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The long-running BBEdit has reached version 14.0, with the macOS text editor update making a considerable number of changes, including helping users organize quickly-written notes.
A professional alternative to Apple’s TextEdit, BBEdit from Bare Bones Software is a more elaborate text editor that also includes features beneficial to coders. For the update to version 14.0, the developers have included a long list of additions and tweaks to the tool.
For non-coders, arguably the biggest change is Notes, namely quickly-created files for note-taking purposes rather than full documents. The feature will automatically save entered text as a note, complete with an automatically-generated title, to save users from having dozens of untitled files in a folder.
Data scientists will benefit from Anaconda Virtual Environments, which it will detect using conda or miniconda. Once detected, it will provide a mechanism for switching the active environment when running Unix tools and scrips within the editor.
On the developer side, there’s enhanced language-specific text completions, an improved Find Definition function, help for specifying function parameters, additional features for navigating code, in-window highlighting of syntax and semantic issues, and language-specific document reformatting.
The changes are a result of the built-in support for the Language Server Protocol, where user-installed language “servers” dictate language-sensitive behaviors. This allows the tool to change how it operates depending on the language being used.
New languages supported with syntax coloring and function navigation support in the editor include Go, R, Rust, Lisp-family languages like Clojure, and Pixar Universal Scene Description (USD) text files.
There are nearly 100 additions and changes to the tool, which is fully spelled out in the change notes.
BBEdit is priced at $49.99 for an individual full license, while upgrades start from $29.99. It is also available in the Mac App Store on a subscription, priced at $39.99 per year of $3.99 per month, with a 30-day trial also available.
It is compatible with Macs running macOS 10.14.2 or later. It is compatible with macOS Big Sur, and runs natively on Macs with the M1 chip.
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