Which editor for ooRexx?
Three Lefts
I read the Rexx Friendly Editors page on SourceForge. It looks like
the major candidates are:
1. X2. This looks like the one that has the most features for
integrating with Rexx code.
2. SlickEdit. Commercial ($300), so maybe better support, but not
tailored for Rexx.
3. Vim.
4. NotePad++. I am thinking I should get this in any case as a NotePad
replacement. I could start with it and then decide.
5. WinEdit. Commercial ($70). I already have an older version of this
that I used with Quercus Rexx. It works well. It has support for Rexx
in that it understands variuous language components (commands,
comments, literals, etc.) and will render them in different colors.
The current version (http://www.winedit.com/) touts a "complete
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for any language or compiler,
with full support for embedded systems programming environments, Java,
and HTML programming". I may have to check this out.
Anything else?
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts
> Anything else?
If you've ever used IBM's Xedit (under VM/CMS), then Kedit (Mansfield
Software) is very powerful, and can have macros (programs that perform
editing tasks, not just played-back keystrokes) written in "Kex" which is
almost exactly the same as classic Rexx.
There's no ooRexx integration, but who needs it? You write code, you run
it. More important (I think) is a powerful editor.
If you've ever used IBM's ispf/pdf editor, then SPF/SE (CTC) is well worth a
look. It used to have Rexx macros though now it uses a C-subset to write
them (also programs rather than just keystrokes). The C-subset has been
designed to make it easy for rexx programmers to adopt, with a set of string
handling functions that a very like rexx string BIFs.
--
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.
Three Lefts
<jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> wrote:
>Three Lefts <spam...@spamtrap.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Anything else?
>
>If you've ever used IBM's Xedit (under VM/CMS), then Kedit (Mansfield
>Software) is very powerful, and can have macros (programs that perform
>editing tasks, not just played-back keystrokes) written in "Kex" which is
>almost exactly the same as classic Rexx.
I have used Xedit and loved it. However, the Kedit website says that
development has stopped, sales will stop in 2008, and support will end
in 2009. (http://www.kedit.com/features.ia1.html)
>There's no ooRexx integration, but who needs it? You write code, you run
>it. More important (I think) is a powerful editor.
Depends on the integration. A full featured IDE, like what is
available with Visual Studio, would be a huge advantage over a
stand-alone editor:
1. The editor part would know the language syntax and could highlight
various language components (comments, literals, commands, function
calls, subroutines, etc.
2. The editor could also provide context-sensitive help and argument
prompting.
3. A true IDE would have an interactive debugger including break
points, variable trace, etc.
That was why I tried Reginald first. Reginald does have the IDE, but
it just has too many problems.
I don't know what WinEdit means when they say they have a "complete
Integrated Development Environment". I doubt a true IDE is even
possible unless it is built into the interpreter. I think the
debugging tools they proclaim have to do with their macro language.
not the target language (ooRexx). In any case, I sent an email to the
contact address and it bounced back, so maybe they are out of
business.
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts
> On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:42:02 +0100, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts
> <jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> wrote:
>
> >Three Lefts <spam...@spamtrap.invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> Anything else?
> >
> >If you've ever used IBM's Xedit (under VM/CMS), then Kedit (Mansfield
> >Software) is very powerful, and can have macros (programs that perform
> >editing tasks, not just played-back keystrokes) written in "Kex" which is
> >almost exactly the same as classic Rexx.
>
> I have used Xedit and loved it. However, the Kedit website says that
> development has stopped, sales will stop in 2008, and support will end
> in 2009. (http://www.kedit.com/features.ia1.html)
Yes... but I think that means that new features are unlikely to be added,
but not that it won't continue to work, at least in some sort of
compatibility mode. The most recent version (bugs fixes and raising of
internal limits) came out only a few months ago.
> >There's no ooRexx integration, but who needs it? You write code, you run
> >it. More important (I think) is a powerful editor.
>
> Depends on the integration. A full featured IDE, like what is
> available with Visual Studio, would be a huge advantage over a
> stand-alone editor:
>
> 1. The editor part would know the language syntax and could highlight
> various language components (comments, literals, commands, function
> calls, subroutines, etc.
Kedit does that now.
> 2. The editor could also provide context-sensitive help and argument
> prompting.
> 3. A true IDE would have an interactive debugger including break
> points, variable trace, etc.
OK, it doesn't have that. But I've used IDLE in Python and while the IDE's
help info is quite nice, the paltry facilities of the editor, and having to
learn a separate editor just for Python drove me mad. I'd rather have one
editor for everything.
Michael Lueck
> I see that I need an editor for use with ooRexx. Any recommendations?
I happen to have a dual license of SlickEdit - Lin/Win.
I also use Kate on the Linux platform. I have run into some quirks that annoy me with Slick on Linux, thus the interest editors beyond Slick. I found Kate's performance much better than Scite, for
example. Search & Replace perf is much better in Kate I seem to recall. Scite, oddly enough, was about par with Windows Notepad for performance, and with Slick I am used to *bang* done! performance.
Kate seems to have that same snappy performance I am used to.
Also, Kate has a text based syntax highlight file, whereas Scite I would have to develop a custom parser for Rexx/ooRexx in C/C++ to achieve syntax color coding, etc... Scite did not have one even
started.
--
Michael Lueck
Lueck Data Systems
http://www.lueckdatasystems.com/
Gary Scott
I second the Kedit recommendation. It will be functional and available
for the forseeable future. It doesn't cost that much. I'm not sure I
would build major applications around it that require longevity because
of the end of service announcement (not for lack of capability), but for
general text editing, it's fine and dandy.
<snip>
--
Gary Scott
mailto:garylscott@sbcglobal dot net
Fortran Library: http://www.fortranlib.com
Support the Original G95 Project: http://www.g95.org
-OR-
Support the GNU GFortran Project: http://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/index.html
If you want to do the impossible, don't hire an expert because he knows
it can't be done.
-- Henry Ford
Bob Martin
jEdit is a good programmer's editor and is chock-full of features
and macros can be written in Rexx.
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts
> jEdit is a good programmer's editor and is chock-full of features
>
> http://www.jedit.org/
>
> and macros can be written in Rexx.
The jEdit website seems only to mention BeanShell. How does using Rexx
work? Are there any rexx macro examples?
Sahananda
expansion etc. in Rexx & ooRexx at www.sahananda.fwbo.net/rexx
Bernie
................
> I have used Xedit and loved it. However, the Kedit website says that
> development has stopped, sales will stop in 2008, and support will end
> in 2009. (http://www.kedit.com/features.ia1.html)
................
If you loved Xedit, then you just might like The Hessling Editor
(THE), a near-clone of Xedit by Mark Hessling. While I haven't used it
all that much, it would be my first choice, if one of my clients
hadn't already bought me a copy of Kedit. THE is a mature product, but
it does appear to be currently supported. One of the great things
about it is that it's supported on so many platforms, and you can use
any of several Rexx interpreters as THE's macro programming language,
including ooRexx. So you can actually use the very same Rexx for THE
macros as you're using for your programming projects. Since ooRexx can
issue commands to the supporting OS, you can also use THE to control
IDE-like commands. Since you seem to be an Xedit fan, you might want
to at least give THE a try.
THE is available for download at http://hessling-editor.sourceforge.net/,
and there's a small support community making additional resources and
documentation available at http://www.gut-wirtz.de/THE/index.html.
There you'll find a library of user-contributed THE macros.
HTH,
Bernie
Gary Scott
least enough to keep it functional with the latest OS updates is
anticipated.
Bob Martin
>Bob Martin <bob.m...@excite.com> wrote:
>
>> jEdit is a good programmer's editor and is chock-full of features
>>
>> http://www.jedit.org/
>>
>> and macros can be written in Rexx.
>
>The jEdit website seems only to mention BeanShell. How does using Rexx
>work? Are there any rexx macro examples?
Sorry, Jeremy, I was thinking of something else & confused myself!
I use Rexx wherever I can (have done for 28 years) but I write my jEdit
macros in Python, which is almost as friendly as Rexx.
The main reason I switched to jEdit when migrating from OS/2 to Linux was
the problems I had getting X2 macros to work with ooRexx on Ubuntu.
May I ask the ooRexx developers to check with Blair Thompson on what is
required?
Three Lefts
The website says (a) the business office closed in early 2008, (b)
they plan to continue selling licenses through at least 12/08, and (c)
they plan to continue to provide email t/s through 9/09.
Gary Scott
Yes, I know. I got the above directly from Kevin Kearney of Mansfield
Software Group, by email on 9/18. In general, it doesn't require much
support. I was just saying its nothing to panic about.
Three Lefts
wrote:
That does sound like a good choice. I'll take a look. Thanks.
Shmuel Metz
at 09:15 AM, Three Lefts <spam...@spamtrap.invalid> said:
>Anything else?
The Hessling Editor (THE). Free XEDIT clone.
Tritus SPF (TSPF) if you can get a legitimate copy. You can have mine when
they pry it out of my cold dead fingers.
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>
Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action. I reserve the
right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail. Reply to
domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+news to contact me. Do not
reply to spam...@library.lspace.org
Shmuel Metz
at 06:42 PM, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts
<jn.nntp....@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> said:
>If you've ever used IBM's Xedit (under VM/CMS), then Kedit (Mansfield
>Software) is very powerful, and can have macros (programs that perform
>editing tasks, not just played-back keystrokes) written in "Kex" which is
>almost exactly the same as classic Rexx.
If you're an XEDIT power user then you won't be happy with KEDIT. As for
KEX, not even Mansfield claims that it's REXX, or recommends it for
anything but light weight task like key remapping.
KEDIT is nice in some ways, and works well with, e.g., Personal REXX, but
it's missing important features of XEDIT. I'd recommend THE instead.
>If you've ever used IBM's ispf/pdf editor, then SPF/SE (CTC) is well
>worth a look.
Not if SPF compatibility is a concern. Fortunately I bought TSPF while
Tritus was still in business, and never looked back.
>The C-subset has been
>designed to make it easy for rexx programmers to adopt,
It's worthless if you want to use the same dialogs and edit macros on your
mainframe and your PC.
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts
> It's worthless if you want to use the same dialogs and edit macros on your
> mainframe and your PC.
I completely agree but (a) I no longer have access to a mainframe, and (b)
it's the only ispf/pdf editor emulation that's still available as far as I
know. The pain of rewriting macros will be offset by having the look and
command-line and prefix-area commands of the real thing. Even after using
kedit for a year (and often having to make a conscious effort to understand
its "targets" and command-set), I found that I could use ctc's spf/se
without having to stop and think.
Shmuel Metz
at 04:00 PM, Three Lefts <spam...@spamtrap.invalid> said:
>I have used Xedit and loved it. However, the Kedit website says that
>development has stopped, sales will stop in 2008, and support will end in
>2009. (http://www.kedit.com/features.ia1.html)
The Hessling Editor (THE) would be a better choice even if KEDIT were
still supported. Unlike KEDIT, THE supports prefix macros, which are a
significant part of XEDIT's power.
Sahananda
<spamt...@library.lspace.org.invalid> wrote:
> In <5sv2d4hcr328nbe2iv372cqef7ssisi...@4ax.com>, on 09/17/2008
> at 04:00 PM, Three Lefts <spamt...@spamtrap.invalid> said:
>
> >I have used Xedit and loved it. However, the Kedit website says that
> >development has stopped, sales will stop in 2008, and support will end in
> >2009. (http://www.kedit.com/features.ia1.html)
>
> The Hessling Editor (THE) would be a better choice even if KEDIT were
> still supported. Unlike KEDIT, THE supports prefix macros, which are a
> significant part of XEDIT's power.
>
> --
> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>
>
This is not quite correct.
Kedit does provide a set of prefix macros to add, delete, copy, hide,
show, set bookmarks etc..
AFAIK It does not allow you to modify these or write your own which
Xedit does.
Jon
Richard Brady
[snip]
>
> Not if SPF compatibility is a concern. Fortunately I bought TSPF while
> Tritus was still in business, and never looked back.
>
If you are running XP, how did you make TSPF work? I get nasty messages
telling me that the REXX interpreter won't work. I do get it to run
under DOSBOX, though.
Regards,
Richard Brady
Shmuel Metz
09/20/2008
at 08:20 PM, Richard Brady <rrllb...@worrlldnet.att.net> said:
>If you are running XP,
Wash your mouth out with SOAP! I'm running OS/2.
>how did you make TSPF work?
I use the OS/2 version, but even if the windoze version won't work in XP,
the DOS version should.
>I get nasty messages telling me that the REXX interpreter won't
>work.
Which REXX are you using? Which TSPF .exe?
>I do get it to run under DOSBOX, though.
As I expected.
regli
> I see that I need an editor for use with ooRexx. Any recommendations?
>
> I read the Rexx Friendly Editors page on SourceForge. It looks like
> the major candidates are:
>
I stick with my recommendation that the best REXX development
environment is the Object Rexx Development Edition workbench adapted
to use ooRexx. It is a real IDE though not incredibly sophisticated
but has full visual debugging including breakpoints etc... I haven't
seen anything that comes close.
markh
Jon, I think some clarification on terminology is needed.
Kedit, XEDIT and THE provide prefix SUB-COMMANDS; C,CC, M, MM, etc.
XEDIT and THE provide prefix MACROS that enable you to write your own
Rexx macros to be invoked from the prefix area by use of SET PREFIX
SYNONYM command.
Cheers, Mark
Glenn Knickerbocker
I got frustrated with THE when I couldn't figure out how to get it to
stop making me hit some special key to get to the command line. Is
there some setting I need to learn and then try it out again?
ŹR
Gary Scott
My profile has the command line always displayed. I couldn't live
without a command line always displayed.
Sahananda
Hi Mark,
Yes, I agree. Although the previous poster used the correct
terminology, I thought that the post did not make the distinction
clearly enough, but then I posted in a hurry myself. Your post is
clear about the differences.
I do remember writing a prefix macro for Xedit once as part of a
training course, but I can't now remember ever using it or what it
did. I was a bit disappointed when I first learned of this limitation
of Kedit, but I can't really say that I have ever missed it in
practise.
My hunch is that *MOST* users of Xedit and THE never do write and use
there own prefix macros as part of their everyday work, because the
useful ones are provided as prefix Sub-commands, but I would be happy
to be (politely) contradicted on that.
Cheers, Jon
Warren Van Wyck
You should check out some of the prefix macros here:
http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/editors/THE/contrib/
I've written a few of my own that I've used nearly every work day for
the past twenty years -- mostly a home-grown version of prefix
put/del/get of marked regions/blocks.
Warren Van Wyck
Sahananda
> Hi Jon,
>
> You should check out some of the prefix macros here:
>
> http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/editors/THE/contrib/
>
> I've written a few of my own that I've used nearly every work day for
> the past twenty years -- mostly a home-grown version of prefix
> put/del/get of marked regions/blocks.
>
> Warren Van Wyck
>
...
> > My hunch is that *MOST* users of Xedit and THE never do write and use
> > there own prefix macros as part of their everyday work, because the
> > useful ones are provided as prefix Sub-commands, but I would be happy
> > to be (politely) contradicted on that.
>
> > Cheers, Jon
>
>
Hi Warren,
yes, I can see that would be useful.
In Kedit one would probably have to mark the source block, cut/copy
and paste or use the put/putd and get commands.
Although I learned Xedit first, a couple of my colleagues have used
Kedit without that experience and they are far more at home using the
standard windows editing styles, where as I seem to mix and match,
sometimes using the prefix area and sometimes the clipboard.
I think one of the big strengths of the prefix area is the way it can
handle non-contiguous blocks.
Jon