moraes@csri.toronto.edu (Mark Moraes) (04/12/89)
(People often ask about the editor 'sam' - here are some opinions, some information about getting it, and the reference to the paper on it) In article <9984@smoke.BRL.MIL> (newsgroup comp.lang.c), gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>) writes: > >I stopped using our EMACS editors for most purposes once Rob Pike's "sam" >editor became available. Its use of the mouse is cleanly integrated into >the design of the editor's bitmap interface, not just tacked on as an >afterthought. It makes a considerable difference. A note of dissent - I feel uncomfortable with editors which offer *NO* way of moving the cursor other than the mouse. I did try sam, I liked its mouse integration, menus and windows. I hope Emacs Version 19 will have learnt something about these from sam. But having to take my hands off the keyboard and move the mouse to fix something on the previous line, to find another file, to search for a string, or even save the file, that feels little unpleasant. It has definitely got its functions separated along very clean lines - you want to type in a window, click on it - this includes the command window. *Any* screen editing other than deleting the character/word just typed, requires the mouse and menus. Like the emacs family, sam does handle multiple buffers/files/windows - it has arbitrarily overlapping windows, but they are still all constrained within the main window. I don't seem to be able to ever get my window 80 chars wide, since it has no feedback; there must be a way around this) Windows have their own scrollbars. The click-to-type feels a little unusual in the X environment - it blends in consistently with the blit environment. All this nice stuff only works on a machine with a graphics display and a mouse (blits, X, suntools) - on a plain old tty, sam feels pretty much like ed, but different... I really missed all the nice Jove/Emacs features I've grown used to - fill-paragraph, compile-it, parse-errors, c-mode, fill-comment, filename and command completion - I felt really relieved when I went back to Jove. I'm not even sure I would recommend it for users who wanted a simple text editor - they'd still need to know the ed-like commands for the command window. There isn't really a tutorial, and there isn't any online help. Ok - enough fanning the editor war flames. Some information now: (I'm not sure how recent this information about the AT&T Toolchest is - it's from the black hole I call a filing system...) sam is available from AT&T, through the ``UNIX System Toolchest.'' For more information about the Toolchest, call (201) 522-6900 with your 1200-baud terminal and log in as `guest' (no password). %A Pike, Rob %T The text editor sam %J Software - Practice and Experience %V 17 %N 11 %D November 1987 %P 813-845 %A Pike, Rob %T Window Systems Should Be Transparent %J USENIX Computing Systems %V 1 %N 3 %P 279-296 %D Summer, 1988 %X The "Controversy" paper in the issue, offers some guidelines and ideas for designing window systems and window based applications. Argues for simplicity and unobtrusiveness in window systems.
jg@esd.sgi.COM (John Giannandrea) (06/01/90)
Can someone please tell me the current status of the sam editor. I believe there is an X-windows interface. Is this editor still being developed? What is it's availability? Thanks.
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) (06/07/90)
In article <JG.90Jun1143301@umbriel.esd.sgi.COM>, jg@esd.sgi.COM (John Giannandrea) writes: > Can someone please tell me the current status of the sam editor. > I believe there is an X-windows interface. > Is this editor still being developed? > What is it's availability? "sam" was made generally available via the AT&T UNIX System ToolChest, which is an automatic UUCP-based software distribution facility with a forms-oriented user interface for browsing to see what's available and to request software. There are charges for almost all tools, plus transmission fees; however, the prices are quite reasonable especially for unlimited usage at a given site (not just a CPU) and full source code. You can dial up the ToolChest at (201)522-6900, 1200 bps, user name "guest". An older version of "sam" was included in the "dmd-pgmg" tool package, but more recently a newer version was made available as just "sam"; I'm not sure exactly what its characteristics are, but the ToolChest menus provide a way to obtain tool descriptions. Valid "sam" licensees can obtain, directly from me, a free distribution using merged common sources that support the following bitmap terminals: 5620 DMD 630 MTG SunTools X-Windows (Of course, "sam -d" is usable with any terminal type.) Our version contains several bug fixes, portability enhancements, and other improvements (not extra features, but improved support for the ones that "sam" already had). Other than this kind of work in the user community, I don't think there is any real continuing development of "sam". I try to serve as a focal point for improvements, though.