Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!apple!veritas!amdcad!brahms!dwork
From: dwork@brahms.amd.com (Jeff Dwork)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Xedit is better than vi and emacs
Message-ID: <1991Apr8.200245.18942@amd.com>
Date: 8 Apr 91 20:02:45 GMT
References: <2197@pdxgate.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@amd.com (NNTP Posting)
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices; Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 77

In article <2197@pdxgate.UUCP> jonr@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Jon Edmund Richards) writes:
>
>            In my opinion, Xedit is a dinosaur and should be as much
>          a part of computing history as those punch cards that the
>          professors tell us about.  
>
>            Does anyone have any good supporting arguments I could
>          provide?  I would love nothing better than to convince my
>          boss that it's time to learn vi or emacs.
>
>            I read this news group almost daily and once in awhile I
>          see postings by Xedit users so I know they are still out
>          there in the world somewhere.  Can any of you explain to me
>          the advantages of Xedit and why it's a good editor?   
>
>       -----------------------------------------------------------------
>       | Jon Edmund Richards       | Internet : jonr@cs.pdx.edu        |
>       | Computer Science major    | ICBM     : 45 31 25 N 122 40 30 W |
>       | Portland State University | U.S.West : Jon @ (503)223-0297    |
>       ----------------------------------------------------------------- 


Xedit has several nice features not available in emacs or vi.  It's been
several years since I moved all my work to unix, and I still miss these at
least once a week:

Column control for search (set zone):
	All search and replace commands look only between the specified
columns for matches.

Column control for display (set verify):
	This is a mapping of columns in the file to columns on the display.
It's great for looking at a file wider than your screen where you want to
see cols 1-10 and 100-130.

Hiding of lines (set select and set display):
	Each line has a select level that may be assigned.  There is a
display level.  Lines that have select lower (or higher - been a while) than
display are invisible and are not affected by any editor operations except
file save.  There are macros to hide individual lines, blocks of lines, and
all lines matching or not matching some regexp.

Multiple windows:
	Both horizontal and vertical splits are possible - including both at
once.

Simple extension language:
	Macros are written in REXX, which is quite powerful and easy to
learn.  It allows one to transfer editor variables and text from the file
into REXX variables.

Prefix commands:
	These are nice to have to see where your block of text is before it
gets moved, but I can live without them.

Hexadecimal editing:
	You can display lines in hex and do search and replace with hex
strings.  Handy for quick patches or fixing funny data from other computers.

Some negatives for Xedit:
	I don't miss 3270 terminals (or their emulations either).

	Insert mode is a crock.

	Using only the cursor keys to move the cursor is no fun.  Emacs and
vi are winners here.



I'd like to see some of this stuff in emacs.  I'd do it myself if I had the
time and the talent, but both are in short supply these days.

--
Jeff Dwork			|  408-749-2356 	|  dwork@AMD.COM
Advanced Micro Devices, M/S 45	|---------------------------------------
PO Box 3453			|  The above opionions are mine,
Sunnyvale, Ca 94088		|  not AMD's.