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If speed (editor performance) is key, then VIM ... jump the first learning curve... and feel free to use neovim or the mac gui for neovim (https://github.com/rogual/neovim-dot-app)

When it comes to actual editor performance, you dont get much better than VIM or Emacs... either of which perform well enough to load GB size files and not die on their face...

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Have you ever tried hex fiend? That thing can load 20Gb files and allow you to scroll through it easily...How does it do it and why doesn't everyone copy them?

I've never used hex fiend (and have only needed that type of tool a handful of times), but from my understanding the reason this can be so much faster than a text editor is seeking for new lines. If you need to jump 50% through the file, with a hex editor you look at the size of the file and jump to the middle. For a text file you have to count all of the newlines (seek the entire file). Even if the text editor does clever things, many times plugins (like syntax highlighting) do things in naive ways.

Vim is /fairly/ fast even with very large files.

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