monkeys on typewriters

E is a just-out-of-beta text editor for Windows. (Also, it’s worth noting that a Linux version will be forthcoming.) Now, the astute reader would at this point be wondering why I would like it, since I am most decidedly a Mac user. Well, E is admittedly a Windows clone port version of the popular (and award winning) TextMate. A good one. And why is that a good thing for developers? I’m glad you asked.

Platform Independence. Now that E exists it means that a developer writing a platform independent piece of software (i.e. web app) can be platform independent when writing it. All of those little things you use to get the job done (syntax highlighting, hotkeys, TM bundles, etc.) will be exactly the same when you move from operating system to operating system. The mental adjustments you will have to make will be far smaller with E and TextMate.

Stronger Community. TextMate and E use the same formats for their “bundles”, which specify everything from the syntax highlighting to the tab triggers. These bundles are open source, and many have been contributed to TextMate since it was first created in 2004. With a Windows and soon a Linux version, there will be even more people contributing to make and improve bundles. Since the bundles are platform independent, a developer’s work on one platform will benefit those on all of them.

I actually like the approach of the E/TextMate pair better than the idea of porting apps from one platform to another. Since the resources of these smaller developers are limited, the end result will be that one of both versions are significantly deficient. (If you have hundreds of engineers to throw at the problem and your company’s name happens to be Apple, Adobe, or Microsoft, feel free to ignore this paragraph.) Plus, since you have two teams working on the collective project, you have twice the number of bright people working independently to better it.