From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Xref: utzoo comp.lang.ada:5762 comp.software-eng:6053 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!shamash!timbuk!sequoia!gbt From: gbt@sequoia.cray.com (Greg Titus) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.software-eng Subject: Editing languages (Was: Re: Reserve Demobilization ...) Keywords: languages editors Message-ID: <091548.6989@timbuk.cray.com> Date: 21 Jun 91 16:11:52 GMT Article-I.D.: timbuk.091548.6989 References: <1991Jun21.015801.25167@netcom.COM> Sender: gbt@sequoia.cray.com Followup-To: comp.software-eng Organization: Cray Research, Inc., Eagan, MN List-Id: In article <1991Jun21.015801.25167@netcom.COM> jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) writes: > > [deleted short reuse discussion] > >The Rational text editor can, believe it or not, be invoked programmatically >because all of its operations are exported out of a package called Editor, >so you can do stuff like: > > Editor.Cursor.Up (Lines => 4); > Editor.Char.Insert_String ("This is done by magic."); > etc. > >Comes in handy sometimes, and is great for automating demos. Somewhat off the subject, but this brought to mind the topic of editing languages ... An editing language is a wonderful thing to have in your toolbox. Not having to worry about the screen manipulation and buffering and so on saves boatloads of implementation time. I recall writing TECO code for quite a few small interactive data entry/editing tools in the past, and the Eel language from Epsilon is highly useful for this sort of thing as well. TECO was invented at MIT back in the 60's. I doubt you could find a running TECO any more, but it was widely available (from DECUS) on DEC PDP series machines as recently as 1980 at least. The original EMACS was written in TECO; in fact, the name stands for Editing MACroS, since EMACS was just a set of TECO macros for keeping the screen continuously updated. If you remember TECO, you're a Pretty Old Programmer (Not Real Old, but Pretty Old). Or maybe you just started young ... ;-) Epsilon's Eel is also used to implement EMACS, but for MS-DOS machines. Eel is mostly C, but with some things not essential to editing left out and some others that are essential added. You get most of the Eel source for Epsilon's EMACS when you buy it, so you can add to or modify the editor's functionality. The nice thing is that you can also implement standalone-ish programs with it. Jim and I largely agree about Ada's strengths for design and implementation, I think. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of computer languages, ya gotta love the oddities among them, like editing languages. And I didn't even mention fun things like SNOBOL, APL, ... Speaking of such, my own favorite language name is "PLITS", for "Programming Language In The Sky". I heard of this a long time ago, but I don't know much about it other than the name. I believe that it was a research language, and that there was only one compiler ever built for it. Can anybody out there enlighten us about PLITS? greg -- -------------------------------------------------------------- Greg Titus (gbt@zia.cray.com) Compiler Group (Ada) Cray Research, Inc. Santa Fe, NM Opinions expressed herein (such as they are) are purely my own.