trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey ) (10/05/87)
I am posting the following message to both comp.sys.atari.st and comp.editors,
since the code which will soon be released will run on more than just the ST.
Please note that I am just forwarding this message, so be sure to address
your messages to Dale directly at ...ihnp4!meccts!stag!syntel!dal
-Todd Burkey
trb@stag.UUCP
PS...syntel is an ST and I do forward all the comp.sys.atari.st through to
the syntel node, so feel free to follow up the discussions here as well.
------------------------------Start of Message--------------------------
remote from syntel
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 87 23:32:20 CDT
To: trb
From: syntel!dal@stag.UUCP (Dale Schumacher)
Subject: MicroEMACS (Braner/Dal/JLS)
Message-Id: <1004872332200110@syntel.UUCP>
Todd, please post this to comp.sys.atari.st for John and I...
I've been reading the comments over the last few days about various versions
of MicroEMACS and derivatives. I guess it's about time for me to post a brief
explaination of the version John Stanley and myself have been playing with.
We started out with the sources distributed by Moshe Braner about 8 months
ago, maybe longer. There were a few things that I didn't like, so like any
good hacker who has access to the source code, I starting changing things.
John gave me feedback on the merits of my suggestions and helped implement
some of the enhancements. We've attempted to keep with the philosophy that
the editor should be a single monolithic program, ie. no configuration files,
macro definition files, etc. This has limited somewhat the capabilities of
the editor, but has greatly reduced it's bulkiness.
When people ask me to recommend a programming editor, I tell them first
about Lawrence's 3.9 version, explaining that it is VERY featureful and
implemented for many of the micros that they're likely to be using now or
in the future. Then I explain why I use my version (which we've been
calling v2.14-v2.17). The main reason I give them is that I have the
sources and understand how it works, so I can make it do what I want. The
other reason is the sleekness that I cited before. Then I leave the choice
up to them. Some choose my version, and some choose 3.9. That's how it
should be. Different criteria dictate different choices, and people are
happy with what they end up with. I'm glad that there are so many high
quality programs to choose from (even a few VI clones for people who prefer
that style of editing).
For the information of those still choosing, or perhaps choosing to change,
I'll summarize the features of v2.18, to be released in the next week or so...
The sources have been converted to use dLibs (big surprise, eh) and therefore
take advantage of some of the routines provided in dLibs, like a Unix style
system() call that handles the _shell_p variable properly, fast dynamic memory
management with only 4 bytes per malloc() overhead (allows editing of larger
files), and wildcard filename expansion on the command line. As hinted at,
the shell escapes are fully functional. As Moshe said, we support the mouse
for cursor motion and cut/copy/paste operations, optionally allowing binding
of the mouse buttons to other commands. A couple of bugs in the word-wrap
code now make text processing easier (you may want to see out fix, Moshe).
Wildcards in filespecs for visit/read/etc. operations produce a matching
directory and file-selector. Screen updating is faster. The help screens
have been re-organized and totally re-written by John Stanley. The [+] and
[-] keys are used in several prompts to jump through a list of choices (like
which buffer to go to). We've adding a "clone" feature which locates the
MicroEMACS executable on disk and patches it with values of certain config-
uration options (like right and left margin, insert/overstrike) as they are
set currently. The next time you run MicroEMACS, it will be configured as
you were at the time of the clone, and the version number will have a '+'
after it. There are numerous other changes, some too minor to mention,
and others that I simply don't recall right now. The source code is still
available according to the copyright agreement in the original source code,
and it still compiles for other machines, though some of the added features
weren't implemented for other machines.
Anyone interested in sources can reach me through the net, or snail mail:
Dale Schumacher
399 Beacon Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104
Dale Schumacher
..ihnp4!meccts!stag!syntel!dal
(alias: Dalnefre')