this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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[–] zerbey@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Only thing I used it for was when older versions of Notepad couldn't handle larger text files. Now it can. So, no loss to me. Notepad going away would suck, that does at least get occasional use although Notepad++ is far superior.

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Notepad++ can't handle as big files for some reason. At work we have files that can reach 5-600 MB, and NP++ can't always open those, but notepad handles then with no problem.

[–] adchevrier@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had the same problem but noticed that I was using the 32 bit version of notepad++, installed the 64 bits instead and had no problems with large files

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

That might actually be something to bring up with IT...

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've opened 4GB files with notepad++ before. Sure, it takes several minutes (I basically have to go away and do something else, or leave it loading in the background) but it gets there, eventually.

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

NP++ straight up tells us it's too big to be opened...

[–] Ghoelian@feddit.nl 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tbf npp has much more functionality than regular notepad.

Just the syntax highlighting alone probably dramatically lowers the amount of text it can render.

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Yep, I prefer it when it works. Highlighting plus line numbers helps a ton.

[–] IDeserveToBeLoved@szmer.info 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

With bigger files or searching in files where there's a lot of data I found sublimetext to be much more efficient (than n++)

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I use sublime at home, but work is pretty strict with what we can use.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just upload it in the cloud and use Microsoft online word!

\s

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Hahahahaha, hahahaha.

Hahahahaha

[–] Malfeasant@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That sounds backwards... I occasionally have to open log files of 1 gig or more, and notepad++ gets sluggish, but is usable, while notepad just hangs until I kill it...

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Someone suggested that we might have the 32-bit version, and that that might be the problem. I have no way of checking for a few months though, since I'm on parental leave until January. Because our NP++ just says that the files are too big to be opened. Sidenote: Sometimes it can open files that are a bit bigger, and sometimes only a bit smaller... So it's not a hard limit that is the same at all times.

[–] evilgiraffe666@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There's a npp plugin called Big Files, I haven't used it but it might be worth a look.

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Can't use plugins unfortunately..

[–] Irkam@jlai.lu 0 points 1 year ago
[–] grayman@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Klogg. I always avoid Microsoft when possible.

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Would if I could, but work is pretty strict with what we can use.

[–] grayman@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a portable app and runs in use space. So no install. I'm in the same boat with work. Open source apps are great for just running an app.

[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Then it will depend on if we are allowed to download it at all. Can't be sure about that.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Genuinely curious—why would someone choose to use notepad++ over something like VSCode in 2023?

I can't say I've used n++ in over a decade when I switched to sublime around 2010, moved again to VSCode about 5 years ago

[–] UlrikHD@programming.dev 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

VSCode uses electron so it's not exactly a lightweight text editor, way overkill if you just want to read a simple .txt. Add on the fact if you got way too many extension, it will be even heavier.

[–] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 2 points 1 year ago

That's true, although from my experience is VSCode one of the very few electron apps that still start within fractions of a second, even with a handful of extensions. On my machine VSCode (with 38 extensions) is ready to use before the GNOME launch animation has finished.

That said, things are probably a bit different on machines with limited RAM.

[–] thecrotch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

N++ can search for a string in a directory full of files, that's what I use it for. Also helpful for showing unprintable characters like linefeeds or changing bit order mode, I'm not sure vs code can do any of that.

For writing code, though, I do use vs code

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

IIRC you can do both of those with VSCode, I think even without any extensions too!

The search sidebar has include and exclude fields for directories to search in.

For showing unprintable characters, I think it's split into two settings: one for whitespace one for control characters like null and bell

[–] thecrotch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I wasn't aware of that, I'll have to check it out. Thank you.

[–] AustralianSimon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

NP++ is more lightweight and has some useful stuff builtin and easier to justify to IT dept to than a full IDE 🤷

Personally I prefer pycharm and Atom for my home needs.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Justifying it to IT makes a lot of sense actually. Particularly if you need extensions. I'm lucky I get admin on my laptop where I work

Interesting you're using atom, actually! Is it still getting much love? I assumed development would go by the wayside once Microsoft bought GitHub a few years ago (as VSCode is almost an identical product)

[–] AustralianSimon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah it's on my personal machine, I use it alongside pycharm but it's (atom) not my main IDE, I keep it because of a few things it does. I disagree vscode is the same, it's a poorer implementation of pycharm IMHO. Just my opinion though everyone is different in workspace.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm interested in what differs from atom about VSCode in your opinion. ~~Wasn't VSCode a fork of atom originally?~~ edit: apparently not! When I was picking between the two about 5 years ago, they seemed almost identical to me

I'm personally not a big fan of heavy IDEs like the jetbrains products, so VSCode being lighter than pycharm (or any of the IDEA products) is a bonus to me.

[–] AustralianSimon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Look at Atom community. Speed to load is night and day.

For me, Vscode feels like a cheaper pycharm which is my primary IDE and wouldn't change as I've tried vscode as an alt and it wasn't good enough for how I work.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Fair play, everyone's different, I work with another guy who swears by the jetbrains stuff, but it just seems very clunky to me every time I've tried it.

I'll have to give atom another look then, though I'd say VSCode starts in about a second on my machine, so startup time alone probably wouldn't be a reason for me to switch