
Sublime Text 2.0 Released - dave1010uk
http://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/sublime-text-2-0-released
======
lordlarm
Hm, Am I the only one who spends hours in vim each day with ~15 lines in my
.vimrc and almost zero plugins?

At some point I think I realized that no matter how feature-rich my editor
was, the main thing stopping me from writing good and fast code was
_thinking_, not configuring my text editor.

~~~
guns
I continue to be haunted by something a good artist friend used to say: "Don't
obsess over your tools. They are not the goal".

This would ring in the back of my head as I spent many hours configuring my
editor / shell / terminal setup. It felt like a guilty pleasure.

It dawned on me however, that what had drawn me to programming in the first
place was a _sublime_ text editor (TextMate), and that my business is in fact
tool-building. My love for computing tools and the experience of using them
reflects in the kind of software I build for clients.

On top of this, evaluating and obsessing over hacker's tools isn't confined to
picking between models at the hardware store. I have pored over (and patched,
however minor) bash, vim, tmux, rxvt-unicode, and many other programs that I
use every day.

These things may well be rationalizations, so here's a simpler justification:
the time I invest into my tools have made my experience of sitting down in
front of a computer incredibly enjoyable. I once lived computer free for three
years because I detested the uninspiring (and frustrating) experience of
Microsoft Word and Windows 98. If that was what computing was, I wanted
nothing to do with it.

~~~
bergie
I've once watched a group of sculptors argue about the merits of various
drills for a whole evening. So yes, artists also obsess over their tools just
like we do over ours.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
Well, the poster said a "good artist" told him that. Even so, perhaps your
group were good artists but misguided on just this one issue. Another
anecdote, I saw a thing on ice sculptors; there were two really amazing
artists and they were arguing about which one used better tools. One artist
used an angle grinder exclusively for almost everything and the other used
hand chisels exclusively for detail. It doesn't seem like the tool matters
that much as long as it is fits a certain percentage of needs.

~~~
bergie
I don't think these were thinking that a particular tool is necessary for
creating good art, either. It is more about the fact that any craftsman
becomes quite attached to _their particular tools_.

This is the root cause of the endless Vi vs. Emacs debates as well.

~~~
rufwork
Fair, though the question is less, "Do we need good tools?" than "What makes a
great tool?" VIm and Emacs both make great tools.

But nobody comes to VIm knowing how to use it intuitively. Its features make
the investment worthwhile. Same with Sublime Text 2. There are features that
instantly save time (the tiny thumbnail of your entire file makes traversal a
breeze for me) and others than take a while to get used to (ctrl-P).

The question shouldn't be, "Should I waste time looking at ANY tools?"
especially in the ironic context of, "I've used two decades of my life
learning VIm and now it ROCKS." It's, "What does this tool have that makes it
worth using?" That answer for me so far is speed, flexibility, and features,
like the two above. I'd hoped to see more on those topics here.

When I want to use VIm, I do. When I want to use JEdit, I do. As the previous
fellow replying says, you don't simply use hammers. Figure out where this tool
-- which is a very good one -- fits. Its best feature might be its untimed
trial period. Give it a shot.

------
msluyter
Serendipitous, as I'm planning on doing a lightning talk on ST2 tonight.

Editors seem to raise a lot of religious issues, and not to totally discount
the distinctions that can be made between them, but I think it's more
important to know your editor well than to worry about "the best editor." (If
such a thing exists.) As Hunt & Thomas say in _The Pragmatic Programmer_ :
"use a single editor well."[1] You'll be most productive if you learn your
editor from head to toe, than if you half-assedly know several. That takes
some effort and conscious practice, sitting down and memorizing key
combinations and the like. And a cursory glance at any editor might leave you
unimpressed until you've gotten somewhat fluent with its features.

Just a couple of suggestions if you do use ST2:

\+ get package control:
[http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/package_control/installati...](http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/package_control/installation)

\+ For rails, a couple of nice packages are RubyTest and SimpleRailsNav

\+ Learn the multi-edit commands

\+ Familiarize yourself with cmd-P/ctrl-P (osx/win)

\+ Keyboard shortcuts: WIN: <https://gist.github.com/1925069> OSX:
<https://gist.github.com/1207002>, or look at Default (OS).sublime-keymap

[1] I would amend that to add "and also know vim at least a little" for stuff
like sshing in to servers and whatnot.

~~~
kamaal
>>As Hunt & Thomas say in The Pragmatic Programmer: "use a single editor
well."[1] You'll be most productive if you learn your editor from head to toe,
than if you half-assedly know several.

If this advice is to be taken seriously the only editors you can learn is vim
and Emacs.

Shiny editors like Sublime Text come and go every 2-3 years. And putting
effort learning them, only brings you back to your statement: "You'll be most
productive if you learn your editor from head to toe, than if you half-assedly
know several."

~~~
aerique
Sublime Text definitely runs that risk by not being open. Look at Textmate.

------
brittohalloran
Can I just say I love the pricing model. It's paid software, with an
unenforced 'trial period'. Relying on coders who use a text editor all day and
appreciate good software and want to compensate someone for their good
software. +1 humans.

~~~
juanpdelat
I agree. It would be great to see some revenue numbers, if it's really
successful (which I think it is), it would be a nice model for other
developers or software companies.

~~~
JonnieCache
I'm fairly sure he's made really quite a large chunk of dollar out of it
already. Especially after he started forcing people to pay up if they wanted
the very latest builds. That was a stroke of genius.

~~~
sleepyhead
Really? I was using the dev builds without paying (bought my license
yesterday).

~~~
wonderzombie
Nightly would be the very latest, I think.

That is, it's not like, say, Chrome release where it's Dev -> Beta -> Stable.
It is (was?) more like Nightly -> Dev -> Beta/Stable.

------
seclorum
An absolutely joyful piece of software. I love it so much, I bought it right
away. Plus, where else can you experience such a pleasant multiplatform
situation? Great Job!

~~~
jseliger
I like it too. The main problem I have with it—and Textmate—is the lack of an
emacs-like Follow-mode:
[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Fol...](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Follow-
Mode.html) . It's 2012, I'm using a 27" monitor, and yet I can't find this
feature, or one like it, in anything other than emacs, which has a learning
curve far too steep for my pretty simple needs.

At one point, the Textmate website mentioned that a follow-mode-like feature
was in the works, but 1) I can't find that mention anymore, and 2) even if it
is, I'd rather not wait forever for it.

~~~
mbell
> The main problem I have with it—and Textmate—is the lack of an emacs-like
> Follow-mode:
> [http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Fol...](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Fol..).
> .

I believe this plugin does what you want:
<https://github.com/atbell/SublimeSynchroScroll>

~~~
jseliger
Beautiful! Thank you!

------
kilowatt
I've been really tempted to fork and contribute to MacVim and steal some of
the nicer visual things ST2 is doing. Namely,

    
    
      1) rounded corners on selection boxes
      2) nice glowing, fading cursor
      3) smooth scrolling with a feeling of velocity/inertia
      4) the minimap
    

I tried the Vim plugin, but so many of the motions that I use daily were
missing I had to jump ship. But I'd _love_ it for MacVim to have the same
level of visual and UI polish that ST2 does--it really sets a high bar.

~~~
st0p
I think that we are entirely different types of developers (and that is fine,
this is in no way meant as as being negative on the way you work), but I
couldn't care less about the first 3 points you mention. They don't add
anything to my productivity.

I do wonder though, if visual attraction is such an issue to you, why in the
first place do you use Vim?

~~~
kilowatt
I use Vim because I'm faster in it than anything else, hands down.

But I do think there's probably some vague psychological argument to be made
about the elegance and simplicity of your tools mirroring a state of mind
conducive to elegance and simplicity in your programming. It's why people are
into tools like WriteRoom.

Plus, I feel like the smooth scrolling feature actually does help you preserve
an awareness of where you are when you're browsing a file.

------
kaffeinecoma
As an Intellij user (and Emacs way before that) I'm trying to give this a
chance, but I see no way to click-navigate through source code. Am I missing
something? I tried installing SublimeCodeIntel, and that lets me
(occasionally) navigate to symbols in the current file. But I don't seem to be
able to click through to symbols defined in other files/classes. Am I missing
something fundamental, or is this strictly the domain of the IDEs?

~~~
jpeterson
Why do you want to use your mouse while coding?

~~~
jules
Because when browsing code it's faster to click on a method name than to
navigate to it with the keyboard.

~~~
kprobst
Even in Visual Studio that's not true, at least not for me. Just move the
cursor to the symbol in question, hit the menu key and select the 'Go to
definition' or whatever menu item. Or better yet, map it to something like
Ctrl+] which I usually do.

~~~
josephcooney
I thought F12 was mapped to 'go to definition' by default? in any case, not
hard to set up something like you suggest.

------
UnoriginalGuy
I just tried Sublime 2 and I must admit I don't "get it." It seems like a
basic editor with several features which Notepad++ already had.

Specifically for programming I cannot see why you would use this as opposed to
something like Visual Studio with its context aware auto-complete (massive
productivity increase).

But then again I also don't get why someone would use Vim or Emacs when you
have GUI based tools available (even freely). Even for non-Windows programming
Eclipse exists and has a decent (if slow) context aware auto-complete for many
languages.

The only justification I've ever heard for people's continued use of tools
like this boil down to either "I know the shortcut keys" or "I don't have to
use the mouse."

Which to me is odd within its self as very little of my programming efficiency
is lost mousing around, and a lot more lost having to jump around code blocks
because auto-complete didn't magically know what an object's members were...

~~~
simonsarris
I used sublime text and my interns all use visual studio. I love both, but I
can give a few points:

* No CTRL+D duplicate line in VS

* Can't use middle-mouse in VS to select multiple columns

* Can't place your cursor in many multiple locations at once in VS

* You can use ALT+DRAG to select columns in VS but there's no way to put a carat at the end of each of a bunch of lines of varying sizes

* CTRL+J to append the next line to the current one, removing all whitespace. I feel as if this has saved me a year of life.

Those five alone are extremely useful when writing JavaScript and HTML.

* The autocomplete in VS does not "learn" like the sublime text one does.

* No good incremental search in VS (might have changed on the very newest version?)

* CTRL+B opens the current HTML page being edited in my browser on sublime text. There's probably an equivalent in VS though

* highlighting a string of text highlights all similar ones in sublime text. In VS for C# it sorta does this if the string of text is a token

* The ability to sort and shuffle lines in sublime text can be useful at times, though this is usually when preparing data and not when writing code.

~~~
bemmu
I use ST2 and have been learning about using multiple cursors, but I wonder
what kind of things are you doing where that comes in handy? So far I haven't
had a chance to use it, especially since there already is a shortcut for
commenting things out.

~~~
amatix
Example: Take some log text, where all you're interested in is the messages,
and you don't want hostname/date/time/etc cruft.

1\. Ctrl+A Select all the lines

2\. Ctrl+Shift+L to split into multiple cursors, 1 per line

3\. Home/Ctrl+Shift+arrows/etc to select stuff to copy/delete

I find it easier than constructing a regex to pass to find/replace.

------
ConstantineXVI
I've reverted back to Vim (not really ST2's fault, just that it doesn't run in
a terminal and I've gotten addicted to split-panes in iTerm), but ST2's a
solid editor. Definitely worth your $60.

PS: If it got even a basic terminal...

EDIT2: ST2 does have split panes, I just can't run a terminal in them.

~~~
mvgoogler
I'm just curious about why you need to run it in a terminal?

I have a linux machine at work and use a MacBook for remote work. When I'm
remote I just run Sublime locally on my Mac and set up an sshfs mount to my
workstation for the source files. Works like a charm.

Note - not at all saying you're doing it wrong :-) just curious if you'd tried
this kind of setup and why it didn't work for you?

~~~
ConstantineXVI
It's mainly to keep everything (where everything == files, REPL, docs, etc.)
in a single window, which I can then throw full-screen and have absolutely
nothing but my work in front of me. I'm sure one could use ST2 (or any other
GUI app) on Linux with a tiling WM like xmonad and achieve a similar workflow,
but there doesn't seem to be a way to achieve this on OSX that doesn't involve
ugly/unstable hacks.

~~~
nicholassmith
You know, in theory it'd be possible to do that within Sublime but I'm not
sure if that's veering towards the emacs approach of ALL THE THINGS. I'd have
to try it but I think you can probably use PyQt to grab WebKit and make a
package to display HTML docs within Sublime

~~~
ConstantineXVI
The "all the things" approach is a large part of what keeps me away from
Emacs[1]. I'd much rather use a single-purpose editor (like ST2 or Vim)
alongside other similarly-focused tools, or a well-done IDE that's focused on
it's environment. Emacs tries too hard to be everything at once (why do I want
an editor that's a file manager, IRC client, organizer, and Tetris?).

[1] The other is it's absolute refusal to "fit in" on whatever platform it's
on. Fits with the kitchen-sink approach: why interop with [program X] when you
can just build it in?

~~~
Myrmornis
> why do I want an editor that's a file manager, IRC client, organizer, and
> Tetris?

Although I don't want my editor to do all those things, for me the reason
emacs wins is because it invites you to learn the (not unpleasant, genuine
programming) language in which it is written and then do whatever you want
with it. Even if you basically want to keep it simple having that power to
hand is nice.

------
obituary_latte
As a Textmate'r, I have to say using ST for the last few months has been a
pleasure.

There is one thing that ST doesn't do as well though: pasting blocks of code
while retaining the formatting/indentation. i.e. if I copy a loop and try and
paste it into another function/whatever and the cursor isn't on the same
column, the indentation gets messed up.

It's a minor quibble and far from a deal-breaker, but it is a bit of a shock
when it happens.

~~~
jskinner
It sounds like Paste and Indent is what you're after: Command+Shift+V, or some
users prefer to just bind this to Command+V, a la TextMate.

~~~
obituary_latte
I love you

edit: if anyone is curious,

Preferences > Key Bindings > Default [edit: should use User as noted below]

ctrl+f paste, and change

    
    
        { "keys": ["super+v"], "command": "paste" },
        { "keys": ["super+shift+v"], "command": "paste_and_indent" },
    

to

    
    
        { "keys": ["super+shift+v"], "command": "paste" },
        { "keys": ["super+v"], "command": "paste_and_indent" },

~~~
demetris
Even better, put that in Preferences, Key Bindings, User.

Using the user file has two advantages:

First, you avoid mishaps when some future version makes changes to the default
bindings file.

Second, you can quickly check what are your non-default settings.

~~~
obituary_latte
Duly noted. Thanks!

------
dbecker
Based on the great reviews of ST2, I switched from vim to ST2 (with vintage
mode) a few months ago. It seems good... but it hasn't lived up to the reviews
for me.

I'm guessing I'm missing some of the functionality. Is there a tutorial
anywhere to show me what I'm missing?

How have you learned about ST2 features (rather than just repeating your old
editing habits in a new program)?

~~~
notJim
I learned ST2 from my coworkers, who were all using it. Now I'm learning vim
much the same way. I've switched to vim fulltime from ST2, and here are the
features of ST2 that I miss:

1\. Multiple cursors. This is the only reason I ever use ST2 now. They're sort
of like vim's visual block mode, except on steroids. For example, if you have
multiple cursors, you can start typing and each cursor will behave as in
insert point. Each cursor can also move independently, which means you can do
things like moving word-wise or line-wise over lines which are not
heterogeneous. Using Cmd + D, you can add selections, and then they're
multiple cursors. This ends up replacing things like find-replace for me,
because it's so fast and easy.

I should make a video of me using multiple cursors, because I feel I'm not
explaining it well at all.

2\. Cmd+p/goto-anything. Suppose I want to go to the getUser method of the
auth class. All I have to do is hit Cmd + p, then type “Au@getUser”. As I
type, a window appears with filenames, so first I type, “Au”, and then seeing
that “Auth.php” is at the top, I type an @, which tells ST2 I'm now looking
for a method, it then starts searching for methods within Auth.php.

Now, with vim I use Cmd-T, but that only gets me to the file, and it's kind of
a bitch to get it working. It also has a thing to navigate methods, but I have
to use something called tags, which means a) I have to figure out what the
hell that is and b) I have to fiddle with getting it all setup. All that time
could be spent programming. Mmmm, programming. I understand ctrlp makes some
of this better, but I haven't tried it yet.

3\. Better platform integration. With vim, there's a bunch of weird shit I
have to do to get the clipboard working properly (including recompiling vim
o_O), and the mouse seems janky. I mostly never use the mouse anyway, but the
clipboard issues are annoying.

4\. Python API vs vimscript. I wrote a couple of small plugins for ST2, which
was nice and easy, because everybody knows python, and the API is modern and
well thought out. With vim, I feel like it's a whole different matter,
starting with learning a new programming language.

~~~
heretohelp
>It also has a thing to navigate methods, but I have to use something called
tags, which means a) I have to figure out what the hell that is

Well. I'm not exactly old, but seeing someone say that about tags has made me
feel rather ancient.

There are better ways to navigate code than tags. For Emacs, for example, my
setup uses Rope to navigate Python code.

~~~
notJim
It doesn't seem like the main issue is age as much as that most people will be
coming to VIM from either IDEs or editors that had built-in code-navigation
features, so moving to something like vim involves the extra overhead of
learning things like tags or rope even.

~~~
heretohelp
There's definitely an age-gap here.

People who grew up coding C had to learn to use ctags, whereas, people who
start out in interpreted languages are much less likely to encounter such.

>involves the extra overhead of learning things like tags or rope even.

Rope has no learning overhead. It works the same as any IDE. You use the
functionality it provides like "go-to definition" or refactoring.

Tags are just a file you generate using a command and the editor uses it to
provide a "go-to definition" faculty.

~~~
notJim
It's funny, I grew up writing C++, but in an IDE. You're probably right that
older people may have started programming before IDEs were commonplace (?).
I've actually never liked using IDEs for interpreted languages, but have
always used them for compiled languages.

I'm talking specifically about tags, because it's the tool I'd need to use to
get goto-anything functionality in vim using command-t or ctrlp.

Whenever there's a debate about something like ST2 or an IDE vs vim/emacs, the
argument is always “well you can do all that stuff with vim, just install x, y
and z plugins", and I was making the point that with ST2, the out-of-the-box
goto-anything functionality is really excellent. I love vim, and can't see
myself ever going back on that, but I certainly appreciated with ST2 that the
baked-in, absolutely-zero-effort-required goto-anything functionality was
really excellent.

~~~
heretohelp
>Whenever there's a debate about something like ST2 or an IDE vs vim/emacs,
the argument is always “well you can do all that stuff with vim, just install
x, y and z plugins",

That might be true for vim, but it isn't for Emacs. Most of what you need is
built-in, with the occasional plugin only coming in when you want hardcore IDE
functionality or something uber language specific. It supports virtually every
language, VCS, use-case, etc. out of the box though.

Has it ever occurred to you that people who've been programming for decades
have a _reason_ for putting forth the advantages of editors like Emacs and
vim?

~~~
notJim
> Has it ever occurred to you that people who've been programming for decades
> have a reason for putting forth the advantages of editors like Emacs and
> vim?

Of course--I stated clearly that I'm a vim user and that I love it, and
couldn't see myself going back. But I still appreciate the out of the box
functionality and ease-of-use of ST2.

~~~
heretohelp
You should try Emacs if you like out of the box functionality and ease-of-use.
It's modeless like most other editors (unlike vim).

You can bolt vi/vim on top of it if you really want the modal editing though.

------
moe
As a die-hard Vim'er I like this more every time I look at it.

What I'm still missing in vintage-mode is search/replace (mostly ':s' and
':%s') and block visual mode (^V in vim). The latter habit I could probably
break, but the search/replace stuff gets me all the time.

Is there perhaps a plugin/workaround already to get Vim-style search/replace
or do I have to hold out for another version?

~~~
jscoder
Maybe take a look at VintageEx: <https://github.com/SublimeText/VintageEx> I'm
not sure if search/replace is included but if not you could open an issue and
maybe someone adds it. :)

~~~
moe
Thanks man, that does indeed add working search/replace!

Giving Sublime a whirl now. If nothing else it's going to be an interesting
discovery of which Vim features I really use in my daily workflow.

Edit: Sadly bumped right into the next issue. It seems in addition to the lack
of Vim's visual-block-mode the native multi-select (Ctrl-Shift-L) doesn't work
in vintage either. No multi-line editing at all is a bit of a showstopper.

Anyway, there's always a next version, I'm not giving up hope. :)

~~~
jscoder
I'm not that much into Vi(m) but a visual mode is available in Vintage mode?
Press ESC, v.

~~~
dguaraglia
I think he's referring to the "column" visual mode, that allows you to make a
rectangular selection and delete/insert/replace it.

~~~
moe
Yes, in particular the "bulk edit actions" (not sure if they have a proper
name) that you can do in Vim in either visual mode.

E.g. make visual selection, shift-I = prepend text to all selected lines. This
is the same functionality as sublime multi-line editing. The problem is that
_neither_ seems to work in vintage-mode (or I'm just too dense to figure out
how).

Edit: Nevermind, it works now after I started over with a fresh config.
Apparently I had something bad stuck in there from earlier experiments. Thanks
for the replies!

~~~
losvedir
Maybe I'm not understanding exactly what you're missing, but I do believe
sublime can do what you want.

* Search/replace: ctrl-f will do find (and you can use a reg-ex, case insensitive, etc, based on the little toggles to the left of the find bar. Then hit "Find all" on the right, and everything in that file will be highlighted and you'll have multiple cursors. So from there, just type what you want to replace all the words with, or really do whatever you want with your multiple cursors.

* "bulk edit actions": Works just fine for me in vintage mode. Highlight each line you want (or repeatedly press ctrl-l to add a line to your selection), hit ctrl-shift-l to get multiple cursors, and then do what you want from there. Example:

You're in vintage/command mode. Highlight three lines. Hit ctrl-l to flesh out
the top and bottom lines (so the whole line is in the selection, and not just
where you started and ended your mouse drag). Hit ctrl-shift-l for multiple
cursors. Now you have three separate cursors, each in command mode. So you can
hit "I", and you will go into insert mode three times simultaneously with
three cursors at the beginning of three lines. Type "blah", and it will appear
at the beginning of each of the three lines.

------
qiller
Amazing editor. Switching been OSX and Windows frequently, ST2 became my
choice of a universal tool. Especially useful when augmented by plugins for
better autocomplete: I use SublimeClang for C++/ObjC coding, and
<https://github.com/alienhard/SublimeAllAutocomplete> for js/html/css to
enable ST's autocomplete across all opened files, not just current one. Only
wish it would support virtual space, multiple cursors/vertical blocks seem
awkward without it.

------
Nogwater
Now that it's official, I hope that the documentation gets the attention it
needs. Congrats!

~~~
elomarns
I'm trying to improve this by writing an ebook about Sublime Text 2. If you're
interested, here is the first chapter:

<http://cl.ly/0N0X1j401o22353m2V2V>

~~~
dnsauve
Yes, please. I am very interested in this. I feel as though I've only
scratched the surface of what ST2 can do even though I've been using it for
the last year and experimented with writing my own plugins.

I'd also love to see a "cheat-sheet" for shortcut keys.

~~~
elomarns
To be honest, my ebook is on initial stage, but I'm actively working on it. If
you want to track its progress, here's its repository on GitHub:
<https://github.com/elomarns/sublime-coding>

Anyway you can find a great cheat sheet on the links below:

PC: <https://gist.github.com/1736542>

Mac: <https://gist.github.com/1839777>

------
doublerebel
ST2 is a fantastic program! I was a die-hard Komodo user for years, but ST2 is
much easier (and faster!) to use and extend.

For anyone looking to try out ST2 with SFTP, I've written a plugin to import
server settings from FileZilla[1], makes it much quicker to get up and
running. Should be in ST2's Package Control any day now.

[1] <https://github.com/doublerebel/filezilla_import>

------
singingwolfboy
I'm an avid user of Sublime Text 2, and I was really hoping that they would
clean up their API before they made a stable release:
[http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/112486-api-better-
use-...](http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/112486-api-better-use-of-
context-managers/) [http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/112485-api-better-
use-...](http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/112485-api-better-use-of-
python-properties/)

With the need to maintain backwards compatibility with a stable version 2.0,
that's not going to happen now. :(

------
v33ra
I was an active user of Notepad++, but ever since I started using Sublime
text, I never turned back to NP++ (or any other editors). Totally love the
Sublime experience.

~~~
andere
I've been using Notepad++ as my log-viewing problem for a while and I
periodically use it to edit a bit, but when I tried out Sublime I didn't see
anything to make me drop Notepad++. It did the same things equally well, but
not much more from what I noticed.

------
leeoniya
i really hoped that he would get a fix in for customizable/better matching
brackets indicators before release :( those underlines are just impossible to
see, and the alternative plugins that do this are not as good as SynWeb
component-based editors or NP++ (scintilla)

[http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/19331-better-or-
custom...](http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/19331-better-or-customizable-
match_brackets-style/)

------
JonnieCache
Congrats to jps. A serious piece of software, and a development style that we
can all aspire to.

Allow me to recommend the SublimeLinter plugin. Its name should be self
explanatory.

<https://github.com/SublimeLinter/SublimeLinter>

Also, for those asking about discovering functionality, have a browse of the
default key binding definition files, it is enlightening.

------
celerity
For me, for "serious" programming, I use a full-fledged IDE which has stuff
like code linking, quick project search (with ST2 I have to switch to the
terminal), built-in documentation, refactoring support... So paying $60 for a
text editor, when there are many good free options out there (even outside of
Linux) is too much.

~~~
anonymoushn
I don't know how to use ST2, but the people I know who use it do project
search from within the editor. It looks pretty snappy, about on par with the
analogous feature in IntelliJ.

------
adamfeldman
Every TextMate user at my office switched to Sublime Text 2 six months ago and
hasn't looked back. Great product

------
amatsukawa
Pretty season's Vim user here. This editor looks awesome, and I would love to
give it a whirl, but I feel like I can't switch without these plugins. I'm
sure they exist, if someone could point me to one that would be excellent.

\+ Syntastic [<https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic/>] eclipse-like real-
time linter. Gives me compile errors and warnings.

\+ Tag bar [<http://majutsushi.github.com/tagbar/>] navigate tags in the code

\+ Not as essential, but EasyMotion is pretty awesome
[<https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-easymotion>]

~~~
sheldno
Linting (there are other plugins but this is what I use)
<https://github.com/SublimeLinter/SublimeLinter>

CTags <https://github.com/SublimeText/CTags>

Similar to EasyMotion <https://bitbucket.org/sublimator/volcanoes>

More plugins <http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/community>

------
nbj
(on OS X) ST2 cannot render RTL (Right-To-Left) text properly and the
developer said in the forums that it won't be until ST3

although less mature editors like TextEdit or <http://vicoapp.com> or
<http://chocolatapp.com> (beta) and <http://activestate.com/komodo> (IDE)
don't have any problems with bidi and rtl texts

other OS X editors that could't show bidi and rtl texts:

TextMate 1 (<http://macromates.com>)

MacVim 7.4-64 (<http://code.google.com/p/macvim>)

------
drewda
The animated screen shots in this blog post and on the front page are quite
nicely done. Looks like a series of images being moved and swapped through a
canvas area.

Anyone know of libraries that can automate the creation of these kind of
animations?

------
luriel
For Go hackers, here is Using Sublime Text 2 with GoSublime:

[http://mue.tideland.biz/2012/06/using-sublime-text-2-with-
go...](http://mue.tideland.biz/2012/06/using-sublime-text-2-with-
gosublime.html)

------
elomarns
Finally!

Sublime Text 2 is really a wonderful piece of software. I can't live without
multiple cursors anymore. Of course it can improve (anything can), but in my
opinion is the best text editor available.

------
aggarwalachal
Awesome work guys. I have been using the beta since the early days and I think
this is the only cross platform editor which works really well.

------
purephase
This is great news. Truly staggering amount of effort for a small gap in build
numbers (if you were using the last beta). Love the release and the editor.
Worth every penny.

The only additional package I use is the Dark Soda Theme, is there any others
that people would recommend for Rails development? The default editor seems to
provide a lot. I tried SublimeCodeIntel but it kept crashing.

~~~
amirf
I would recommend the ruby test plugin which is really great:
<https://github.com/maltize/sublime-text-2-ruby-tests>

and Rails Nav: <https://github.com/noklesta/SublimeRailsNav> which gives you a
pretty neat way navigating your app. Much like the common vi plugins.

------
drivingmenuts
Interesting, but no preference panels for OS X? How is one supposed to change
settings if they're in a language the user doesn't know well?

Apparently, there's some sort of binding thing going on, which I overlooked
and now can't find a way to examine/redo? Additionally, some prefs are plists,
some are python, and some look like they might be Textmate preferences.

~~~
Derbasti
Everything is in text files. This is awesome if you want to move your config
to a different machine (or _gasp_ OS).

Give it a try. It is not as bad as it looks on first sight. You'll get used to
it and probably appreciate it a bit in no time.

~~~
drivingmenuts
I think I'd change editors before I changed to a different OS. These days,
pretty much everything can be done from one machine.

From where I sit, I can work with 6 different OS'es (yeah, it's a jungle) all
from the comfort of OS X.

I get that this is a programmer's editor and so maybe a certain amount of
"roughness" in design is appropriate. But I'd rather spend my time customizing
my own apps than trying to figure out how to change one setting in my editor.

I can also understand if ST just isn't there yet as far as preferences go.
Each OS or flavor thereof has it's own convoluted methods of writing that
piece of the UI, but it's an important piece as far as OS X goes. Without it,
ST will always feel like an incomplete product (in the half-baked sense, not
the future development sense).

Sorry, but first impressions matter. Up against BBEdit and even old Textmate,
ST seems to only have one thing going for it (the visual navigator) and that's
not nearly enough to make me even more than momentarily interested.

This looks and feels very much like an alpha product or charitably, even a
beta. But it definitely doesn't feel like something that should be a version 2
and charging $60 for the privilege of using it.

~~~
notJim
You clearly have a different focus than the author of the software, and its
fans. ST2's proponents are more concerned with awesome editing power than
having a preferences pane.

That being said, this is not the first time I've heard this line of criticism.

~~~
FireBeyond
True. Even while I love ST2, have purchased a license, and swayed my boss on
the subject, it remains, if nothing else, surprising that there isn't a
Preferences / Control Panel / Options style option, even as a plugin /
package.

------
loeschg
For those interested, here's a way to get a block cursor when in Vi(ntage)
mode. It can now be installed via package control (instructions have
recommended that way to install for awhile, but I could never find it).

<https://github.com/netpro2k/SublimeBlockCursor>

~~~
kellishaver
I modified this a while back to work in normal mode, for anyone who's
interested.

<https://gist.github.com/2996448>

It was the one feature in Sublime that was missing for me, and the one I
needed most at the time (cataracts suck).

------
jscoder
Sublime Text is really awesome! It's remarkable work, especially since there
is just one developer working on it: ST2 works very well on all 3 platforms,
it's very fast and has a lot of cool features. :)

I just hope that it keeps getting new features, the thing I'm really really
missing is a terminal that runs in a ST2 tab.

~~~
iansinke
Install the SublimeREPL plugin from Package Control. Works like a charm!

~~~
jscoder
Yeah, I've been using that one for some days already. It's really nice but not
what I really want. :)

For example I can't hit tab to auto complete. I'm also missing all the zsh
awesomeness, so a real terminal running in some tab would be the best
solution!

------
mvgoogler
The Multi-select feature is a game-changer

~~~
felixr
Yes. The multi-select feature is really nice, but it is nothing that cannot be
added to vim: <http://shelr.tv/records/4fef105a966080237e00005e>

------
skizm
Am I missing something or is this essentially a donation based model? Are
there missing features in the "evaluation version"? I don't mean to sound like
a troll or anything but why would I pay for this if I have the option to use
the full product for free? (besides possibly feeling guilty)

~~~
dclowd9901
I believe licensing restrictions require its purchase for commercial purposes.

Edit: Strike that. Nothing in their EULA expresses this. It simply seems like
an open-ended "trial period." So, yes, it appears they're sticking to the
guilt model, but unlike WinRAR, won't bug you about it.

~~~
jaredsohn
>unlike WinRAR, won't bug you about it.

They do bug you (albeit less frequently). As mentioned in another post here,
they ask you to pay occasionally when you try to save.

------
ckluis
Anyone see this Editor released that's on GitHub:

[http://ec2-174-129-28-157.compute-1.amazonaws.com/2012/06/25...](http://ec2-174-129-28-157.compute-1.amazonaws.com/2012/06/25/brackets-
open-source-code-editor/)

the inline parsing of CSS & javascript seems like a huge productivity gain.

------
nshankar
I would use Vim for one reason than anything else. It is for the commands vit,
vat, cat, cit and the like that can select matching tags. In HTML editing this
has been my best friend and no other editor comes even close to this feature.

------
ericcholis
Personally, the only thing that prevents me from using Sublime Text is the
lack of proper Xdebug support. There is a plugin, but it felt clunky. Being on
Windows, it's a relief to use something as nice as this editor.

------
jeromegn
Make sure to check out this packages search/list:
<http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/community>

You can also Command+Shift+P and "Discover packages"

------
LukeHoersten
I think I'll finally switch from Emacs to ST2. I have this massive .emacs
config just to make it behave like ST2 does by default. Not to mention turing
complete settings can get crazy. Well done ST!

------
latch
Updating from within sublime text, I get a 500 Internal Server Error in the
release note window (being served up by a pretty old version of nginx). Still
able to update though.

------
MrGando
I use vim. As a software craftsman I want my hammer to be Open Source.

( just see what happened when TextMate got stagnated, there must be other
examples )

It's my hammer, it must be open source if possible.

------
frou_dh
I've been super impressed by the steady pace shown by the developer in
improving and tweaking the many beta releases. Top quality product and I was
glad to buy it.

------
wangweij
I tried it, on my Ubuntu 64 bit. Everything is fine, except that sometimes
it's really slow expanding a directory on the left sidebar. This drives me
crazy.

------
desireco42
Special kudos to author because it is really cross platform and actually works
well on all of them. There are not many products that are like that.

------
arrowgunz
After installing the stable 2.0 release, I just tried to update and I got
this: <http://d.pr/i/Rc0w>

------
kennethologist
I've purchased a copy. Been looking for something to replace N++. This seems
like a great alternative. Happy to support other professionals.

------
PopaL
This is one of the best programming editors I've ever used. I like the idea of
using same editor (and interface) on Mac, Windows and Linux.

------
esschul
My go-to editor all grown up. Feel a tear coming.

------
webjunkie01
Great news!, this is turning out to be one of the best text editors for
Windows, Mac and Linux. Congratulations!.

------
davidwparker
Question: I'm an Emacs user, and haven't checked out ST or ST2. Is it
comparable in terms of flexibility++?

~~~
Derbasti
It is great! It really is! Give it a shot just to see what we Emacsens are
missing.

But if you're like me... Well, Emacs is a way of life and it does a whole lot
more than just editing text. I would love to have smooth scrolling and
multiple cursors and slick animations and a cursor that can be off-screen. But
at the end of the day, I prefer magit and org-mode and keyboard-only
navigation and macros and so on. It still is awesome though. Do give it a try!

Maybe in a few decades it will have accumulated enough awesomeness to compare
to our beloved Emacs.

~~~
kindahero
I dont know about multiple cursors., but I use scrolling all the time

    
    
      (global-set-key "\M-n" "\C-u1\C-v") 
      (global-set-key "\M-p" "\C-u1\M-v")

~~~
banjomonster
Ha - been looking for an easy way to do this for a bit. Thanks!

------
desireco42
Congratulations for making editor that is genuine pleasure to use. I bought it
of course a while ago.

------
michiel3
For users with a Retina MBP: this version of Sublime Text supports Retina
graphics on OS X Lion.

------
arrowgunz
Wow, each time I refresh the HN homepage, the upvote count on this post keeps
increasing.

~~~
tzury
dude, consider setting procrastination.

It will send you back to work after the forth refresh.

------
vitomd
This is my favourite editor. It's a mix between a simple notepad and a
powerful IDE.

------
fideloper
We crashed their site I think.

~~~
swah
His site I think :)

------
dudurocha
I know most of the people using ST2 are apple or linux users.

It's good for a windows user?

~~~
rjv
It's a pleasure to work with on Windows.. not to mention probably the most
aesthetically pleasing text editor you can find.

~~~
Derbasti
Oh yes, sir. So much yes!

Incidentally, why is it that so much software on Windows is "under-designed"?

------
brianhc
Sumblime team, why did you reset my preferences on update? Annoying.

~~~
corford
Did you have them saved under "Default" or "User"? If the former, SL2
overwrites these when you upgrade.

~~~
brianhc
oops

------
wslh
Can it be used without purchasing it like in the RC versions?

~~~
endijs
Nothings changed regarding to evaluation "Sublime Text 2 may be downloaded and
evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use.
There is currently no enforced time limit for the evaluation.".

~~~
rjsamson
I'd be really interested to hear about how well this model works for them. I
know that I, for one, am a paying customer because being able to use it for a
month or so for free really got me hooked.

~~~
kellishaver
I used it for free for a long time (longer than I care to admit) but by the
time I did pay, I was so in love I would have happily spent 2x on it.

~~~
Derbasti
Funny, I bought it more or less right away and ended up using Emacs instead. I
still don't feel bad about it though. It is a worthy tool in my belt and I
love to support it.

------
sgt
I'd like to use Sublime Text if it had vi bindings.

~~~
sgt
I checked and it does support vi bindings, including ex commands.

Enable Vintage and then install VintageEx from
<https://github.com/SublimeText/VintageEx>

Very simple - and brilliant!

------
binarydreams
been using it for the past few months, simply amazing and joyful. props for
the great work!

------
Fando
Amazing work!

