Using text editors to write and manage programs

Like any other practice, programming requires a certain set of tools.

The first of these is the text editor. Text editors for programming are not like ordinary word processors, which will often apply formatting to text and sometimes force users to save with certain file extensions. Programs need to be saved in a raw format in order to run properly. This can be done with plain text editors such as Notepad in Windows and gedit in Linux; however, there are a few reasons to use a specialized text editor to program:

• Code and data tend to be spread across multiple directories, so keeping things organized is an important part of programming. Specialized text editors will often include an interface to open, close, move around, and rename files in a particular directory.
• Programs have rigid syntax, so it can be hard to navigate, read, and write programs, and easy to make mistakes if there is nothing to reinforce that syntax. Specialized text editors will highlight the syntax of the programming language. They will also often include shortcuts to fill in common words and syntactical elements.