"Joon" == Joon Guillen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hi, I'd just like to know what you listers are using as text/code > editors for Linux, more specifically for the X-Windows system. I'm > looking for a good one, something like UltraEdit for Windows (if any > of you have tried it). So far, the good ones I see are the GNU > TeXmacs and XEmacs, but I'm still not sure if any of these fit my > needs.
I was looking for an excuse to start talking about my current favorite text editor... =D Disclaimer - Editor's a rather personal choice. What works for me might not work for someone else. In fact, I might get roundly flamed for this... ;) You see, over the past few weeks, I spent some time learning more about GNU/Emacs. Yes, Emacs. Emacs 21, to be precise. I'd been ambieditorious before, using both vim and emacs to great satisfaction - vim for quick jobs, Emacs for extended coding. Heavy Java and PHP work, with a bit of C thrown in. I thought I had it balanced. I wasn't a vim fanatic, but I had a nicely set up .vimrc and I appreciated its syntax coloring. I had mappings for <esc>:w<cr>:!!<cr> in order to save, compile and execute with just a single keystroke. I learned how to navigate tags easily, something which greatly helped when I was studying other people's source code. I couldn't use hjkl navigation any more - Dvorak, see - but I was comfortable with the different commands, and I could :%s/foo/bar/g half-asleep. ;) It was not unusual for me to have five or six vim windows open in my screen session. (screen is a very useful program. Check it out.) Emacs, well - Emacs had JDE, which was pretty cool. Emacs also had nifty frames that I could easily manage. Emacs had more modes than I ever thought possible. I knew how to get around in Emacs and do my basic mumbojumbo in it, but I hadn't really explored it in depth. That was before I woke up one morning with the urge to learn even more about Emacs. In retrospect I might have overdone it. ;) I gradually moved all my functions into Emacs. Mail was one of the first things to go. At first I used rmail. I lost all my mail in an import accident, but that was just once - after I got it working, everything worked without a hitch. From rmail I moved to mew, and from there to wanderlust. Pretty funky thing. Allowed me to easily change folders and auto-file already-read messages. Then while asking about changing attributions on OPN#emacs, I learned about Gnus - Emacs' built-in news/mailreader. It was a bit complex to setup, but after I got it going, I was amazed at how powerful it was. Now Gnus handles all my mail and news needs. But you're looking for an editor for programming, silly me! Well, let's see - where do I start? Speedbar is a tree navigation tool that lets you see what functions are stored in what files. I find that feature quite handy. I have autocomplete, autolookup, auto-insert-templates in whatever mode I want.. I can compile with a single keystroke. I can press enter on compilation results to quickly jump to the offending line, properly syntax-colored and waiting for my changes. I can reindent whole buffers or small regions if I don't like the original coder's standards. I can browse through tags. Emacs is smart enough to align comments properly, and it can even refill comments that look like this: /** * Long text goes here that you might have to refill in the future * if you add something to the middle. */ You can set tabsize and indent behavior easily; you can even set this per file or per project. There's a lot of integration with various debuggers - It doesn't stop at helping you program, too - it lets you program it. I can evaluate LISP expressions in my buffer, and I can can change everything about Emacs, something I find completely mind-bending. <laugh> And it's surprisingly easy to develop new tools that take advantage of Emacs. I wrote this little thing that would help me keep track of my class schedule during registration. =) I have two-keystroke access to Google and Google-Linux from inside my editor. I can add anything I want or change any behavior I don't like (after a lot of reading, of course). I guess ultimately it's the wealth of modes that amazes me. The multitude of things I can do. I've not turned on on-the-fly spellchecking (flyspell), I haven't installed the chess mode, and I haven't yet explored the majority of Emacs modes I've seen out there, but I still find it pretty amazing. I use it as my IRC client now, and I like being able to cut-and-paste quickly. I like being able to edit this mail while watching the channel scroll by, jumping into the discussion whenever I feel like it. I can easily view URLs with w3m (still having problems with w3, the browser written entirely in elisp). I like this editor. =) Try it out. Takes some getting used to, for sure. Go through the tutorial (C-h t). Read the FAQ (C-h F). Check it out on the Net. Visit the Emacs wiki (www.emacswiki.org). Downsides? Yes, it takes a lot of getting used to, actually. ;) And vi people will laugh at you. ;) Emacs doesn't fit on a diskette, so if you're going to be doing sysad stuff on very minimal systems, you're probably better off learning the ins and outs of vi (or even edlin). Emacs takes up quite a bit of memory and hard disk space, yadayadayada. ;) But it's way, way, way cool. I've never waxed religious about pico or jed or joe. Vim has earned my respect, but Emacs - Emacs has completely blown me away. <laugh> Oh, note that TeXmacs is Emacs-like, but not quite Emacs. ;) Bah, just use Emacs and auctex. ;) -- Sacha Chua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - 4 BS CS Ateneo geek interests: emacs, linux, wearables, teaching compsci _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
