jEdit 4.3 showing Java macro. |
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| Original author(s) | Slava Pestov |
| Developer(s) | jEdit project |
| Initial release | 1998 |
| Stable release | 4.4.2 / October 13, 2011 |
| Preview release | - / - |
| Written in | Java |
| Operating system | Java-supporting[1] |
| Available in | English only |
| Type | Text editor |
| License | GPLv2 |
| Website | http://www.jedit.org |
jEdit is a text editor for programmers, available under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. It is written in Java and runs on any operating system with Java support, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and BSD.
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jEdit development was started in 1998.
The founding author was Slava Pestov, who left the project in 2006, handing development to the free software community.[2]
jEdit includes syntax highlighting that provides native support for over 130 file formats. Support for additional formats can be added manually using XML files. It supports UTF-8 and many other encodings.
It has extensive code folding and text folding capabilities as well as text wrapping that takes indents into account.
The application is highly customizable and can be extended with macros written in BeanShell, Jython, JavaScript and some other scripting languages.
There are over 150 available jEdit plug-ins for many different application areas.
Plug-ins are used to customize the application for individual use and can make it into an advanced XML/HTML editor, or an integrated development environment (IDE), with compiler, code completion, context-sensitive help, debugging, visual differentiation and language-specific tools.
The plug-ins are downloaded via an integrated plug-in manager which finds and installs them and their associated updates automatically.[3]
Some available plug-ins include:
In general jEdit has received positive reviews from software writers.
Rob Griffiths wrote in April 2002 for MAC OS X HINTS saying he was "very impressed" and naming it "pick of the week". He cited its file memory upon reopening, its ability to notice if an open file was changed on disk by another program, syntax coloring, including that users can create their own colour schemes, split windows feature, show line number feature, convertible tabs to soft-tabs and view sidebars. He also praised its customization possibilities using the extensive preferences panel and the "on the fly" search engine, which searches while typing.[5]
Griffiths noted that the application has a few drawbacks, such as that it is "a bit slow at scrolling a line at a time" and that because it is a Java application it doesn't have the full Aqua interface.[5]
Also reviewing the application in April 2002, Daniel Steinberg writing for O'Reilly Media said "The strength of jEdit for Java developers comes from the plug-ins contributed by the community...For the most part, there's nothing here that couldn't be done with BBEdit or even with Emacs or vi. jEdit packages the capabilities much more nicely and makes it easy to call often-used functionality using the plug-ins. Where I saw NetBeans as overkill, others may see jEdit as underkill for an IDE or overkill for a text editor. I find it Mac friendly and easy to use. I don't expect too much from it, so I tend to be pleased with what I get."[6]
Scott Beatty reviewing jEdit on SitePoint in 2005 particularly noted the application's folding feature along with its search and replace and PHP syntax highlighting capabilities. He recommended the use of the PHPParser plug-in. The PHPParser is a PHP parser that checks for PHP syntax errors whenever a PHP code file is loaded or saved. He noted that downloading jEdit is simple, but that getting and installing the plug-ins to customize it for individual use can be a complex process: "Beware that a full setup requires a series of downloads, and that this process can take time."[7]