Free tools for you dev toolbox - Notepad++

No matter what IDE or other tools you use you still need a great text editor from time to time. The Windows default of Notepad is very basic to say the least. Enter Notepad++, a free and open source Notepad on steroids.

It has been part of my standard toolbox for so may year now.

It has so many benefits over Notepad:

• Tabbed windows
• Support for source highlighting for MANY languages
• Intellisense. More limited than a full IDE but still worth it.
• Many Plug-ins for different tasks, such as spell check.
• It you exit without saving it preserves the unsaved tabs for when you re-open!

I normally use one tab with the auto preserve as a scratch pad or TODO list.

If you do not have a good backup text editor do yourself a favor and get Notepad++ :)

Woz