Geany Reviews

I have been a hobbyist programmer for a long time. I am not a pro - I just meddle with basically every language I can get my hands on. I like testing languages, IDEs, editors, compilers, etc. Geany is the ONE program that has been an absolute staple of my "collection", no matter which PC I'm currently on, since at least 2011/2012 (possibly ealier?). This is the only IDE/Editor I have found where I can EASILY set it up to just create a new file (not project - FILE), and depending on the extension I can write and compile/run a short program/script with just about every language/compiler/interpreter I've come across. Recently, I've been able to set up VS Code to do this as well, but that program is INCREDIBLY bloated if set up to work with all the languages I have Geany set up for (and I mean.....like 40 threads running, 7-10Gigs of system RAM used, etc.). Geany, on the other hand (the 32bit version I use - the new 2.0 version is just as good but there are certain things about the 32bit 1.36 version that I'm used to so I keep using it for now), sits in mem using about 13-20MB.... no extra processes unless I'm actively running a script (in a command prompt). If you are looking for a full-fledged IDE with a nice debugger, etc. , then Geany may not be your best bet. If you are just learning to code (esp if you wanna try dabbling in a couple languages) or just looking for a lightweight EDITOR that will RUN your code (in a command prompt/terminal - not in some tiny box/window within the editor that has microscopic text and won't allow for input, etc..) in just about ANY language/compiler you can dream of, I HIGHLY recommend Geany. Again, I'm not a professional, but I do know others who are who also enjoy using Geany and have used it for quite some time. For me, as a hobbyist/intermediate programmer it's probably my all-time favorite editor/ide-lite for multi-language development.