Understanding QuickDiffs
Using colors, QuickDiffs tell the story behind the changes you have made, or are
in the process of making, to the contents of a text editor. The colors indicate
additions, deletions, and
inline changes to the editor's content, compared
to the content at the time of loading the file, or compared to a blank document
if you started with a blank document. For QuickDiffs DeltaWalker uses the same colors,
carrying the same meaning, as the colors for additions, deletions, and inline changes.
Let's walk through an example that illustrates most of the possible combinations
the QuickDiffs can depict.

Here is what this partial screenshot of a second text editor has to say:
- Lines #15 and #16 have been added in the second editor, relative to the first, before
the files were even loaded for comparison. The first QuickDiff—the green background
of #15—indicates that somewhere on line #15 a change was made after the file
was loaded. Indeed the string IByteSequence replaced the string ByteBuffer.
- The short, horizontal orange line between lines #17 - #18 tells us that one or more
lines were deleted on that spot. The fact that the line doesn't span the entire
width of the editor, as does the line b/n lines #21 and #22, tells us that whatever
lines were deleted in the second editor, they were deleted in the first editor as
well.
- The third QuickDiff—the blue background of #19—suggests that the entire
line was added, after the file was loaded.
- The next QuickDiff—the short, horizontal orange line between lines #21 - #22—that
one or more lines were deleted at that location. In contrast to QuickDiff #2 however,
the thin, horizontal orange line that runs across the entire editor indicates that
the deleted lines were deleted only in the second editor.
- The last QuickDiff—the green background of #23—says that one or more
changes were made on this line. Indeed, to the right of it, we see several characters
with darker green and blue background, either or all of which could be the changes
in question. Hovering over the actual QuickDiff (the background of #23) displays
a tooltip containing the original text. With the help of the tooltip we can conclude
that the actual change that triggered the QuickDiff is the 'name' part of the word
pathname.
Saving a file with QuickDiffs does not clear the QuickDiffs information. This way
information about changes made to a file after it's opened remains available
for as long as the file stays open in DeltaWalker. Closing and opening a file
containing QuickDiffs resets the QuickDiffs information.
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