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GUI based programmers editor with some strong [[IDE]] capabilities developed by USA based company [[Compuware]], and in addition to being sold separately was part of their [[Xpediter]] product line which is a debugging and code revision toolkit for [[COBOL]], [[Assembler]] and [[PL/I]] code that targeted OS/2 as well as [[IBM]] mini and mainframe operating systems. That product line is BTW still being sold but now only supports IBM mainframes.
{{Software
|Picture=Preditor.gif
|Name=Preditor
|Version=3.02 (1997)
|Vendor=[[Compuware]]
|Author=Murray Wilson
|Licence=
|WWW=
}}
Preditor/2 is a graphical, 32-bit code editor for OS/2 programmers. The editor with some strong [[IDE]] capabilities was developed by ''Compuware Corp.'', located in Farmington Hills, Michigan.


According to the developer, the Preditor/2 editor was based on the earlier [[Sage Professional Editor]] and similar to that product and the [[Enhanced Editor]] from IBM featured an editing core that handled only basic editing and interface tasks while most of the functionality was built using a supplied macro language but unlike SPE which used a [[C]] like macro language, Preditor/2 used an [[AWK]] derived language called Professional Extension Language (PEL). Since this is a semi-compiled language it slowed boot times down since the program compiled the current scripts at startup, but with version two this was fixed by using a tokenising system where scripts that had not changed are pre-compiled and re-used at each startup, speeding the startup time considerably.
It was was also included with the ''Xpediter'' product line which is a debugging and code revision toolkit for [[COBOL]], [[Assembler]] and [[PL/I]] code that targeted OS/2 as well as [[IBM]] mini and mainframe operating systems.


At the same time the use of PEL gives the package a flexibility only rivalled by [[EPM]] and in some cases exceeds the latter, user interface and file search capabilities are actually more advanced that on EPM. The system features a number of "modes" that emulate the look and feel of a number of other editors and these modes are entirely written in PEL scripts and so is the bulk of the "standard" user interface and the modes and the UI can therefore be changed to suit your personal preferences, in fact someone described the Preditor/2 as "more of an AWK GUI based development system than an editor". The AWK based language is also better suited to some text processing functions than the combination of [[REXX]] and E scripts on EPM, however the support for for processing international text is severely limited.
According to the developer, the Preditor/2 editor was based on the earlier [[Sage Professional Editor]]. Similar to that product and the [[Enhanced Editor]] from IBM featured an editing core that handled only basic editing and interface tasks while most of the functionality was built using a supplied macro language. Unlike SPE which used a [[C]] like macro language, Preditor/2 used an [[AWK]] derived language called Professional Extension Language (PEL). Since this is a semi-compiled language it slowed boot times down since the program compiled the current scripts at startup. With version 2 this was fixed by using a tokenising system where scripts that had not changed are pre-compiled and re-used at each startup, speeding the startup time considerably.


;Features
At the same time the use of PEL gives the package a flexibility only rivalled by [[EPM]] and in some cases exceeds the latter. User interface and file search capabilities are actually more advanced that on EPM. The system features a number of "modes" that emulate the look and feel of a number of other editors. These modes are entirely written in PEL scripts and so is the bulk of the "standard" user interface. The modes and the UI can therefore be changed to suit your personal preferences. In fact someone described the Preditor/2 as "more of an AWK GUI based development system than an editor". The AWK based language is also better suited to some text processing functions than the combination of [[REXX]] and E scripts on EPM. However the support for processing international text is severely limited.
Preditor/2 supports both multiple windows and single window UI styles allowing you to emulate both MDI and legacy multiple files in a window style user interfaces if that is what you want: It has a number of IDE style functions that can control and interface with compilers and other development systems in addition to error parsing and these can be extended via the built in PEL language. It also has multiple file search capabilities with a seperate search and result pane and options for advanced search and replace, supports tagging and specifically supports [[ctags]], and as it is fully multi threaded you can edit, perform complex file searches and compile simultaneously.


It also has some seperate formatting functions that give it better printing control and some rudimentary word processing features and from version 2.1 and up supports hex editing.
==Features==
[[Image:Preditorsc.gif|thumb|right]]
Preditor/2 supports both multiple windows and single window UI styles allowing you to emulate both MDI and legacy multiple files in a window style user interfaces if that is what you want: It has a number of IDE style functions that can control and interface with compilers and other development systems in addition to error parsing and these can be extended via the built-in PEL language. It also has multiple file search capabilities with a separate search and result pane and options for advanced search and replace, supports tagging and specifically supports [[ctags]], and as it is fully multi threaded you can edit, perform complex file searches and compile simultaneously.


==Versions==
It also has some separate formatting functions that give it better printing control and some rudimentary word processing features and from version 2.1 and up supports hex editing.
* Last known version: Preditor/2 v3.02 (1997)
: 3.0 Adds project management functionality and the first version that has a [[Microsoft Windows]] 32 executable as well as an OS/2 one.
* Preditor/2 v2.1 (1995)
: Added programmable syntax highlighting, [[hexadecimal]] editing, significant startup speed improvements and enhanced search capabilities.
* Preditor/2 v1.0 (1994)
 
;Third party scripts
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19991018234149/http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/pred_grp.html Groups for Preditor/2] - Project managment capabilities for P/2 2.1 and later.


==Syntax highlighting & templates==
===Syntax highlighting & templates===
Note that user programmable syntax highlighting is only available with version 2.1 and later, user creation of language templates however is available in all versions of the package. As shipped Preditor/2 came with syntax colour highlighting and template support for [[AWK]], [[C]], [[C++]], [[COBOL]], [[Pascal]], PEL (their own macro language), [[REXX]] and [[RC]] (Resource Script).
Note that user programmable syntax highlighting is only available with version 2.1 and later, user creation of language templates however is available in all versions of the package. As shipped Preditor/2 came with syntax colour highlighting and template support for [[AWK]], [[C]], [[C++]], [[COBOL]], [[Pascal]], PEL (their own macro language), [[REXX]] and [[Resource Scripts]] (.rc files).


==Macro support==
===Macro support===
* Built in macro language called Professional Extension Language (PEL), this is based on [[AWK]].
* Built in macro language called Professional Extension Language (PEL), this is based on [[AWK]].
* REXX is not supported.


==Keyboard mappings and modes==
===Keyboard mappings and modes===
* Built in: [[BRIEF|Brief]], [[EPM]], [[Emacs]], [[ISPF]], [[vi]] and more.
* Built in: [[BRIEF|Brief]], [[EPM]], [[Emacs]], [[ISPF]], [[vi]] and more.
* You can add your own.
* You can add your own.


==Links & publications==
==Versions==
* 1.0 (1994)
*2.0
*2.0.1
* 2.1 (May 1995) - Added programmable syntax highlighting, [[hexadecimal]] editing, significant startup speed improvements and enhanced search capabilities.
* 3.0 (1996) - Adds project management functionality and the first version that has a [[Microsoft Windows]] 32 executable as well as an OS/2 one.
*3.0.1
* 3.02 (1997)
 
==Links==
* [[Carsten Whimster]]: [http://www.edm2.com/0506/editors2.html A Programmer's Editor Shootout: Preditor 3.0]
* [[Carsten Whimster]]: [http://www.edm2.com/0506/editors2.html A Programmer's Editor Shootout: Preditor 3.0]
* [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZDgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA137 Original announcement, mini-review & news snippet] from Infoworld magazine
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZDgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA137 Preditor/2 2.0] (Review) - Infoworld (Oct 1994)
 
;Third party scripts
==Authors & publisher==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19991018234149/http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/pred_grp.html Groups for Preditor/2] - Project management capabilities for P/2 2.1 and later.
* Murray Wilson
* Compuware
: Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA.


[[Category:Tools]][[Category:MS Windows Tools]][[Category:Software written in AWK]][[Category:AWK]][[Category:Text editors]][[Category:Win32 text editors]]
[[Category:AWK]][[Category:Text editors]]

Latest revision as of 03:24, 26 May 2022

Preditor
Name Preditor
Version 3.02 (1997)
Vendor Compuware
Author Murray Wilson
Licence
WWW

Preditor/2 is a graphical, 32-bit code editor for OS/2 programmers. The editor with some strong IDE capabilities was developed by Compuware Corp., located in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

It was was also included with the Xpediter product line which is a debugging and code revision toolkit for COBOL, Assembler and PL/I code that targeted OS/2 as well as IBM mini and mainframe operating systems.

According to the developer, the Preditor/2 editor was based on the earlier Sage Professional Editor. Similar to that product and the Enhanced Editor from IBM featured an editing core that handled only basic editing and interface tasks while most of the functionality was built using a supplied macro language. Unlike SPE which used a C like macro language, Preditor/2 used an AWK derived language called Professional Extension Language (PEL). Since this is a semi-compiled language it slowed boot times down since the program compiled the current scripts at startup. With version 2 this was fixed by using a tokenising system where scripts that had not changed are pre-compiled and re-used at each startup, speeding the startup time considerably.

At the same time the use of PEL gives the package a flexibility only rivalled by EPM and in some cases exceeds the latter. User interface and file search capabilities are actually more advanced that on EPM. The system features a number of "modes" that emulate the look and feel of a number of other editors. These modes are entirely written in PEL scripts and so is the bulk of the "standard" user interface. The modes and the UI can therefore be changed to suit your personal preferences. In fact someone described the Preditor/2 as "more of an AWK GUI based development system than an editor". The AWK based language is also better suited to some text processing functions than the combination of REXX and E scripts on EPM. However the support for processing international text is severely limited.

Features

Preditor/2 supports both multiple windows and single window UI styles allowing you to emulate both MDI and legacy multiple files in a window style user interfaces if that is what you want: It has a number of IDE style functions that can control and interface with compilers and other development systems in addition to error parsing and these can be extended via the built-in PEL language. It also has multiple file search capabilities with a separate search and result pane and options for advanced search and replace, supports tagging and specifically supports ctags, and as it is fully multi threaded you can edit, perform complex file searches and compile simultaneously.

It also has some separate formatting functions that give it better printing control and some rudimentary word processing features and from version 2.1 and up supports hex editing.

Syntax highlighting & templates

Note that user programmable syntax highlighting is only available with version 2.1 and later, user creation of language templates however is available in all versions of the package. As shipped Preditor/2 came with syntax colour highlighting and template support for AWK, C, C++, COBOL, Pascal, PEL (their own macro language), REXX and Resource Scripts (.rc files).

Macro support

  • Built in macro language called Professional Extension Language (PEL), this is based on AWK.

Keyboard mappings and modes

Versions

  • 1.0 (1994)
  • 2.0
  • 2.0.1
  • 2.1 (May 1995) - Added programmable syntax highlighting, hexadecimal editing, significant startup speed improvements and enhanced search capabilities.
  • 3.0 (1996) - Adds project management functionality and the first version that has a Microsoft Windows 32 executable as well as an OS/2 one.
  • 3.0.1
  • 3.02 (1997)

Links

Third party scripts