I have used e3 exclusively as a text editor on TC for a long time, it does the job I need. Lately I use geany with most features disabled, just for the tabs (and the auto saving of session) and the ease of toggling full screen - having more than a dozen of aterms open with docs in e3 bacame a bit messy, and always being reluctant to close any which may later be needed.
I doubt your conclusion.
Data residing in tmpfs can be swapped out whenever a need arises, so it is not really taking up RAM at the expense of apps which require it.