Saturday, November 11, 2006

The Diamond Project

The Diamond Project. You say, huh *LOL?* I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned it here before or not, but I’m a computer utility (application) program junkie :). I was on the PC / Windows side of the fence and it has logically carried over to the Apple Mac / OS X side. I think my largest single weakness is Text Editors, meaning whenever a new one comes out, or a favorite is updated, I simply have to check it out :)!

Since my platform of choice is currently Apple / Mac and OS X. The programs I’ll be discussing today are for that platform. You may ask why I don’t just pick one and let that be that? Well, for the men, why do you have more than one screwdriver in your tool box? For women, why do you have more than one frying pan in the kitchen? Depending on just what it is you’re doing on the computer, the same tool may or may not be the best one for the job. If it weren’t for the variety of likes, tastes and what not, multiple programs that essentially do the same thing wouldn’t exist - at least in my mind?

So it is with text editor programs. Some of the ones I like for various reasons are:

Smultron by Peter Borg (Free)
SubEthaEdit by The Coding Monkeys (used to be free for non-commercial use - now $35 after a 30 day trial)
TextWrangler by Bare Bones Software (Free)
The Diamond Project by Geoffrey Alexander (currently pre-version 1 beta)
WriteRoom by Hog Bay Software (version 1.0 Free; version 2.0 not yet priced)

Since most are “Free,” and the selection of which works best for you is a personal one, all that’s required of you is the time it takes to download the programs and give them a try :).

One of the reasons I like the “Diamond Editor” (The Diamond Project) is, I was made aware of the existence of the project in the very early stages of development. So, I felt like I had a rare opportunity to make a good writing environment (or text editor) even better by providing feedback to the Author, Designer, and Programmer as to what worked and what didn’t. Pre-version 1.0 is an ideal time to get involved, but getting involved anytime is always a good way to show support for your favorite application program, and provide feedback to the programmer’s so they can continually update and make a good program even better, or Great even :)! By the way, this entry was composed using the Diamond Editor.

~ The significance of man is that he is insignificant and is aware of it. - Carl Becker ~