Are you familiar with the most time-consuming activity for programmers? It is the code editor! But what is a code editor? This tool is used for editing the source code of different programs. Consequently, if you’re using JavaScript, you’re going to need a JavaScript editor. Fast loading, dynamic content generation, all that makes a website lively is done by JavaScript! So let us dive into the top JavaScript editors that can be easily referred to as “Lifesavers”.
Visual Studio Code
If we were to talk about the best-integrated development environments (IDEs) for JS development, Visual Studio (VS) Code is the first thing that comes to mind for many. This open-source editor is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. IntelliSense support enables automatic completions while the user is coding in HTML, CSS, JS, or PHP. Moreover, code refactoring is another feature that this editor flaunts. On top of that, the editor generates both native and managed code. As for JS, this code editor gives built-in support. Visual Studio Code offers a useful feature called Peek. It allows expanding the definition of any function in an inline popup. Some other features include TypeScript, Node.js, and JavaScript debugging tools.
Brackets
This source code editor, offering built-in support for JavaScript, is fast and lightweight. Initially, it was created by Adobe Systems, but now this front-end development is a tool available under the MIT license and it is continuously rising as a leading top choice by JS developers. Brackets is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Function finding and quick project switching are some notable features and with their help, the users can search for different project files while typing in real-time. Nevertheless, one of the best features that Brackets boasts is “Live Preview”. You can see how any changes in the code are working in real-time.
Brackets offer an interface for searching and adding extensions such as Autoprefixer, Code-folding, Markdown Preview, Smart Highlighting, and Snippets.
Atom
The basis of Atom is Electron, which is a very popular framework for building cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript. In short, Electron is the base of Atom. The modern code editor is flexible and highly customizable. A cross-platform tool, Atom is easy to install, offers a significant speed gain, and is completely free to use. Moreover, smart code completion is inherent to Atom, which also boasts an intuitive file system browser. There are also several UI and syntax themes available.
Atom facilitates the easy integration of GitHub and Git control as well. The editor also supports plugins written in Node.js. HTML, CSS, and JS are some languages the interface supports.
Eclipse
Initially influenced by IBM VisualAge, one of the biggest Java IDEs is Eclipse. But full-stack developers often use Eclipse as one of the JavaScript editors. However, for JS, you need to install some specific plugins. The accurate performance of JavaScript Development Tools is the highlight of Eclipse. A brand-new Docker UI helps to build Docker images as well as containers with the Docker CLI. Almost all packages support Git integration as well. Another remarkable feature is automated error reporting – with this feature, the IDE can send the bugs found in the IDE to eclipse.org.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is another open-source JS editor. It’s cross-platform, which offers a lot of room for customizing. The interface is free of any clutter. So that makes the editor user-friendly. Some of its great features include an impressive speed boost and improved pane management. This JS editor also offers a trial version so that developers can have an insight into how it works.
Some important plugins that anyone using Sublime Text for JS development must use are DocBlockr, JSFormat, SideBar Enhancements, and SublimeLinter.
Conclusion
It is really difficult to switch later down the road when you get used to a code editor. Mainly due to the fact that is impractical to keep learning shortcuts for optimizing development all over again. Thus, it is better to dedicate some time to choose from the best JavaScript editors on the list. Are you a fellow developer or you have a project in mind, don’t hesitate to contact us right away!