I absolutely vote thumbs-down on Notepad++ because it has a major bug that the program's author, Don Ho, refuses to fix. The bug causes the following problem: when saving a new document, your new document is saved without any extension. So, for example, if you create a new plain-text document, it is saved without the ".txt" extension, and therefore it is saved by Windows as an unknown file type, which Windows will not know how to handle when you try to open it. There is a work-around for this bug, but the work-around is a time-consuming hassle that you must remember to do (and probably won't remember to do) every time you save a new document.
Here is a link to a bug report about it (on an official Notepad++ web site):
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1340765&group_i...
Scroll to the "Followups" section at the bottom of that bug-report page, and you will witness Don Ho blatantly refusing to fix this major bug. And what reason does he give for not fixing it? He says it's too much "coding effort". Well, it's too much user effort for me to tolerate this horribly defective program. Goodbye to Notepad++; I never want to touch it again.
By the way, Notepad++ Portable has the the same major bug. I am disappointed to see John Haller, who otherwise has a reputation for high-quality reliable software, promoting this fundamentally flawed program. After all, what is more fundamental than saving a new document?!
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After all, what is more fundamental than saving a new document?!
Saving it with an extention.
Or RIGHT clicking on it in Explorer and using Windows' Open With option.
Ed
Ed
Lol.
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Cool Kids Don't Have Signatures. Umm... *shifty eyes*
just rename your file and put the extension.
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This is one of the worst gripes I have ever seen since the fact you can click on the filetype for an extension while saving the file. Looks like you can save for 11 different types.
Let's see what the options to save as are......
-.c
-.cpp
-.rc
-.h
-.java
-.html
-.xml
-.php
-.ini
-.txt
-.bat
You just seem to be lazy and looking for something to complain about. I haven't seen any text editors that give an option to save to so many formats without having to type/name the extension yourself.
Write your own software and maybe we can find something we don't like about it
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pkeffect.com
"We exist in a multidimensional polymorphic hyerspacial internode of neurotranslinguistic manifestations subjugated by hyperbolic quantum entanglement."
using the dropdown list?
I guess not cause it is not working; i.e. even if you select *.txt, the file gets saved without a filetype extension.
Now thats a real bug cause it fools the user!
“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.” - Richard P. Feynman
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Ok, the dropdown not working is a real bug. Initially leaving the extension blank is not a bug, more of a feature, because you will be sure not to accidentally add the incorrect extension
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
First I thought saving without extension would be a bug. Then I switched to the "not a bug but a feature"-point of view.
But pretending to give a dropdown list IS a bug.
“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.” - Richard P. Feynman
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
So, for example, if you create a new plain-text document, it is saved without the ".txt" extension, and therefore it is saved by Windows as an unknown file type, which Windows will not know how to handle when you try to open it.
And if I wanted to save a plaintext file without an extension, I'd be SOL. It's not a bug.
Well, it's too much user effort for me to tolerate this horribly defective program.
It's too much effort to either type the extension or use the drop-down menu? Sounds like PEBCAC to me.
Vintage!
It's not a bug! Is it really that hard to click the dropdown and choose your extension?
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"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook
Sorry you feel that way, but you are mistaking a feature for a 'bug'. Many people use text editors (and Notepad++ is a good one) for other than .txt files. I appreciate that I can easily create and save a .csv file (for example) without having to override a default extension. I regularly create and edit data files with all kinds of extensions in my work as a systems implementor and use notepad++ (portable) as my tool of choice for much of it (not all - nothing is perfect).
John and the PortableApps crew don't modify the underlying application except to make them portable. If the author doesn't consider this to be a bug, why should John? I'd suggest you try other text editors, I'm sure you will find a half dozen with this limitation.
Edit: 8/11/07 11:20pm
There is another circumstance that just happened (again) where the lack of a predefined file extension was an advantage; I had to produce a data file with a particular naming convention without any extension. This file was to be uploaded to three host machines,
- an IBM mainframe (for use in a Generation DataSet Group),
- a Unix-based mini,
- a Pick-based mini (non-relational database machine).
One of the problems with a defaulted extension is that it is difficult to NOT USE AN EXTENSION. If Notepad++ hadn't had this ability, I would have had to reboot my machine into Linux or use another text editor I don't know as well.
I'd have to agree with most of the posts here. That isn't a flaw in the program, it's intended to work like this. If the extension isn't automatic, the user can then be positive that it doesn't save with the wrong extension. When using the standard Windows notepad, it defaults to the .txt extension, but as a computer science major, i rarely use .txt, i usually need .asm, .java or .cpp. With Notepad++ I can just type the extension, or select it from the dropdown, rather than having to worry about it possibly adding the wrong extension for me.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
It's a feature, not a bug. If you want to save it as a cpp file, you'd have to change it. Notepad++ is primarily a developing tool. If you want to automatically have the .txt extension, either use Notepad or edit Notepad++. It's fully open source.
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Ryan McCue.
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Simeon.
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The one thing I don't like is that if you select a syntax highlighting type it doesn't select the appropriate file extension by default when saving. That doesn't stop it from being the best text editor in the world though.
cowsay Moo
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Since you guys are endlessly arguing amongst yourself and the original poster isn't even here anymore, I'm locking this topic.
Come on guys... you should know better...
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