This Revolutionary Text Editor Will Change the Way You Code Forever - Check Out Our Hands-On Review of Github’s Atom!

If you are a coder, then you know the importance of having a good text editor. It’s the tool you use every day to create and edit code, and it greatly affects your productivity and workflow. There are many text editors out there, but Github’s Atom is the one that has been making waves in the coding world. In this article, we’ll take a hands-on look at Atom and see why it’s so revolutionary.

What is Atom?

Atom is a free, open-source text editor developed by Github. It was released in 2014 and has quickly gained popularity among coders. Atom is built on Electron, a framework for building cross-platform desktop apps using web technologies. This means that Atom is itself a web app that runs on your desktop, giving it a lot of flexibility and extensibility.

Why is Atom Revolutionary?

What makes Atom so revolutionary is its flexibility and extensibility. Atom has a package system that allows users to install and use plugins that add new features and functionality to the editor. There are thousands of packages available, ranging from syntax highlighting and auto-completion to version control and project management.

Atom’s package system is built on the same technologies used to build web apps, which means that packages can be developed using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This makes it very easy for developers to create and share packages, and it has led to a vibrant ecosystem of packages that can greatly enhance your coding experience.

Hands-On Review

To get a hands-on look at Atom, I downloaded and installed it on my Macbook Pro. The installation process was straightforward, and the app opened quickly. The first thing I noticed was how clean and minimalist the interface was. Atom has a simple, uncluttered design that doesn’t get in the way of your workflow.

One of the standout features of Atom is its ability to seamlessly integrate with Github. If you have a Github account, you can sign in and access all of your repositories directly from within Atom. This makes it very easy to clone, edit, and commit changes to your projects without having to switch between different apps.

As I started working with Atom, I quickly realized how powerful its package system is. I installed a few packages, such as “Emmet” for HTML and CSS auto-completion and “Atom-Beautify” for code formatting, and they greatly improved my workflow. It’s amazing how much functionality you can add to Atom with just a few clicks.

Another feature that impressed me was Atom’s “Teletype” collaboration tool. Teletype allows multiple users to work on the same file in real-time, making it very easy to collaborate on code with remote teammates. This is a very useful feature for remote teams that need to work on code together.

Overall, I was very impressed with Atom. Its flexibility, extensibility, and seamless integration with Github make it a powerful tool for coders. If you’re looking for a new text editor, I highly recommend giving Atom a try.

Conclusion

Atom is a revolutionary text editor that has changed the way coders work. Its package system, built on web technologies, allows for endless customization and functionality. Its seamless integration with Github makes it easy to work on projects directly from within the editor. And its collaboration tool, Teletype, makes it easy to work with remote teams. If you’re a coder, I strongly recommend checking out Atom. It just might change the way you code forever.

There are no lack of text editors, be it for Linux, Mac or Windows. However, the developers of Github feel that all the existing text editors are not up to their standard and decided to build their own text editor. As a result, Atom was born. Termed as “a hackable text editor for the 21st century,” Atom comes with plenty of useful features not found in other text editors, and within the short time that it has been around, it has already won praises from many developers. Let’s check it out and see how it fares with other text editors.

Note: This review is done on Ubuntu Linux. Installation instructions differ in different OS.

Installation

At the moment, installing Atom is not an easy task, regardless of whether you are using Windows, Mac or Linux. You can follow the build instructions here to install Atom in your OS.

In Ubuntu, you can use the PPA (provided by WebUpd8, for 64-bit machine only) to install Atom:

Note: Non Ubuntu users can pull the custom Atom build from here, extract it and double click the “atom” executable.

Overview

As you can see from the screenshot below, the main interface is very similar to Sublime Text. You get a tabbed interface with a dark background, and the filepath of the currently opened file is shown in the bottom status bar. On the first run, it will show a Welcome message.

Another thing that makes it similar to Sublime Text is the Command Palette where you can use it to search for infrequent use commands. They even share the same keyboard shortcut (Command + Shift + P / Ctrl + Shift + P).

Language Support and syntax highlighting

Other than the integrated node.js support, Atom also supports many programming languages like php, javascript, HTML, CSS, Sass, Less, Python, C, C++, Coffeescript, etc. To see the full list of language supported by Atom, simply click the Language indicator at the bottom of the status bar.

Yes, it does support syntax highlighting as well, which is essential in programming IDE. You can change the syntax color in the Theme section too.

Packages

Packages are what makes Atom useful and powerful. Packages are like extensions, or plugins, that you can install to extend the functionality of Atom. The default installation comes with a good library of packages, like Markdown Preview, bracket matcher, Git diff, etc, and you can install additional packages right within the “Preferences -> Packages” section. For example, to install a color picker package, all you have to do is to click the “Install” button beneath the package name.

Other features

Since Atom is developed by the developers of Github, it is no surprise that it comes with Git support and Github integration. It also supports the markdown syntax and comes with a markdown live preview feature.

Chrome Dev Tools

Chrome Dev tool is a useful tool that is only available in Google Chrome. To test the scripts, we often have to load it in Chrome before we can debug it using the Chrome Dev Tool. In Atom, the Chrome Dev tool is built into it, so you can easily debug your code right within Atom. Of all the features, this is the one that got me excited.

Themes

Like many other text editors, you can change the look and feel of Atom text editor. The Theme section under Preferences is where you can change the theme to one that you prefer. There are only a few pre-installed themes, but you can download additional themes from https://atom.io/themes. Alternatively, you can edit the stylesheet of the existing theme to get what you want.

Conclusion

Even though Atom is still in beta, it is impressive. The fact that it is built on Web technologies makes it fully customizable and extensible. Modelling after Sublime Text’s look and feel is also a good idea, as it can reduce (or eliminate) any learning curve when switching from another text editor. I can definitely see it getting better in the future. If you have not tried it, do give it a try. I am sure you will love it.

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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