QQ11@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK (11/28/90)
This is a summary of replies to the question:
I am currently involved in looking at possible editors for a Un*x service
in a research and teaching environment. The primary requirements are:
o Full screen
o Must work on a wide variety of platforms
o Very useful if a version works on PC/MS-DOS
o Must work with industry standard terminals/emulations
o Must be easy to learn, especially for those with no computer background
o site licence arrangements reasonable
I would like to hear from those sites who may have moved to Un*x from
something fundamentally different, especially academic sites. Other
objective views would be appreciated as well. In addition, I would like
to hear from anyone who has done a comparative study of un*x editors.
I would be interested to hear views on what core functions an editor
should offer. What does the person want who primarily goes though the
compile-->load-->execute-->edit cycle, for example?
A supplementary question on commercial versions of Emacs was also posted.
I would like to thank the many people who replied to my original posting
and apologise for taking so long about the summary (there were a large
number of replies).
It was not practical or sensible to say which one came out best although
GNU-Emacs was recommended by quite a few. This may just mean that users
of other editors don't read news.....
I have tried to glean the important comments/features from each item. You
will notice that there are some contradictory statements. This is
deliberate, since some people while saying that a particular editor was
good admitted that it wasn't perfect.If your favourite editor was not
mentioned, perhaps that's because you didn't tell me about it....
I've had to paraphrase/edit some replies to keep things concise. No flames
please if your views have not appeared verbatim.
The editors covered in the replies were:
o vi
Offers power and convenience
Existing, supported, standard
Possible to get by with subset of commands
Available for MS-DOS (PD=stevie, elvis; commercial=MKS vi)
Works well on slow speed lines
Relatively easy to learn for some
Relatively small and fast
Can run under VMS
Tag searching in multi-file programs
Search and replace functions excellent
No multiple window support and auto compile features
Modal nature confusing to beginners
The learning curve is a bit steep.
o ded
No cost, source available.
Popular at some UK sites
Not very portable
Requires own keyboard files (termcap on its own not enough)
Not very robust (more than one comment about this)
Heavily hacked and thus different at each site.
o GNU-Emacs
Offers power and convenience
No Cost and source available.
Fun to learn
Provides total working Environment
Continually extended by users
Available for large number of un*x platforms
Full blown extension language (dialect of Lisp)
Easy to learn though difficult to master
Can run a shell in a window
Automatic make and hooks for source code control (via SCCS).
Runs on VMS as well
Supports other non editing functions such as news and mail reading
Supports language sensitive editing and formatting functions.
Works directly with X server
Tag searching in multi-file programs
Support base from experienced users
Support for un*x debuggers
Supports wide range of user experience
Undo useful but problems when stored 'undo' information exhausted
Too large for small overused machines
No simple search command
Problems with C-h mapping to delete on some hardware
Use of keys hampers some quick typists
Many operations not reversible
Often difficult for beginners
o Jove
No Cost, source available
Also runs under MS-DOS
Subset of GNU Emacs therefore can be used as GNU subset on
smaller machines.
Tag searching in multi-file programs
teachjove facility useful (= modified GNU tutorial)
Supports 'make'
Available for Macs
Quick startup
Can run a shell in a window
o MicroEMACS
Macro Language
No Cost, source available
Also runs under MS-DOS
Widely available
Easy to customise
Fast and efficient, but not simple
Available also on VMS, Atari ST, mac, amiga
Large user base
Whole file is kept in memory
o mg
Portable, small, significant subset of GNU-Emacs
o epsilon
Commercial version of emacs for MS-DOS, un*x and OS/2
Can be configured to look like full emacs
Fully programmable (C like language )
Good manual
Can run make in the 'background' under DOS
o Crisp/brief
Crisp is the un*x clone of the PC editor brief (ver 2)
Source available from uunet
User friendly
Macro language
Requires own keyboard files (termcap on its own not enough)
o Unipress Emacs
Commercial Emacs
Can run a shell in a window
Too large for some situations
o curlew (University of Newcastle UK)
'no frills' editor
No cost.
Best when using SSMP protocol (UK)
Slow compared to vi
o Screen-based ed (Nottingham University (UK) Maths department)
Full screen
Portable
Easy to learn
Requires AT&T Source Licence (although code could be replaced)
o Word Perfect
Version 5.0 available for un*x and MS-DOS
o General Points
Problems using cursor keys over networks due to timing problems.
Must be quick to start, have no startup screens menus, must have
split screens, easy/fast search commands