What is a “programmer’s editor”? Some developers seem to think it’s essentially a regular text editor with syntax highlighting bolted on, but if you need more, you might want to take a look at the free PSPad for Windows.

The program doesn’t just open local text files, for instance. A built-in FTP client means you can edit files directly on the server. An “Open… from internet” opens any URL, and an integrated hex editor enables you to work on just about anything.

Alternatively, you can create a new file, perhaps using a customisable template to get you up-to-speed quickly, or use the Project system to organise all your source files into a single structure.

Whatever you’re working on, the strong core editor has plenty to offer: a tabbed interface, drag and drop editing, spell check (if you download additional libraries), case conversion, syntax highlighting, search/ replace in files and with regular expressions, block formatting and a lengthy list of line processing tools.

PSPad doesn’t always look quite this complex, but it’s still not a program for the faint hearted

If that’s not enough then you might appreciate PSPad’s built-in TiDy library for reformatting and converting HTML code, or the optional integration with CSS editor TopStyle Lite.

Your work can be checked at any time with an intelligent HTML preview system using IE and Firefox. PSPad is able to call other programs as required, and can even capture the text output of compilers, parse and display their log files for a real IDE look and feel.

You also get text differencing, matched brace highlighting, a code explorer, clipboard monitor, hash generator, expression evaluator, system file editor (view and edit HOSTS in a click), and much, much more.

PSPad isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s been around since 2001, and you can sort-of tell: the interface is a little dated, and it’s now creaking under the sheer volume of features crammed into every corner.

The program is a much more complete development tool than most of the competition, though, and if you need more than a regular editor + syntax highlighting – and you’re happy to invest a little time in learning your way around – then we’d give it a try.