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Digital Literacy Setup Your Local Development Environment

What is a text editor? And how do I open or install one?

I don't understand what is happening in the middle of the Local Development Environment video when she opens a 'text' editor is that similar to a terminal? she open something called atom.

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,744 Points

A "text editor" is any program that allows you to type words on the screen and save them in a file. It will also let you view the contents of an existing file, change them, and save them again.

Atom is a program you can download from a website that does these functions and many more. It has fancy features to assist with program development. If you're not writing new programs and just want to create simple documents your computer probably has a suitable text editor already. For example, if you use Windows, it came with a simple text editor called "notepad". You can open it from the start menu, in the "accessories" section. Double-clicking on a text file in the file explorer will also open it and load in the file.