The top 5 editors

Yeeyan brought an article from LifeHacker, introducing the following text editors: Notepad++, Emacs, UltraEdit, TextMate, Vim, and TextPad. It has a bit of "clickbait" feel with its title, something like "the best", which should more accurately be defined as the most used text editors by LifeHacker readers. Moreover, users' habits, professions, and interests vary greatly, so everyone has their own preferences. I still prefer Notepad, or at most Word.

Notepad++ (Windows)

Notepad++ is the superior text editor many Windows users are looking for compared to the basic Notepad. It features many advanced functions such as syntax highlighting, code folding, and macros. Unlike most other GUI-based text editors, Notepad++ is completely free and open source. While it may not be as flashy as some other editors, it is fully customizable, limited only by your time and imagination. As an editor, its power is undeniable.

Emacs (All Platforms)

The primary text editor for advanced programmers. The most popular feature in Emacs (Editing Macros) is its built-in macros and powerful keyboard commands, making editing text files, especially code, a joy. It's often said that you won't fully understand Emacs until you spend some time learning about it. The program has been ported to almost all platforms and has multiple distributions, with the most popular being GNU Emacs and XEmacs, both of which are free, cross-platform, and open source.

UltraEdit (Windows)

UltraEdit ($49.95), a shareware editor, is user-friendly and features syntax highlighting, code folding, macros, and a large number of available functions compared to similar software. UltraEdit is a great platform for web development, offering many advanced features for building HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and other web programming languages.

TextMate (Mac OS X)

Powerful and even more appealing, TextMate ($63) appeared on the scene just a few years ago and quickly gained enthusiastic followers due to its attractive interface, powerful macros, and downloadable/editable bundles. Windows users who like TextMate can try E Text Editor (a text editor similar to TextMate that supports TextMate macro bundles).

Vim (All Platforms)

Similar to Emacs, Vim (originally created over 25 years ago), is widely popular due to its keyboard macros and is a powerful tool for advanced programmers. Also similar to Emacs, Vim comes in various flavors, including gVim and gVim Portable for Windows, and MacVim for Mac. If you think you might be interested in Vim but aren't ready to dive deep into this powerful yet somewhat complex editor, you can try Cream.

TextPad (Windows)

Limited to Windows, TextPad (shareware, $32.50) is similar to other editors and offers many advanced features tailored for programmers, such as syntax highlighting, code blocks, and macros. With the addition of the clip library function (used for persistent storage of content), TextPad enthusiasts also praise its strong search capabilities and ease of use.