AptEdit is not likely to replace the editor in your favorite IDE, but if you're editing a lot of code that doesn't often have an IDE--PERL files, for example, or HTML, or binary data--it can be extremely useful. It's also very small, designed to run from a USB drive--take your editor with you! This makes it an excellent choice for troubleshooters and network admins who may need to work on multiple desktops configured with who-knows-what over the course of the day.

All of the basics are there--syntax highlighting, tabbed (or MDI) display, a diff function, and so on. I found the hex display (used when opening binary files) to be intuitive and useful. The HTML viewer does not need to laboriously launch your browser to show you a render of your markup--a nice touch (and one which adds to the lightweight nature of the program). Code folding (the ability to collapse or expand blocks of code, such as 'if/else' blocks or entire subroutines) is also present.

AptEdit is very much a programmer's tool, especially for those programmers who regularly work with a variety of text files in several environments, as opposed to those with a dedicated development environment specialized for their language of choice. It's a bit beyond "whim" purchase, but the 30-day trial should be more than enough to let coders determine if it's the tool for them.