Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

GitHub Open Sources Atom, Their Text Editor Based On Chromium

Posted by Unknown on from the emacs-does-it-better dept.

First time accepted submitter aojensen (1503269) writes "GitHub has made good on promises to open source Atom, a programmer's text editor based on Chromium. Atom is released under the MIT license (source repository). GitHub announced the following on their blog: 'Because we spend most of our day in a text editor, the single most important feature we wanted in an editor was extensibility. Atom is built with the same open source technologies used by modern web browsers. ... But more importantly, extending Atom is as simple as writing JavaScript and CSS, two languages used by millions of developers each day.'

Apart from being extensible via HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, Atom also offers out-of-the-box Node.js integration, a modular design with a built-in package manager (apm), and extensive features such as file system browser, themes, project-wide search and replace, panes, snippets, code folding, and more. Launched only 10 weeks ago, Atom seems to have a well-established ecosystem of packages and extensions already." The editor is based on atom-shell, a more general framework for building desktop apps using JavaScript/HTML. Beware: according to the FAQ, by default it sends "usage data" to Google Analytics (which can be disabled at least).

9 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Google Analytics? by ButchDeLoria · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe it's the past year getting to me, but I'm wary of a text editor that phones home. https://atom.io/faq

  2. Emacs by Meneth · · Score: 4, Funny

    Reminds me of Emacs; a decent operating system. All it lacks is a good text editor.

  3. But does it have... by loony · · Score: 4, Funny

    a vi compatible mode?

  4. mac only? by rogoshen1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmm currently only available for Mac..

    On one hand, smacks of hipsterism. on the other.. as a windows user, now i know how it feels.

    1. Re:mac only? by Evardsson · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know about other folks but Mac has never been the assumed default for any program I ever download, especially editors aimed at developers.

      (emphasis mine)

      I think maybe they only provide the Mac binaries because us Mac users are (in their opinion) too stupid to build from source?

      https://github.com/atom/atom

      You will see all the requirements in the readme there for building on Linux, Mac and Windows.

      Have we, as developers, collectively forgotten how to build from source?

      --
      Death looks every man in the face. All any man can do is look back and smile. - Marcus Aurelius
  5. "...we spend most of our day in a text editor..." by QilessQi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man. And I thought my cubicle was cramped...

    --
    Koans and fables for the software engineer
  6. Re:EMACS 2.0 by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 5, Funny

    If the comment systems on the internet have taught me anything, it is "if you are insulting someone in your post, make sure that your spelling and grammar are flawless".

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

  7. Re:EMACS 2.0 by dotancohen · · Score: 5, Funny

    Remember back when EMACS stood for Eight Megs and Constantly Swapping.

    The new acronym is:
    A
    Ton
    Of
    Memory

    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  8. Re:Komodo Anybody? by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Komodo doesn't support Google Analytics, and it would be difficult to convince people to install it as a plugin.

    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.