Compare Bluefish vs. Emacs

Bluefish is a robust text editor designed specifically for programmers and web developers, offering a wide array of tools for creating websites, scripts, and various coding languages. It accommodates numerous programming and markup languages, making it versatile for different coding needs. For a detailed look at its features, users can explore the overview, browse through screenshots, or download the editor directly. As an open-source project, Bluefish is distributed under the GNU GPL license, promoting free use and distribution. This multi-platform application is compatible with a variety of desktop operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS-X, Windows, OpenBSD, and Solaris. The latest version, Bluefish 2.2.12, is a minor maintenance update that introduces some new features, including a crucial fix for a crash that occurred during simple searches. Enhancements have also been made in Python 3 compatibility, and the detection of encoding in Python files has seen improvements. Additionally, the triple-click function now allows users to select entire lines easily, and on Mac OSX, Bluefish has been optimized to better handle new permission features. Furthermore, issues with displaying the correct language in the Bluefish user interface for certain languages on OSX have been resolved. With these updates, users can expect a smoother and more efficient coding experience.

At its foundation lies an interpreter dedicated to Emacs Lisp, a variant of the Lisp programming language enhanced for text editing tasks. It offers content-aware editing modes that feature syntax highlighting for a variety of file formats. The platform includes comprehensive built-in documentation, complete with a tutorial aimed at newcomers. Users benefit from extensive Unicode support accommodating nearly all human scripts. It is highly customizable, allowing modifications through Emacs Lisp code or via a graphical interface. Beyond mere text editing, it encompasses a diverse array of functionalities, such as a project planner, email and news reader, debugging interface, calendar, IRC client, and much more. The presence of a packaging system enables users to download and install various extensions seamlessly. Additionally, it provides built-in support for arbitrary-size integers and utilizes HarfBuzz for effective text shaping. There is also native functionality for JSON parsing, improved support for Cairo drawing, and the adoption of portable dumping in lieu of unexec. The system adheres to XDG conventions for initialization files and includes an additional early-init file for enhanced customization. Furthermore, it supports built-in tab bar and tab-line features, as well as the ability to resize and rotate images without relying on ImageMagick, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of tasks. Overall, it stands out as a powerful platform that caters to a multitude of user needs beyond simple text manipulation.