A Programmer's Editor Shootout
MED Multiplatform Text Editor for Programmers
Version 1.21 Build November 7 01:06:06 1997
Written by Andrew Pitonyak
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A Programmer's Editor ShootoutMED Multiplatform Text Editor for ProgrammersVersion 1.21 Build November 7 01:06:06 1997Written by Andrew Pitonyak |
IntroductionMED is a full featured, highly customizable programmers editor. Packaging and InstallationThe packaging consists of a single zip file and the installation is a manual process which is outlined in an included text file.
MED includes syntax highlighting for an entire slew of file types including Java, C, C++, REXX, Ada, Pascal, Fortran, Modula-2, config.sys, makefile, ipf, tex, rc, dlg, asm, ipp, list, and some others. It is easy enough to add your own syntax highlighting if there is a file type you wish to edit which is not currently supported. I added syntax highlighting for .bat files. Add the following lines to the end of the MED.SYN file:
#==================================================================
# Syntax highlighting for DOS batch files
files: *.bat
# Word Wrap status
# current [col] (use current status, set wrap column to [col])
# on [col] (activate and set wrap column to [col])
# off (deactivate)
# disabled (word wrap not allowed)
wordWrap: disabled
sectionRegexp: ^CALL=|^SET
sectionDisplayRegexp: (^CALL=|^SET)[ ]*(.*)
sectionBrowserMainKey: 1
sectionBrowserOrder: 1, 2
sectionDisplayOrder:
inf: view.exe cmdref *
caseSensitive: no
checkCommentInString: no
color: darkpink, normal, darkpink, bold
token: CALL
color: blue, normal, blue, bold
token: ECHO OFF ON CLS CHOICE FOR IN DO GOTO IF NOT ERRORLEVEL
token: EXIST PAUSE REM SHIFT
color: red, normal, red, bold
token: APPEND ASSIGN ATTRIB BACKUP CD CHDIR CHCP CHKDSK CLS COMMAND
token: COMP COPY CTTY DATE DBLSPACE DEBUG DECOMP DEFRAG DEL ERASE
token: DELOLDOS DELTREE DIR DISKCOMP DISKCOPY DOSHELP DOSKEY DOSSHELL
token: EDIT EDLIN EMM386 EXE2BIN EXIT EXPAND FASTHELP FASTOPEN FC FDISK
token: FORMAT GRAFTABL GRAPHICS HELP INTERLNK INTERSVR JOIN KEYB LABEL
token: LOADFIX LOADHIGH LH MD MKDIR MEM MEMMAKER MIRROR MODE MORE MOVE
token: MSAV MSBACKUP MSCDEX MSD NLSFUNC PATH POWER PRINT PROMPT QBASIC
token: RD RMDIR RECOVER REN RENAME REPLACE RESTORE SET SETVER SHARE
token: SORT SUBST SYS TIME TREE TYPE UNDELETE UNFORMAT VER VERIFY VOL
token: VSAFE XCOPY
Color: red, normal, red, bold
symbol: :@*?%()=,;+-/&~[]{}|^<>#
color: darkcyan, normal, darkcyan, outline
eolCom: REM
comCol: 1
I was unable to find any problems or discrepancies with the syntax
highlighting code. When the syntax highlighting is defined, there is an
option to set how word wrapping is done for different file types. The
options are:
The default key bindings are the same as the Wordstar editor. MED has an option called "persistent selection". When it is enabled, highlighted text stays highlighted even when the cursor is moved and pressing the DEL key will delete the character under the cursor rather than deleting the highlighted text. The standard Wordstar key combination Ctrl+KY is used to delete a block of text. If you do not like this Wordstar like behavior, you can simply disable persistent selection. It is simple to define your own macros and to assign them to key commands if you desire. The macro language is suitable for many tasks. The primary limitations are that it does not contain looping instructions, variables, and conditionals. This is suitable for the majority of tasks. Macros can be run on start up based on command line options. I configured MED to keep two backups of every file that I edit. It appends ~0 and ~1 to the end of my backup files. You can also configure MED to append a time and date stamp to the end of the file. This only works if the backups are stored on a drive that supports long file names. I store all of these backup files in my special backup directory. Although saving the backups with the same name is not an option, the entire file name is retained in the backup file name. Med supports setting five anchor locations in each file. Fortunately, you can use these to jump between open files. This is an excellent feature. The anchors are set using Alt+1 thru Alt+5 and you jump to the different anchors using Ctrl+1 thru Ctrl+5. I find myself wondering why there are only five anchors. Although I rarely use more than three, programmatically it should not have been any more difficult to provide ten anchors. I used this feature frequently while editing source files. If you simply desire to bounce between two locations in a file, there are save and restore cursor commands. Move the cursor to the first location and save the cursor from the edit menu, or use the hot key Ctrl+PgUp. Now move the cursor to the second location. Pressing Ctrl+PgDown will immediately move the cursor to the first location. Pressing Ctrl+PgDown again will return the cursor to the second location. The most flexible method to quickly move between points in MED is to use named bookmarks. When a bookmark is created you enter a descriptive name. Pressing Alt+J brings up the bookmark dialog where you can choose the named bookmark you desire. There are also commands to move forward and backwards through the list of bookmarks. MED is able to search for text across both open text buffers and files. It can not do a replace operation on files, but finding text in open files is very flexible and supports the use of regular expressions. This was very useful when I could not remember which file contained the class I desired to edit. MED supports "Skeleton Files". These are files which are used as templates when a new file is opened. If I use a common format for all of my hpp files, then I can create a common "skeleton file" which is used as a basis for all new hpp files. This feature has a lot of potential. I found a very useful command for lining up the comments in my C++ code. If I use Alt+I rather than the TAB key, the cursor is moved to the right until it lines up underneath the beginning of a word. Assume that I have the following lines of code:
line 1: printf("hello\n"); // Hello
line 2: for(;;)
line 3: printf("world!\n");X// World
With the cursor represented with the character X. If I press Alt+I once I
will have the following:
line 1: printf("hello\n"); // Hello
line 2: for(;;)
line 3: printf("world!\n"); // World
While editing a C or C++ file, each function in the file is listed
alphabetically in a drop down list in the upper right of the screen. This
allows you to quickly find a particular function. If you highlight a
function call in your source code and press Ctrl+Return the cursor will be
moved to where the function is implemented, even if it is in a different
file. This can also be used to find the definition of a class or
structure. If after pressing Ctrl+Enter the desired function
implementation is not found in the current buffer, MED searches the source
files in the current directory. As the command Ctrl+Return is used, a
list of locations is saved and Alt+Return is used to return to the
original locations.
MED is easy to use and full of pleasant surprises. Get a copy and check it out. InformationMED can be downloaded from:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/matthias_pfersdorff/ The price of MED is US $25. MED can be registered with BMT Micro, paid by direct funds transfer in Germany, or by regular mail. Instructions are included with the package. |