source code editor a source code editor is a text editor program designed specifically for editing source code of computer programs it may be a standalone application or it may be built into an integrated development environment ide or web browser source code editors are a fundamental programming tool as the fundamental job of programmers is to write and edit source code features source code editors have features specifically designed to simplify and speed up typing of source code such as syntax highlighting indentation autocomplete and brace matching functionality these editors also provide a convenient way to run a compiler interpreter debugger or other program relevant for the software development process so while many text editors like notepad can be used to edit source code if they dont enhance automate or ease the editing of code they are not source code editors structure editors are a different form of source code editor where instead of editing raw text one manipulates the codes structure generally the abstract syntax tree in this case features such as syntax highlighting validation and code formatting are easily and efficiently implemented from the concrete syntax tree or abstract syntax tree but editing is often more rigid than freeform text structure editors also require extensive support for each language and thus are harder to extend to new languages than text editors where basic support only requires supporting syntax highlighting or indentation for this reason strict structure editors are not popular for source code editing though some ides provide similar functionality a source code editor can check syntax while code is being entered and immediately warn of syntax problems a few source code editors compress source code typically converting common keywords into singlebyte tokens removing unnecessary whitespace and converting numbers to a binary form such tokenizing editors later uncompress the source code when viewing it possibly prettyprinting it with consistent capitalizing and spacing a few source code editors do both notable examples this section may contain indiscriminate excessive or irrelevant examples please improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples see wikipedias guide to writing better articles for further suggestions february 2014 atom brackets eclipse emacs crossplatform including unix linux macos windows gedit crossplatform including linux macos windows microsoft visual studio builtin editor windows netbeans notepad windows slickedit crossplatform including linux macos windows solaris hpux aix sublime text crossplatform including linux macos windows textmate os x vivim crossplatform including unix linux macos windows visual studio code crossplatform including linux os x windows xcode os x controversy many source code editors and ides have been involved in ongoing user arguments sometimes referred to jovially as holy wars by the programming community notable examples include vi vs emacs and eclipse vs netbeans these arguments have formed a significant part of internet culture and they often start whenever either editor is mentioned anywhere integrated development environment comparison of integrated development environments comparison of online source code playgrounds comparison of text editors programming features comparison of javascriptbased source code editors comparison of hex editors comparison of html editors list of text editors this text editor article is a stub you can help wikipedia by expanding itvte 