Thankfully there are other editors in the world besides Notepad.
The coding environment that programmers use is the source of a great deal of debate. Personally, it depends on which language I am using: in Linux I tend to use gedit and kdevelop, but in Windows I tend to use Notepad++.
Sublime Text is also very, very, good, and you can get a Portable version of it as well. At home, you can use whatever you want. Take a look at Visual Studio Code: it is pretty good!
The school computers do not allow us to install anything permanently. There are other great editors out there, but it is best to use them at home.
Why use a programming editor?
- Syntax highlighting - different kinds of code are different colours
- There are often error-checking tools built-in
- Programming code autocomplete! (Soooooo good!)
- Formatting helpers, like bulk tabbing
- And so much more
After a while you get so used to writing in programming editors that word processors start to seem awkward and slow. I do much of my writing as a teacher in programming editors. I can't go back!