This is a short review of the text editors available for the QL.
Editors come in two basic types: moded and mode-less. A moded editor is one that has a command mode and an edit mode. The Unix editor VI is a classic example of a moded editor. All commands are typed in with out any extra keys ( dd deletes a line). Once in the input text mode, you can not move the cursor around, but must first hit ESC to exit the edit mode and enter the command mode (moving the cursor is done using the h, j, k, and l commands. A mode-less editor is one that has only one mode in which regular keys are used to input text and the Control, Alt, or ESC keys, in conjuction with regular keys, are used to enter commands. Most editors and word processors are considered mode-less.
ED by Metacomco
ED is the text editor that comes with all Metacomco languages. It is fairly powerful, with a limited macro language. It is a modeless editor, but it does have mode-like features. It has both immediate and extended commands. Hitting F3 brings up a command line. All editing commands can be entered at the command line. The extended commands, like string search, can only be entered at the command line. Obviously you will not be entering cursor movement commands via the command line, but having all commands available from the command line is useful for creating macros. Many commands can be entered on one command line, and with the repeat command, limited macros can be created.
ED also has the feature of allowing the user to designate the shape of the editing window on start up. This allows you to move the editor where you want it and make it as large or small as you like. ED also has a screen redraw feature (as all QL editors should have).
ED does not allow editing of mulitple files at one time, but more than one copy of ED can be run. They can be moved and reshaped so not to interfere with each other. With only a 29K executable file size, ED is not a memory hog.
QED by Jan Bredenbeek
QED is a freeware version of Metacomco’s ED. It functions almost exactly like ED. The command set is the same as ED. It does lack the ability to change it’s location and shape, but it does add an extra line at the bottom of the screen that shows the cursor location (line and column) and the filename.
The only advantage QED has over ED is that it is free. If I lost my copy of ED, I’d have no problem using QED.
MicroEMACS ported by Ken Norrie
MicroEMACS is a version of EMACS originally written by Daniel Lawrence. MicroEMACS has been ported to many operating systems (MS-DOS, UNIX, Atari) including the QL. MicroEMACS is a fairly complex but very powerfull text editor. MicroEMACS, like EMACS, is really a mode-less editor, but is does have modes. MicroEMACS has modes like:
- WRAP – allows for automatic word wrap and paragraph reformatting.
- C – This mode has helps in writing C programs. One feature is help in bracket structure. For those that don’t know, the { and } mark the begin and end of a program structure. In C mode, when a } is typed, it’s corresponding { is quickly highlighted.
It provides for editing multiple files and a full macro language. It does take a while to get used to MicroEMACS. It is based around the use of buffers. Files are read into a buffer to edit. Deleting areas of text is really putting them into a kill buffer, where they can be brought back to be pasted into another location in the editor. Since MicroEMACS supports editing multiple buffers, it supports editing multiple files.
After using MicroEMACS for about two years, I still have not touched the more advanced features. To some people EMACS is almost a religion. There are USENET News readers for EMACS. There is a Unix mail interface for EMACS. Some people use EMACS as a front-end to Unix.
There are three versions of MicroEMACS available, version 3.8, 3.9, and 3.11. Each version is an improvement of the previous with new features added. Having used 3.8 and 3.9, with the limited commands that I know, I can’t tell the difference. For most text editing, almost any version should do.
ELVIS
ELVIS is a Freeware version of the Unix editor VI. ELVIS has been written to be portable across many systems. I believe it started on the Atari ST, but has made it to many systems including the QL. Not having used ELVIS, I can only assume the QL version is a straight port and should be just like using VI. As mentioned before, VI is a moded editor.
The Editor by Charles Dillon of Digital Precision
The Editor is a commercial mode-less text editor. Like ED and QED it has both immediate and extended commands and it has a limited macro ability. Unlike the other editors mentioned so far, The Editor can edit binary files (executables). This allows The Editor to act like a file editor.
The Editor has some built in features for printing headers, footers, bold, NLQ, etc. This gives it the advantage of producing good looking listings. The Editor documentation is large and comprehensive, with 142 pages. For one that is used to different editors, this over abundance of documentation can get in the way. At least there are a few pages that summarize the editing commands.
Even thought I have a copy of The Editor, I really have not used it, so I can’t provide any input on usage.
Spy by Ark
I’ve only seen Spy once, so I can’t say too much about it. Like The Editor, it can edit both text and binary files. I’m guessing that it is like most QL editors in that it has both immediate and extended commands.
Other Editors
In looking though the QUANTA and IFE libraries, I have come across a few other editors. I have seen PROGLIST_BAS from the QUANTA library and found it to be very simplistic. Not an editor for constant use. I can’t say much for the one’s I’ve found in the IFE library (ASCII-Editor, Editor, Stored Editor, TRA-Tab Editor). If someone knows about these editors maybe they can enlighten us on them.