Notepad for programmers, scripters, hackers, developers, etc

Question

I'm looking for a nice application that … well, I'm not quite sure exactly what it might be called, or if what I'm thinking of currently even exists as such. I will try to describe it. I guess it might be commonly called something along the lines of … like … a notepad, scrapbook, organizer?

Basically, I need something to help foster creativity and/or stimulate productivity if possible, but more importantly organize my notes, clipboard scraps, code snippets, regular expressions, command collections, man pages, assorted texts, research, scrapes, possibly images (and so on).

I've been using Apple Notes and generic plaintext editors for the longest time now. Apple Notes has actually been quite good to me in some respects. I like that it's relatively simple, lightweight, easily accessible (it's always just … there!), it can "paste & match style" and "paste & retain style", it can export to .pdf, it syncs automatically, and doesn't seem to use much in terms of system resources. I think I've probably just outgrown it.

It would be best to be compatible with most modern UNIX variants. Particularly Mac OS X and GNU/Linux in a variety of flavours.
It could also be a plug-in or maybe a feature integrated into an IDE.

Answer 1

Maybe the iMapping Tool is right for you. It is not primarily a text editor but rather a visual knowledge mapping tool, that lets you organize your text snippets, files and pictures visually on what could be described as an infinite pinboard. Items can be nested and interlinked so you can add structure as your collection grows. The website is in German, while the tool itself is English. Just check out the video - you will get an impression. It officially runs on Mac and Windows and inofficially also on Linux (needs Java there).

A hint: for code snippets etc use {{{tripple brackets}}}.

Disclaimer: The iMapping tool is my own development I sell it commercially (although there is a free version availabe for download).