Editor for syntax coloring code fragments?
May 12, 2010 4:43 PM
Is there a text editor for Mac OS or WinXP that can syntax color (a.k.a. fontify or syntax highlight) C and C++ code fragments for my daily journal?
I write notes to myself about what I'm doing and drop in bits of code. Sometimes it's just a classname::methodname and sometimes it's 5 or 10 lines. The code lives on a Win XP machine and the notes on Mac OS, but the volume is shared to the Win machine. I edit code on Win XP and notes on both platforms, all w/ Gnu emacs.
When I paste code from a buffer in C++ editing mode to one in Fundamental mode it retains its syntax coloring, but only for that editing session.
I want to keep this fast & fluid, so I don't want to paste code into some tool that turns it into HTML (for the text attributes) then paste that into an editor. Instead, I'd like to just do a special paste or paste then select the just-pasted-text and tell the editor it's code.
I write notes to myself about what I'm doing and drop in bits of code. Sometimes it's just a classname::methodname and sometimes it's 5 or 10 lines. The code lives on a Win XP machine and the notes on Mac OS, but the volume is shared to the Win machine. I edit code on Win XP and notes on both platforms, all w/ Gnu emacs.
When I paste code from a buffer in C++ editing mode to one in Fundamental mode it retains its syntax coloring, but only for that editing session.
I want to keep this fast & fluid, so I don't want to paste code into some tool that turns it into HTML (for the text attributes) then paste that into an editor. Instead, I'd like to just do a special paste or paste then select the just-pasted-text and tell the editor it's code.
Or you could just run emacs within Terminal on OS X.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:46 PM on May 12, 2010
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:46 PM on May 12, 2010
There are a few options for doing multiple modes in one file in emacs.
Also why not name your file .c or manually turn on c mode if it contains c code and no other programming syntax?
posted by idiopath at 4:46 PM on May 12, 2010
Also why not name your file .c or manually turn on c mode if it contains c code and no other programming syntax?
posted by idiopath at 4:46 PM on May 12, 2010
KomodoEdit has support for multi language files. This is primarily for tempting type situations, but I bet it could be bent to your purpose.
posted by jimfl at 5:54 PM on May 12, 2010
posted by jimfl at 5:54 PM on May 12, 2010
Also why not name your file .c or manually turn on c mode if it contains c code and no other programming syntax?
There's text in the journal that's not code, just my notes about what I've tested, results and what I think is going on. There are other things like a call stack copied from a debugger.
The bits of C are not necessarily well structured. This works in an emacs session because the syntax coloring is done with the code in its original context & the color attributes "stick" to the text when it's pasted into another buffer but are lost if the buffer is saved to a file, closed and re-opened.
There's nothing in my text to set off the C the way there's HTML around JavaScript in the emacs multi-mode tricks I've seen so far. I could put a little mark-up around the code sections.
TextMate is huge and might do what I want, but a cursory glance (which means very cursory relative to the depth of the editor) at language grammars and scope selectors tells me it won't.
I think I may have to use a heavy-ish weight wysiwyg editor (like Microsoft Word) to open my journal and the source I want to quote so when I copy the source I can paste it with the colors intact and saveable.
posted by morganw at 6:16 PM on May 12, 2010
There's text in the journal that's not code, just my notes about what I've tested, results and what I think is going on. There are other things like a call stack copied from a debugger.
The bits of C are not necessarily well structured. This works in an emacs session because the syntax coloring is done with the code in its original context & the color attributes "stick" to the text when it's pasted into another buffer but are lost if the buffer is saved to a file, closed and re-opened.
There's nothing in my text to set off the C the way there's HTML around JavaScript in the emacs multi-mode tricks I've seen so far. I could put a little mark-up around the code sections.
TextMate is huge and might do what I want, but a cursory glance (which means very cursory relative to the depth of the editor) at language grammars and scope selectors tells me it won't.
I think I may have to use a heavy-ish weight wysiwyg editor (like Microsoft Word) to open my journal and the source I want to quote so when I copy the source I can paste it with the colors intact and saveable.
posted by morganw at 6:16 PM on May 12, 2010
What about /* */ comment blocks around all the non code text? Though I guess that may seem odd if the file is mostly not code.
I have a notes.lisp, notes.c, notes.ml and a notes.sc file for my various ideas and experiments and snippets I would want to refer back to, and they are all more comment than code.
posted by idiopath at 6:37 PM on May 12, 2010
I have a notes.lisp, notes.c, notes.ml and a notes.sc file for my various ideas and experiments and snippets I would want to refer back to, and they are all more comment than code.
posted by idiopath at 6:37 PM on May 12, 2010
For what it's worth, the VisualStudio code editor produces colored rich text when you copy text, so you can write your fragments in VS and when you paste it into a non-brain dead text editor, it should carry the syntax coloring along.
posted by plinth at 4:46 AM on May 13, 2010
posted by plinth at 4:46 AM on May 13, 2010
What about /* */ comment blocks around all the non code text?
Doh! This is so simple & would kind of work. The file is mostly non-code, so I can wrap my code with */ {some code} /* and just make sure I have /* at the beginning and */ at the end of the file.
The snippets aren't really syntactically correct, so it might get a little messy, but it might not be too hard to add a fake function definition around them.
the VisualStudio code editor produces colored rich text when you copy text
I wish emacs did this. I'll have to try it w/ VS.
org-mode has you covered.
Awesome! You held out on me, though. In another answer about org-mode, you mentioned the screencast. I'm going to watch that, get back to work, then take a break & try these ideas.
Thanks everyone!
posted by morganw at 10:50 AM on May 13, 2010
Doh! This is so simple & would kind of work. The file is mostly non-code, so I can wrap my code with */ {some code} /* and just make sure I have /* at the beginning and */ at the end of the file.
The snippets aren't really syntactically correct, so it might get a little messy, but it might not be too hard to add a fake function definition around them.
the VisualStudio code editor produces colored rich text when you copy text
I wish emacs did this. I'll have to try it w/ VS.
org-mode has you covered.
Awesome! You held out on me, though. In another answer about org-mode, you mentioned the screencast. I'm going to watch that, get back to work, then take a break & try these ideas.
Thanks everyone!
posted by morganw at 10:50 AM on May 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:45 PM on May 12, 2010