XEDIT
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XEDIT is a visual editor for VM/CMS using block mode IBM 3270 terminals. It is much more line-oriented than modern PC and Unix editors. For example, it supports automatic line numbers, and many of the commands operate on blocks of lines. One of the features is a command line which allows the user to type arbitrary editor commands. Because IBM 3270 terminals do not transmit data to the computer until certain special keys are pressed (such as enter and function keys) XEDIT is less interactive than many PC and UNIX editors. For example, continuous spell-checking as the user types is impossible.
Contents |
[edit] Typical screen layout
MOHICANS SCRIPT A1 V 132 Trunc=132 Size=10 Line=10 Col=1 Alt=10
XEDIT:
===== Last of the Mohicans
===== .sp
===== It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America,
===== that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered
===== before the adverse hosts could meet.
===== A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed
===== the possessions of thehostile provinces of France and England.
===== The hardy colonist, and the trained European who fought at his
===== side, frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids
===== of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the mountains
|...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7...
===== * * * End of File * * *
====>
X E D I T 1 File
Notable features of the screen layout:
- The top line provides details about line format
- The equal signs at the beginning of the lines provide space for line numbers if desired, and a place to enter commands that operate on blocks of lines
- The next-to-bottom line is a command line for typing edit commands.
- There is no mouse pointer because IBM 3270 terminals did not have mice.
[edit] Macro language
The XEDIT macro (script) language is REXX.
[edit] History
XEDIT was introduced in the early '80s, its predecessor was EDIT SP (SP is an acronym for System Product used by IBM ). XEDIT also supported EXEC2, the predecessor of REXX.
It's one of the text editors held in almost religious awe by their users, see also Emacs and vi.
[edit] PC and Unix adaptations
When PCs and Unix computers began to supplant IBM 3270 terminals, some users wanted text editors that resembled the XEDIT they were accustomed to. Two such editors are Kedit and THE. KEDIT was the first XEDIT clone; the last version for DOS and OS/2 was KEDIT 5.0p4. KeditW (for Windows) is at version 1.5. The limited built-in REXX-subset supported by KEDIT is KEXX, but KEDIT supports also native REXX on OS/2 (but not PC REXX on PC DOS). The open source implementation THE uses Regina, an open source version of REXX. SEDIT is another implementation on both Windows and Unix, which fully supports the REXX language.
[edit] References
- XEDIT Commands and Macros Reference. (1st ed. Sept. 2004, pub. no. SC24-6131-00). International Business Machines.
- XEDIT User's Guide. (2d ed., Dec. 2005, pub. no. SC24-6132-01). International Business Machines.
[edit] External links
- KEDIT, a Mansfield Software Group product, for DOS, OS/2, and Windows.
- KEDIT/KEXX summary by Rex Swain
- KEX macro collection includes x-wiki.kex
- THE, The Hessling Editor, open source using Regina as its macro language
- uni-XEDIT for UNIX product description (2003)
- SEDIT and S/REXX for UNIX and Windows product description
