if (TextMate == 42)

{I've had some pretty extensive experience using every major OS for various forms of development and end-user work. And just like every other programmer in the world, I certainly have my opinions, likes, and dislikes of every platform (some are a lot closer to perfection than others of course). Text editors are the same way. Everyone loves one or two, and hates all the others.

There are others of course: I actually know a guy who edits his live "enterprise-level php applications" with Pico. And he says he has been for 10 years (Note that Pico has only been out for 9 years). What a joke.

Pico is not a programmer's tool.

But anyway: For literally decades, there has been a great war between unix developers. VI(m) vs. Emacs.

I am most certainly a proponent of VI, and probably always will be. It's a fantastic editor, and it suits my needs pefectly. And for those of us who need something a little more streamlines there's always CREAM, which is a fantastic implementation of a heavily customized GVIM that can handle literally anything you throw at it with little or no fuss.

Now all software, in any context, is a tool. Nothing more. VI and EMACS and all others exist for one reason: to make a programmer's life easier. That's why they were invented, and that's why they are maintained.

Now, I still use VIM all the time in my day-to-day life. Its wonderful to SSH into just about any *nix server on the planet, and have VIM sitting there, waiting for me to tell it what to do. It helps me to feel at home. I used to use it full-time for all of my coding on my workstations as well. I was passionate about it. I'd tote VIM all the time. VIM is great. It seemed so. It used to.

Used to. And then there was TextMate. TextMate. TextMate. Have a mac? Try it. Now. Download it. Buy it. Pirate it, I don't care. Your life will never be the same.

TextMate is seriously the best piece of software I have come across in a very very long time. I can code incredibly fast with it. It helps me to become a better programmer. We all agree that you should NEVER Copy and Paste code: but using code snippets is different. It's like... An experience I cannot describe.

I'll be purchasing a new laptop soon, and to be honest with you, the fact that I'll have TextMate on a mac makes me sure without a doubt to get an Apple computer. That and the fact that Mac OS X is a FANTASTIC operating system)

TextMate is a text editor like no other.

There's nothing better. And there never will. I know that's quite an extreme statement, but it's true. I'll do a full review eventually. I'm just so blown away. Sorry for my thoughts being all over the place in this post. I can't think strait. Textmate.

}