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From: Bob.Stout@p6.f506.n106.z1.fidonet.org (Bob Stout)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: BEST MSDOS C EDITOR?
Message-ID: <22801.25140E3A@urchin.fidonet.org>
Date: 17 Sep 89 04:42:46 GMT
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In an article of <13 Sep 89 14:36:06 GMT>, (Alastair Dallas) writes:

 >I don't want to clutter the newsgroup, but a previous poster recommended
 >Epsilon from Lugaru.

...As would I, although I don't want to clutter it up either.

 >... He ...commented that Epsilion was the only editor he knew of with  
 >[the listed] features.  
 >
 >Well, BRIEF has these features and a few more and you don't have to mess
 >with learning Emacs.

Epsilon is unique among EMACS derivative editors in that its extension  
language is a dialect of C rather than LISP. This lesson was not lost on the  
authors of Brief who recently made the same change. In addition to the usual  
key bindings and new functions you can write in Epsilon's EEL, it is a  
full-featured C subset which comes with its own compiler and includes  
interrupt functions. One Epsilon user wrote his own personalized interrupt-  
driven mouse package in Epsilon's EEL in under two hours.

Epsilon's other claim to fame in the DOS world is true multi-tasking. Using an  
Epsilon process window, you can run a program in the background while still  
editing in the foreground.

Unless memory fails me, Brief at one time also had (has?) a line length  
limitation. This would've been unacceptable for one use to which I put  
Epsilon. I had run a communications test over a three-day weekend, capturing  
all comm data on a PC. This was a multi-megabyte file (about 6 MB as I recall)  
without a single CR or LF character in the entire file - a single line. When I  
got in, I spent 2 minutes loading the file into Epsilon and writing an ad hoc  
macro to parse it for me, then started it and went to get my morning soft  
drink. A couple a minutes later, I was back and the file had been processed. I  
split it up further, eventually winding up with close to 100 active buffers in  
as many windows as the screen could hold. I don't think Brief could have done  
it...

 >We all know that editors are religious issues (who started this thread,
 >anyway?), but I can highly recommend BRIEF from over three years of use--

I've used Brief at client sites before and can agree that it's a fine editor.  
I also agree wholeheartedly that this is a largely religious issue and only of  
interest to those who've not already been proselytized (I'd already used EMACS  
on a variety of platforms and was used to setting up my own personized set of  
functions and key bindings wherever I went). However, like you, I've used  
Epsilon for well over three years on PC and can recommend it highly.

BTW, for PC users on a budget, I can also recommend EC from C Source and the  
shareware editor Qedit - both excellent products for around $50. For even more  
limited budgets, check out the shareware editor Blackbeard for $25 or so.