SciTE is a free development tool originally developed by Neil Hodgson. Tracing its origins to a programming app for demonstrating the free and open-source library of Scintilla, this code editor has become a general-purpose editor with app building, testing, and debugging capabilities. As such, it has also become a community-driven platform with open source code, which allows everyone to modify it to suit their particular needs.

As a code editor based on the C++ programming language, SciTE is a great alternative for Notepad++ or XML Notepad. It’s for regular programmers and developers using the same family of languages and libraries.

A flexible companion

An important feature for SciTE is that while it was primarily built using C++, it readily supports a wide range of programming languages. Additionally, it can be used for different operating systems including Windows and Linux, catering to a wide range of users. In terms of user languages, it mostly focuses on left-to-right languages that include Arabic aside from the standard English and European languages.

As for its text editing capabilities, its main advantage over its simple text editing contemporaries is in its interface. Despite being minimalist, it offers the commonly-used features and toolbars for the users’ easy access. More than this, not only does the app let you edit programs, but it even allows you to customize the editor interface itself. This versatility allows you to further change the app to suit your needs.

While the interface is now customizable, its base setup has been retained from the earliest versions–making it appear dated and non-friendly for new users. This lack of basic update could be exemplified by its search and replace feature, which essentially doesn’t have anything different compared to the notepad-based editors. Aside from that, experienced users can make custom changes to make up for it.

A good alternative for experienced users

Overall, SciTE is a good programming and editing tool, but only for experienced users. It supports an array of programming languages and its very interface can be extensively modified by users to fit custom requirements or to make its usage more convenient. However, its basic interface remains dated many years later, which makes it inaccessible for new and inexperienced users.