would be a useful addition, but it doesn't seem to recognize my installation of git (I may have it setup wrong).

I'm glad for the update, I hope there are some exciting new features, but I'm not holding my breath. Textmate works for me and although there are many other editors out there, I'm happy with it, and I'll probably continue to use it.

 

[KnightWRX]

Unix is an IDE.

Unix is many things, but a IDE it is not.

Unix is a specification (the Single Unix Specification which once implemented and tested can grant you the right to call your implementation Unix)
Unix is an operating system (the original Bell Labs'/AT&T SysV Unix)
Unix is a set of copyright (namely copyrights to the original Bell Labs'/AT&T codebase)

But it's not an IDE.

 

[SilverRubicon]

Yup, it's really nice. Got a license back in alpha. Stable and worked extremly well for what I'm doing (and fast too, even on my 4 year old MBP with only 2GB ram).

Sublime Text 2 is easily my favorite editor. It's the best editor I've found since Multi-Edit back in the DOS days. Updates every day, feels very Mac like, and looks like a Mac app with the Soda theme. Configuration through text files is a minus, but you can't have everything.

 

[blipmusic]

[...] I didn't see a way to set a default font, but I haven't looked that hard. [...]

Currently found in a menu:
View -> Font -> Show fonts (the standard Mac OS font window will pop up)

While I was already a typophile, iA Writer (Nitti!) and ST2/TM2 is honestly turning me into a monospace-o-holic. Unfortunately, some are as expensive as good proportional width text fonts... At least there's Inconsolata.

[...] feels very Mac like [...]

And yet it's cross-platform (even Linux) which is a pretty nice bonus.

 

[EggyWeggs]

Guys, don't kill me, but I still think Dreamweaver does some stuff better than even TextMate & Sublime (of which I own both...Coda too.)

For me, Dreamweaver has some nice built-in JavaScript syntax error checking. I can not for the life of me duplicate this feature in Sublime 2. I've tried. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. I have the jQuery bundle, that's great. But if I'm coding and insert a stray "/" or what have you, Dreamweaver actually alerts me that it's there. No other text editor I've tried has anything similar that I can find?

 

[Heilage]

I'll stick with Coda. I love it.

However, it seems about time that TextMate got a new version. I've heard a lot about in the past few years.

 

[blipmusic]

Guys, don't kill me, but I still think Dreamweaver does some stuff better than even TextMate & Sublime (of which I own both...Coda too.)

I'm not going to argue whether that's true or not but a good extensible text editor can be used for so much more. In my case latex and easier accessibility to stuff like grep (terminal aficionados might cringe here) for text crunching in my research.

 

[kemo]

...I'm not at all a "all-software-should-be-free" type of person, but dev's really need to look at the value equation when the price apps....

What I really need, because working in TexMate is my living is a tool that makes my work easier and makes me as effective as possible no matter how much that tool cost - I dont care Photoshop costs 1k, I would not even care if textmate would cost $200 and I would get the licence anyway..

For now actually Im trying out the Sublime as well and to be honest, TextMate has a nice alternative IMHO.