17
C
HAPTER
2
Working With
Editors
ne of the most fundamental tools required for application develop-
ment on any platform is a text editor; and the Linux operating sys-
tem offers programmers a wide variety to choose from. These editors
offer a wide variety of functionality from simple editing features to syntax
highlighting and reading e-mail.
In this chapter, we will focus on a couple of editors that offer features that
will be of interest to developers,
Jed, vim,
and
Emacs
. All of these editors
offer extended features beyond simple text editing.
2.1What to Look for in an Editor
While editors like
pico
or even
ed
may be useful for editing system files or writing quick notes,
programming editors have certain functions that permit the programmer to focus on the act of
creating code and helps to manage the process and keep an eye on syntax.
2.1.1Extensibility
One useful feature of programming editors is the ability to extend the out-of-the-box func-
tionality with custom programming.
Emacs utilizes a full-featured Lisp language called Elisp to provide users with the ability
to add just about any functionality they might require to the editor. The original Lisp language
was written in the late 1950s as part of MIT’s research into artificial intelligence. Elisp is derived
from the original Lisp and provides surprising flexibility in extending Emacs for those who take
the time to learn it.
O