Collabedit

There's no tool more fundamental or important to a coder than the text editor. Whether you're working on front end web design or incredibly complex data visualization, chances are that you make use of a standard text editor practically every day of your life. But a piece of software that seems to deceptively simple on its surface lives or dies on the features. Seemingly quality of life improvements like automatic syntax highlighting can mean all the difference in the world when looking for errors in your code, and many programmers have heated and passionate opinions on the best text editor in the business. Collabedit probably won't replace your everyday text editor in your day to day affairs, but it offers features traditional editors don't, and it can function as an important tool when trying to share or collaborate on code with other professionals. The straightforward but versatile interface turns it into a valuable tool for everyone from tech recruiters to computer science professors. Most text editing software is fundamentally pretty simple, and Collabedit is no different in that regard. It basically works like a stripped down version of Google Docs, allowing you to create a plain text document and share it collaboratively with anyone with which you provide access. Stripped down is the key point here. There's a reason why traditional text editors are so simple. Too much clutter makes it harder to write clean code, so fundamentally bare bones pieces of software like Sublime or Notepad++ are simple by design. Despite being contained completely in your traditional web browser, Collabedit will look very similar to anyone who's worked with a basic text editor. You can expect numbered lines and a pull down menu that allows you to determine the syntax highlighting. But Collabedit sets itself apart from the rest of the tools on the market through its ability to share your code snippets. Trading your code with friends is as simple as sending them the URL, and they can then make any changes to the code in real time. A chat bar on the right side of the screen allows you to keep in touch with your collaborators and even discuss your work as changes are made, a great option if you want to use it in a live teaching environment. With all that being said, Collabedit is perhaps a little too simple and too specialized to work especially well as a collaborative team environment. But for interviewers looking to vet potential new employees or individuals looking to provide some quick advice, it can be a great asset. Just don't expect it to come with some of the more common quality of life features that you've come to love from your more traditional and dedicated text editing platform.