Best Code Editors for COBOL

Notepad++ serves as a free alternative to traditional Notepad and is designed for editing source code across various programming languages. Functioning within the Microsoft Windows ecosystem, it operates under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The editor is built on the robust Scintilla editing framework and is developed using C++, making use of the pure Win32 API and Standard Template Library (STL) to achieve enhanced execution speed and a compact file size. By optimizing numerous processes while maintaining user-friendliness, Notepad++ aims to contribute to the reduction of global carbon dioxide emissions. The software’s efficiency allows computers to use less CPU power, enabling them to operate at lower energy levels, which in turn leads to reduced power consumption and a more sustainable environment. This approach exemplifies how software development can align with eco-friendly initiatives.

Apache NetBeans is a dynamic, open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that supports the development of applications in various programming languages, such as Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML5, and C/C++. Renowned for its modular framework, NetBeans equips developers with a comprehensive suite of tools and features tailored for creating desktop, mobile, and web applications. It boasts advanced code editing, debugging, and profiling functionalities, as well as an integrated visual GUI builder for crafting user interfaces in Java. Additionally, NetBeans provides support for multiple version control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial, enhancing collaborative efforts among teams. As a project under the Apache Software Foundation, NetBeans is continually refined by a vibrant community dedicated to expanding its capabilities, ensuring it remains a dependable and adaptable option for developers in numerous fields. Furthermore, its extensive documentation and tutorials make it accessible for both novice and experienced programmers alike.

Atom is a modern text editor tailored for the 21st century, developed on the Electron framework, and inspired by the features that we cherish in our preferred editing tools. It has been crafted to offer extensive customization options while remaining user-friendly with its default settings. As a vital component of a developer's toolkit, a text editor often collaborates with other tools rather than functioning in isolation. With the integrated GitHub package, you can seamlessly manage your Git and GitHub workflows directly in Atom—creating branches, staging and committing changes, pushing and pulling updates, resolving merge conflicts, and reviewing pull requests, all from within the editor. This package comes pre-installed with Atom, meaning you can start right away! Atom is compatible with various operating systems, including OS X, Windows, and Linux, ensuring a wide accessibility. You can easily search for and install new packages or even develop your own straight from the editor. Additionally, Atom enhances your coding efficiency with its intelligent and adaptable autocomplete feature, and it allows you to conveniently browse and open individual files, entire projects, or multiple projects simultaneously within a single window, making it a versatile choice for developers. Overall, Atom is designed to make coding smoother and more efficient, catering to both novice and experienced developers alike.

Installing LaTeX is a straightforward process, and you can begin utilizing it immediately, regardless of your prior experience. Overleaf provides a fully equipped LaTeX environment that operates on their servers, allowing for instant access. Using Overleaf ensures that you have a consistent LaTeX setup no matter where you are, which is particularly beneficial when collaborating with colleagues and students, as it eliminates any potential version discrepancies or package conflicts that could arise. This seamless integration fosters a more efficient and productive workflow for everyone involved.

UltraEdit has been the preferred text editor for over 2 million users and many Fortune 100/500/1000 customers for almost three decades. UltraEdit is a powerful and fast data processor that can handle large files. It also supports almost any syntax or source language. UltraEdit is often referred to as the "Swiss Army knife" of text editors. It's a powerful tool that can be used by users across many industries and responsibilities. UltraEdit is able to solve almost any problem in text editing, including project management and programming. It can also handle large file manipulations, remote (FTP/SFTP), data sorting, column/block editing, advanced file searching, and text data reformatting. UltraEdit is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is supported by a professional team of developers and customer service personnel located in the USA.

Lapce is an innovative, open-source code editor designed to provide a swift and responsive experience, especially beneficial for developers tackling extensive projects or intricate codebases. Developed using Rust, Lapce takes advantage of native development's performance benefits to ensure a seamless editing experience that minimizes delays. The editor boasts a sleek, contemporary interface alongside advanced features like multi-caret editing, split views, and integrated terminal capabilities. By incorporating support for the Language Server Protocol (LSP), Lapce delivers accurate autocompletion, syntax highlighting, and efficient code navigation for a variety of programming languages, ultimately boosting developer productivity. Its high degree of extensibility, comprehensive plugin support, and emphasis on performance position Lapce as an optimal choice for developers seeking a lightweight yet robust editor that effectively combines simplicity with functionality, making it appealing to both novices and experienced coders alike. Furthermore, Lapce's commitment to community-driven development ensures that it continues to evolve, addressing the needs of users and keeping pace with the ever-changing landscape of software development.

UEStudio enhances the renowned UltraEdit text editor by incorporating advanced features tailored for developers and teams, including comprehensive Git integration. Within UEStudio, you can effortlessly clone, checkout, update, commit, push/pull, and perform various other operations to efficiently manage your Git repositories. As a powerful Git editor, UEStudio merges the capabilities of top-tier text editing with Git functionalities all in one convenient platform. You can modify and refresh your source files, then commit changes with a simple hotkey or mouse click, streamlining the development process. The Git branch manager in UEStudio allows for easy merging of branches, and if you prefer, you can utilize the Git shell for command-line operations. You can swiftly examine and resolve merge conflicts using UltraCompare’s merge tool, ensuring a smooth workflow. Furthermore, UEStudio intelligently analyzes your project and source files, providing automatic code completion to enhance productivity and coding efficiency. This seamless integration of features makes UEStudio an invaluable tool for developers seeking to optimize their coding experience.

Buffer Editor is an innovative code and text editing tool designed for seamless software development, code viewing, or note-taking while on the move. Countless programmers rely on Buffer Editor for its swift, robust, and sophisticated coding capabilities on mobile platforms. It allows users to preview a variety of file types compatible with iOS, such as images, PDFs, videos, and documents. You can effortlessly toggle between your currently open files and even open several terminals in separate tabs. Additionally, you can preview content both on localhost and your own server, enhancing your workflow and productivity. With its user-friendly interface and extensive features, Buffer Editor truly stands out in the realm of mobile coding applications.

jEdit stands out as a well-established text editor for programmers, boasting a development history that spans hundreds of person-years, especially when factoring in the creation of plugins. This robust editor surpasses many costly alternatives in terms of functionality and user-friendliness, all while being offered as free software with complete source code under the GPL 2.0 license. It includes a built-in macro language and an extensible architecture for plugins, with a vast selection of macros and plugins readily available. Users can easily download and install these plugins directly from jEdit through the convenient "plugin manager" feature. Additionally, jEdit supports a wide variety of character encodings, such as UTF-8 and Unicode, making it highly versatile. It is designed to be configurable and customizable, encompassing all the essential and advanced features one would anticipate in a modern text editor, ensuring it meets the diverse needs of its users. As a result, jEdit remains a compelling choice for developers seeking a powerful yet accessible tool for their coding tasks.