# Introducing “Math Rendering” in Notepadqq 1.4

We all know that code is meant to be read, and comments should be clear and concise. A problem with text editors is that, while they are perfect for writing and displaying code, they do a pretty poor job with comments. Comments shouldn’t be restricted to the rigid rules of all the rest of the code, as they are (usually) completely ignored by any parser.

If you are working in a math heavy field, you have experienced at least once the frustrating feeling of not being able to comment your code by using a simple, straightforward formula. I mean, you can, but… how should you write it?

W_i = V_i - sum (V_i * W_j * W_j / ||W_j||^2) from j=1 to i-1

Or, maybe:

W_i = V_i - (V_i * W_1 * W_1 / ||W_1||^2) - ... - (V_i * W_i-1 * W_i-1 / ||W_i-1||^2)

Notepadqq 1.4 introduces a Math Rendering mode that can be used to do just that: insert math formulas within comments by using the well-known TeX syntax.

You can enable it via the “View -> Math Rendering” menu.

## How to use it

First, enable Math Rendering from the View menu. Then start a comment in your favourite programming language and write your formula within dollar markers, like this: $formula$. It’s as simple as that.

You can also use two dollar markers, as in $$formula$$, in order to allow the editor to vertically expand the line if needed.

Take a look here for a good reference of the syntax we support: https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference

We’re happy to announce that Notepadqq is now available as a Snap package! The same Snap package works on a lot of different distributions, and it’s really easy to install:

sudo snap install notepadqq


(if your distro doesn’t have a “snap” command, you have to install it: read here)

After that, remember to remove any version installed via apt or other package managers. For now, however, the classic packages are still being supported.

## What are the advantages for the user?

We believe that Snap packages can bring plenty of advantages for the end user, such as:

• having a package which is trusted and officially maintained, for any distro
• ability to choose the release type (e.g. stable, testing, or bleeding-edge releases)
• forgetting any problem with Qt and other dependencies

• easier packaging: building Snap packages is way simpler than with the other formats
• ensuring quality: there is just one single package which is built by us: we don’t have to worry anymore about out-of-date unofficial packages, one for each distribution.

We’ll keep updating the old kind of packages, but we hope our users will enjoy switching to the new format, so that it could soon become the main one :)

Wiliam Rodrigues, a computer science student at the Technological University of Parana, Brazil, is conducting a research on Notepadqq.

The research is about users opinions and satisfaction with respect to the usage of the software, and the results will be publicly available and will be used to improve Notepadqq. Thus, your answers are very important :)

You can find the survey here: https://goo.gl/KWC6wM

Note that this research is for academic purposes only, and no personal data will be disclosed.

Thank you!

After a long time, we finally shipped a new version of Notepadqq.

This version contains a lot of fixes and improvements, thanks to the work of the awesome guys who contributed to the GitHub repo.

The list of changes is big; these are the main ones:

  * allow banners to stretch horizontally and vertically (#349)
* Preferences menu now has an "Apply" button in addition to "Ok" and "Cancel". That way users can immediately see visual changes (like themes) without having to exit the menu all the time.
* The Shortcuts tab now has a "Reset Selected Shortcut" in addition to the "Reset All Shortcut" button.
* The Preferences menu remembers the last selected settings tab and will automatically switch to it when re-opened (this is not a saved setting. Only implemented as a static variable).
* Turned the "File Format" and "Encoding" labels in the status bar into ClickableLabels. When clicked, they open the Format/Encoding QMenu that is also used in Nqq's menu bar.
* File encoding in the status bar wasn't properly updated. Fixed that by calling updateEditorUiInfo() when switching encoding.
* l10n: add Slovenian translation (#352)
* sessions: during session load, show BannerFileRemoved when the file is missing (#353)
* UI: disable "reload" actions if no file to reload exists (#354)
* Update notepadqq launcher (fedora) (#366)
* Support Qt 5.8 and 5.9 (#376)
* fix: user was not allowed to exit Nqq if session.xml couldn't be saved
* Title bar has wrong tab title after launch (fixes #421) (#422)
* Warn about missing icons; fix potential crash
* %directory% in run command. (#434)
* Fix segfault on start (fixes #440)
* Open folder contents if a folder is dropped onto Nqq. (#455)
* Apply group replacement across the entire matched string.
* Fixed "^F Find ENTER does not search for the currently selected text" #417. (#468)
* Convert text to path in svg logo (#477)
* Added a "Retry as Root" to Nqq's save dialog. (#480)
* Keep file names of deleted files when loading a session. Otherwise they just show up as 'new X'. (#483)
* Don't load tabs from session that don't exist and aren't cached since they're just empty. (#484)
* Prompt user when opening a file from recent history that does not exist anymore. Fixes #248.
* Remember "Enable Smart Indent" setting #488 (#492)

Version 1.0 has been released!

This release brings a lot of improvements and interesting features, like sessions and a customizable run menu.

Many thanks to the people who worked to make this release possible:

# Say hello to our new icon

After too much time, we finally have a nice, good-looking icon :)

I would like to thank all the people that gave help for this new icon: their ideas, suggestions and improvements have been extremely valuable.

Now, some pictures about the evolution of the logo:

This was the first icon (2010). Please don’t say a word.

Luckily, the first icon has not been around for long. This was the second icon for Notepadqq.

The third version has some improvements (made with Federico), but maintains the same style. The paper has been enlarged, a corner has been folded, and the pencil is now shorter.

And finally we have the current version. The style has been completely revisited thanks to the help of Sara, Diego and Federico.

And this is an early draft of the new icon (by Sara). Enjoy!

Support for extensions is finally ready!

Remember the last poll? Python was the preferred language, and… we didn’t choose it. With a lot of grief, and after a lot of experimentation, JavaScript has proven to be the best choice for packaging and deployment of the extensions. Sorry.

You can already find a preliminary API reference and a tutorial on how to write an extension.

But remember: It’s still an alpha feature! A lot of methods are missing in the API, so suggestions about methods you need are welcome (here).

# Developers: what language would you use to develop Nqq extensions?

This poll is closed! Poll activity:
start_date 05-05-2014 09:54:49
end_date 23-06-2015 11:25:00
Poll Results:
Developers: what language would you use to develop Nqq extensions?

# Search In Files: a sneak peek at the next Nqq version

The focus of the next Notepadqq version has been the “Search In Files” feature. Here are some screenshots from the development version:

Search window

The main window after searching in files. The “Find result” area is detachable, or can be docked to any side of the window.

Find results

# Next Feature

What's the next feature that you'd like to see in Notepadqq?