Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!galaxy.rutgers.edu!argus!ken
From: ken@argus.UUCP (Kenneth Ng)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: vi-like editor for PC
Message-ID: <1909@argus.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jul 90 20:45:18 GMT
References: <4226@peora.ccur.com> <46500136@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <55644@microsoft.UUCP>
Organization: NJ Instit. of Tech: TEIES Project
Lines: 56

In article <55644@microsoft.UUCP>, t-rayc@microsoft.UUCP (Raymond CHEN) writes:
: To everybody else out there who hasn't used Xedit, let me warn you
: that Xedit is nothing like vi.  Xedit breaks the screen into different
: sections; for example, typing the letter "d" and hitting "Enter" has
: the following effects, depending on where you typed the "d":

And vi will delete a line if prefixed with ':', will delete depending on
the next and previous character typed, or will be entered into your document
if you are in insert mode.  

: Xedit was designed for the IBM 3270 terminal family, which means that
: nothing actually happens until you hit "Enter".  (Modulo function
: keys with the "IMMEDIATE" attribute.)

Are 'clear', pa1, and pa2 included in these function keys?

: Summary:  Although more flexible, Xedit is clumsier to use.  Xedit's
: column operations are useful when editing fixed-field data files.
: (Very handy when editing punch cards.  I'm not joking.)

I'd say the most useful standalone capability of XEDIT is the 'all'
command (yeah I know 'all' is a macro, but its easier to explain 'all'
then the displayterm parameters).  'all' allows you to hide a section of
text that you don't want to look at, and/or show you just the sections
of text you want to look at.  With the list of manuals in a file I use
XEDIT's all command to do simple database queries.  While I can do 
something similar with grep, I can't do things like 'all/rscs/ & /intro/'
(show me all lines with the string 'rscs' and 'intro' independently
of order) unless I want to do '[ri][sn][ct][sr]'  But I will also get
anything with strings such as 'rncr'.  Another capability similar to
'all' is the exclude capability.  When adding logic to a routine, I will
often write the addition and then put in the variable declarations (yeah
I know I'm supposed to do it the other way).  I tell xedit not to show
me the lines I've already done.  Therefore I can fit both the declaration
section and code usage section on the same screen, even though there may
be a hundred or more lines of code between them that is currently hidden.
Or, when programming in Pascal, I keep just the procedure declarations
visible, and the logic excluded, so I can easily go back and forth across
the list of subroutines to find out what arguements routine 'abc' wanted.

But, the single must useful integrated capability of XEDIT is the ability
shared by all (what I consider real) editors, a real macro language with
the capability of putting in 'if/then/else' statements, executing editor
commands, etc.  So far I've only used XEDIT, Emacs, and Interact, but I'm
sure there are others.  For this, vi doesn't hack it because I know no way
of putting in 'if this line contains symbol ABC then do DEF otherwise do
GHI'.

As far as clumsier goes, I find vi far more clumsier to use than XEDIT,
but that is a personal preference.  Also note that on a daily basis I
use vi, XEDIT, and Wordstar with about equal amounts.

-- 
Kenneth Ng: Post office: NJIT - CCCC, Newark New Jersey  07102
uucp !andromeda!galaxy!argus!ken *** NOT ken@bellcore.uucp ***
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