Atom

Atom is a modern text and source code editor that promises to find the perfect balance between convenience and extensibility. Designed for the 21st century, it can meet the needs of any type of user, from beginners and students to experienced non-starter users.

Once you launch Atom, a black-themed modern-looking interface welcomes you, with a tab-based layout that allows you to work with multiple files at the same time. Right at the first glance, you should notice some of Atom’s key features, namely version control with Git and Github and real-time collaboration support with Teletype.

The welcome guide is also displayed, which helps you go through the most important functions of Atom and allows you to get started easier. As such, you can open a new project, install packages and choose themes, add snippets and even learn the keyboard shortcuts in Atom to work with maximum efficiency and speed.

The editor features a structured layout with panels or separate windows for every tool you access. As mentioned above, each file is opened in a separate tab, which enables you to manage a complex project easier.

Atom is created with versatility in mind and comes with support for various types of files, not just text-based ones. For instance, it allows you to preview images, and it features the standard tool set you are familiar with in any source code editor: syntax highlighting, line numbering and code completion. It ensures full compatibility with several programming languages: C++, PHP, HTML, JavaScript and so on.

At the heart of Atom lies powerful web technology, but the editor is far from being a traditional web application. It relies on the latest version of Chromium, opening a locally-rendered webpage in its every window.

The web-based core of Atom rises to the surface once you run it in developer mode, which offers you the freedom to add and change features and functions yourself to mold it to your needs and requirements and enhance its functionality.

Released under an open-source license, Atom provides a powerful editor with a feature set that is not too much for a novice and not too little for a code programmer. The default configuration is more than enough for a beginner, but advanced developer tools are available in its menus, tools that allows deep customization with HTML and JavaScript of the editor’s features and functionality.