Coda

by Panic

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Current version1.7.4 Last release27/07/2011

Alongside TextMate, Coda is considered one of the two mainstay development environments for the Mac platform. Created by the Mac software gurus at Panic in early 2007, Coda has since earned rave reviews from developers of all stripes. It's considered by many to be an essential tool for Mac users who code or design web pages. There are alternatives to Coda that are cheaper or even free, but none of them come close to matching it in terms of performance or reliability.

Main Features
As far as text editors are concerned, Coda's no shrinking violet. It's a bold, powerful editor with a Python-esque “batteries included” philosophy. With a slew of syntax highlighting palettes, tag completion for HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and MySQL, find and replace, a built-in FTP client with support for all the major protocols, and much, much more, Coda's a force to be reckoned with. In addition, the latest version of Coda actually comes with a small library of reference works for all manner of languages from Ruby on Rails to SQLite.

Pros and Cons
With so many positive attributes, it's difficult to find fault with Coda. If you're looking for a text editor with more default features, you'll be looking for a long time. The interface is gorgeous and intuitive, the Sites project management feature is well thought out, and the community of developers who use it is knowledgeable and friendly. On top of that, there are dozens of handy, third-party plugins created by users that can extend the functionality of Coda's stock configuration. The only con would be that it's not free.

Community Consensus
Some things can be wildly popular without being particularly good. After all, mainstream appeal and quality are often mutually exclusive. In the case, however, the wisdom of the crowd prevails. This mac editor seriously good, which is a sentiment echoed by millions of Mac users. Everyone from casual web designers to hard-core back-end developers laud Coda for it's refinement, style, and functionality. Unlike trendy, flash-in-the-pan software that comes and goes, Coda's maintained a high level of enthusiasm amongst users for years.

Final Thoughts
It's never been a better time to be a developer using the Mac OS X operating system. Not only the platform itself but the tools available for it have reached a level of excellence that makes working with them an absolute joy. Highly effective coders disproportionately use Coda to accomplish their goals and complete projects on time. At $99, it's a bit on the pricey side. But there's no other editor out there that offers the same bang for your buck as Coda.